DAY-07: Inverness To Port Augustus & Mallaig
Day – 07: Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Starting Location: Inverness, Scotland, UK
Interim Location: Mallaig, Scotland, UK
Ending Location: Port Augustus, Scotland, UK
Though our plans had been to continue north and tour the Orkney Islands, weather considerations altered our path. We departed Inverness and headed toward the Loch Ness area to the southwest.
We traveled down the west side of Loch Ness stopping along the way for the obvious, sightings of the fabled monster. We've all seen the picture.
With no sightings of "Nessie" we arrived in Port Augustus a town located between Loch Ness and Loch Lochy. The town hosts a series of locks that connect the lochs. It was early but we stopped by our hotel and as would be our room was ready.
We checked in but were soon underway via Fort Williams for the town of Mallaig out on a western peninsula of Scotland, a jumping off point for ferry traffic to the outer islands.
The ride out was through scenic countryside and rugged coastal roads.
There have been many areas of road work throughout Scotland. The drivers are all very polite and patient and very obedient to the self-enforced rules of the roads.
Mallaig was a typical small fishing and boating town.
We returned to Fort Augustus around 6 PM just in time for a "locking up" experience. The town has a series of six locks that take boat traffic from the lower Loch Ness to the higher Loch Lochy.
Most, if not all, of the boats being locked up were cruisers, many being rental boats from Le Boat. As the pictures show there were a lot of boats in close proximity. The whole process seemed very orderly until the exit when it was like every sailor for him/herself rushing to the nearby evening pier ship moorings. A sail boat was seen crossing the bow of one of the power boats, gutsy move.
With the boat experience over we returned to the hotel for a great dinner, Oban Oysters and Salmon for me, mushroom risotto for Sheila
From dinner we ducked into the reading room for a touch of warmth by the fire place. Here we met other folks speaking American. Turns out it was a family of four, mother, father and two late-30ish daughters from Manhattan Beach, CA., but that is not the story.
Realizing that they were hard core Los Angeleans I wondered which sports teams they followed; logical question right? Who knows maybe it would be the Chargers, or Dodgers or Lakers, there are so many teams to choose from. But no, without hesitation and totally unprompted the father said "the Patriots"! How can that be; so as you might expect Sheila was engaged.
After certain parties had agreed on the greatness of the Patriots and selected players, the night drew to an end.
Ending Location: Port Augustus, Scotland, UK
Though our plans had been to continue north and tour the Orkney Islands, weather considerations altered our path. We departed Inverness and headed toward the Loch Ness area to the southwest.
We traveled down the west side of Loch Ness stopping along the way for the obvious, sightings of the fabled monster. We've all seen the picture.
With no sightings of "Nessie" we arrived in Port Augustus a town located between Loch Ness and Loch Lochy. The town hosts a series of locks that connect the lochs. It was early but we stopped by our hotel and as would be our room was ready.
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| Knitted bike? |
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| Yes, that's a moose sticker. |
The ride out was through scenic countryside and rugged coastal roads.
There have been many areas of road work throughout Scotland. The drivers are all very polite and patient and very obedient to the self-enforced rules of the roads.
Mallaig was a typical small fishing and boating town.
Most, if not all, of the boats being locked up were cruisers, many being rental boats from Le Boat. As the pictures show there were a lot of boats in close proximity. The whole process seemed very orderly until the exit when it was like every sailor for him/herself rushing to the nearby evening pier ship moorings. A sail boat was seen crossing the bow of one of the power boats, gutsy move.
With the boat experience over we returned to the hotel for a great dinner, Oban Oysters and Salmon for me, mushroom risotto for Sheila
From dinner we ducked into the reading room for a touch of warmth by the fire place. Here we met other folks speaking American. Turns out it was a family of four, mother, father and two late-30ish daughters from Manhattan Beach, CA., but that is not the story.
Realizing that they were hard core Los Angeleans I wondered which sports teams they followed; logical question right? Who knows maybe it would be the Chargers, or Dodgers or Lakers, there are so many teams to choose from. But no, without hesitation and totally unprompted the father said "the Patriots"! How can that be; so as you might expect Sheila was engaged.
After certain parties had agreed on the greatness of the Patriots and selected players, the night drew to an end.
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