We awoke to more blue skies and sunshine which was something of a surprise, enjoyed breakfast overlooking Glencoe for the last time and readied ourselves to leave the site by midday. All was going well till I tried to wind in the awning and to my great surprise the handle broke at the pivot on which all the weight to turn the mechanism is applied! Now what to do?
It is late morning and many folk have already left for their days activities. I eventually find another motor home owner still on site and with a similar awning who kindly lends me his winding handle and all is well, though until we can source a replacement handle we will not be able to use the awning! The kind couple had just bought their motorhome, having had a converted ambulance some 30 years ago, confessed to being on the waterways of Britain as their first love but wth so many restrictions and working locks becoming harder work they had decided to try out being back on the road again.
We finally leave the site having had a very pleasant few days and head for the Ben Nevis Centre where several gondola wait to whisk folk up to the Restaurant and, in winter, the ski centre that connects to many chair and button lifts to take folk even higher up the mountain to various ski runs.
At this time of year there is much use of the mountain by adventurous bike riders and those wishing to walk either up or down one of the signposted footpaths. There are also a couple of shorter walks to viewpoints to the West and East. We chose the shorter one traversing the slopes of Ben Nevis to the West and after a mile were rewarded with amazing views over a number of mountains and glens, including back towards Fort William and SW towards the route we took on the steam train to Mallaig yesterday.
We spent some time just enjoying the views, took photos them retraced our steps back towards the cable car terminus and restaurant for some refreshment taken on the terrace overlooking the South and East. We took the cable car back to the car park and at Cally we considered how far we wanted to drive and located a camp site at Dingwall that was about 90 minutes away.
The drive provided more amazing views of several loughs, valleys, mountains and pine forests as the road ran alongside the banks of loughs for about two thirds of the journey. We crossed and recrossed them at locks on the Caledonian Canal that allows boats to cross large parts of Scotland. Whilst very pretty, the winding roads made the journey longer than the overall distance would suggest.
We finally arrived at the campsite about 1915, were quickly shown to our pitch and cooked a sauce and vegetables to go with the lamb pie we purchased at the Westmoreland Farm Shop. It was all very yummy and whilst Lesley stayed in the van, I ventured down to the Firth of Cromerty to see if I could catch a glimpse of an Osprey as the site manager had told us they are to be seen at various times of the day. I was not lucky on this occasion but did get some photos of the Firth in interesting light.
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