Summer Holiday 2019: Day 14

The Nevis Range

The perfect day for being up in the mountains: blue sky and sunshine. Thankfully – especially for the kids – we didn’t have to hike to the top before enjoying the jaw-dropping views.

We drove to the Nevis Range Ski Centre and took the gondola – the UK’s only mountain gondola – up Aonach Mòr, the 8th highest mountain in Britain. The gondola takes you from 100m to 650m up the mountain and takes approximately 15 minutes each way, giving you plenty of time to look at the scenery, or looking down to see the drop if you’re so inclined?!

There are two walks at the top, both taking you to a different view point. We chose to do the longer of the two routes first (about an hour out and back), taking us out to Meall Beag for a view over Fort William, Loch Linnhe, Loch Eil, the hills of Ardgour and Moidart. It was breathtaking to say the least and so worth the trip up, and – thankfully – all of the girls agreed, phew!

After a bit of a sit down, taking some time to soak up the views and scenery, we headed back to the restaurant for some refreshments before heading out on the other walk, this time out to Sgurr Finnisg-aig.

The second walk was shorter (40 minutes there and back) but a little more up and down compared to the previous walk. It was worth it though as the views were equally as breathtaking, looking out across the Great Glen and Hills of Knoydart.

Again we took some time to soak up the views before heading back to the gondola for the downward journey.

Definitely something you should do if you’re ever at Fort William and not spending all of your time walking up/down Ben Nevis!

Mountain conquered we headed home for some dinner, after which we drove back into Fort Augustus so that the girls could have a little paddle in Loch Ness. Don’t ask me why; the water was bloomin’ freezing!

They looked like they were having fun though, especially when we were all set upon by a vicious family of ducks. Okay, they weren’t vicious, not at all. They were in fact the cutest thing you could see, and they literally came right up to us and also swam between the girls.

Even when the rain started they didn’t care. Hilariously, a bunch of [what we can only assume] Japanese tourists appeared near the loch shore and started to take pictures of the mad English girls in the water! So funny.

Photos

The Good Camera

Darren’s iPhone

Shelli’s iPhone

Route