Day 17: Fort William

The day started with our lovely bnb host attempting to smother us with food; with a big breakfast of muesli, a rack of toast, and a cooked breakfast. Oh, and some fruit and yogurt. Stomach was sufficiently bolstered for a big day ahead.

We took a wander through Fort William as many of the shops were now open. It’s about a middle sized town, big enough to have at least two whisky shops, a bookshop, a chemist, a couple of cafes, several restaurants, and some other assorted stores. I popped into one of the whisky shops, as it had a number of independent bottlings in the window, and inside were even more, including a Talisker, and I can’t remember the last time I saw one of these. They also had a few expressions of Ben Nevis, the local distillery, including a 31 year old a little out of my price range.

I also had a look at the West Highland Museum, an interesting 9 or 10 rooms charting the history of the area from prehistoric to the 1970s. Included were a bunch of fascinating displays around the Army Commandos, who were based in the area during WW2; our old pal BPC, including a hidden portrait; some old clothes and tartans; and a hard hat once worn by Princess Margaret. For a free museum that seems to survive on some generously loaned items, it’s an attraction well worth visiting.

Today’s quest was to see the Steall Falls, Scotland’s second tallest waterfall (back to chasing them). It’s within Glen Nevis, the Glen near Ben Nevis, the UK’s tallest peak, but fortunately we didn’t have to scale that to see the falls. It was a solid few miles, involving a bit of climbing and clambering over rocky terrain, before the falls came into view. I chose to generally walk slow, both to look after my knees and to ensure I had time to look up at the amazing surroundings, as the rest of the time involved looking down to make sure I wasn’t going to step on a random rock. I did dunk my feet in the stream at the turnaround point, and the stream wasn’t as cold as in Skye, possibly as the sun was shining quite warmly, so even some of the rocks under the water felt warm beneath my feet.

We grabbed a late lunch at the Ben Nevis Inn, a well reviewed little place surprisingly surrounded by great views of the highlands. I went for the Cullen Skink, my first on of the trip, and it was quite tasty, a wonderful smoky aroma, lovely creamy flavours, with the haddock and potato giving it a solid texture. Hearty and delicious.

Had a quiet rest of the afternoon, before we all met up at the Ben Nevis Restaurant and Bar for dinner. Again, no reservations were able, but getting in just before 6 ensured I got us a table. The menu looked pretty good, a selection to cater for all dietary requirements and not too expensive. I started with some black pudding bon bons, which were I think supposed to be like deep fried money bags, but ended up just being yummy battered balls of black pudding. I followed this with venison lasagne, and this was indeed very nice, good gamey flavour in the sauce, and some wonderful local cheese to top it all off. To drink I started with a Belhaven Best, a solid Scottish ale, not high in abv but with good malty flavours and a creaminess (I suspect it gets served via a nitrogen mix gas that helps with this), followed by the Belhaven Black, a dark ale that’s malty without being roasty. Also in the mix was a Ben Nevis Coire Leis, creamy, a hint of spice, and full of fruit flavours, and quite easy to drink.

Food done, we wandered over to the bar for a couple more drams, I had the Ben Nevis 10 year old again, just to keep supporting the locals, and finished with an Arran 10, an island whisky with floral notes, that is quite easy to drink.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Fort William and head to Edinburgh, the last stop on the Scottish leg.