Every morning from inside the breakfast room at Fort William with sea view we could watch this little drama:
Quiet!
Oh no!
City bus right above our bed&breakfast
First stop this day, June 29, were the Eas Chia-Aig falls
On a small road - one lane with passing places as can often be found in northern Scotland - the accident occured: we hit a fairly large stone and the rear left wheel was deflated. It was quickly exchanged for the emergency wheel with 50 mph maximum speed, but we still had to call the rental agency for proper replacement. Sadly, they weren't able to get us a wheel to Fort William during the next three days, and we already had planned to move on north the next day, so we had to take a giant detour to Inverness next afternoon, where more trouble was waiting...
But for now the plans for the day remained unchanged, a gondola lift took us to 600 m altitude into the Nevis skiing area, two ridges apart from Ben Nevis summit (1344 m).
Chair lift, out of use during summer
Bog cotton and view at Loch Eil, the sea fjord next to Fort William
View towards Loch Lochy
On a ski lift suddenly a man came along in a chair and had to get off in such an acrobatic way!
We climbed on, view into the mountain range
At least we got above 1000 m in Scotland!
The final item on the programme that day was a short trip by rail to Corrour, the highest summit of the West Highland line and situated very lonely apart from one hostel.
The old "summit" sign
At first the mood was grey, but the Nevis Range was keeping its promise, shortly before the Highland Caledonian Sleeper came by this fantastic play of light and shadows started!
A little early DB Schenker 67004 passed with its Fort William part of the night train to London
The passengers could throw impressive last views at the mountain range
Thanks to the 3rd hand this panorama with Corrour station and Loch Ossian was possible, the train was slowly passing the request halt.
Nevis got even more fascinating!
Climax of the spectacle at 21:15!
Our train back to Fort William arrived perfectly lit
As the door unlocking procedure was taking longer at this small station, I could sneak behind the train for the top shot, which usually is rather impossible in the UK...
Next morning, June 30: the water was smooth, the swing bridge open and the view at Ben Nevis completely unobstructed!
The end of the Caledonian Canal at Corpach
View across Loch Eil, the sea, towards Fort William. Ben Nevis was already collecting its cloud cover again...
Of course, Glenfinnan came next!
The loco crew showed its daily experience with the line
The 3rd hand also did a great job...
A lot of traffic in the highland skies!
