Home -> Europe -> Scotland -> Travelogue 2000 -> Thursday 6 July

To Beauly in the Highlands, Loch Ness

Our first night and morning in Scotland. We leave Strathyre and go into the mountains (says Elisabeth; hills, Teije says). We feal completely at home. The scenery is magnificent, this country has something, an atmosphere of vastness and quietness, it meets all our expectations. Through Glen Dochart we soon arrive in the area of Ben Nevis and Glen Coe.

Just past Fort William, we turn left onto the A830, into the regio Sunart. There are not many roads here and they become narrower all the time. We enjoy the landscape (as we do on all our journey) and now, afterwards, we can not understand why we have taken so few pictures (only 70 in 3 weeks, of which even some are lousy; nowadays we make 200 in one week).

In Strontian, we are happy to find a petrol station (£1,- a litre, € 1,61). One seriously has to take into account that there are very few petrol stations in some parts of the Highlands. After a few hours we are opposite to Fort William with a beautiful view on Ben Nevis, the highest peak in Scotland (and of all England). But we have to make a long detour, before we can continue our way to the north.

Along Loch Lochy and Loch Oich we arrive at Fort Augustus. Here starts the biggest water reservoir of Scotland: Loch Ness, 37 kilometers long, and averagely 1.6 kilometers broad. The depth is 200 metres. Driving on the A82, we can't see much of the Loch, nor any sign of the monster. But the view on the opposite side with it's steep hillsides is very nice, as is of course Castle Urquhart, which is situated just before Drumnadrochit. But we decided to find a place for the night, first.

We end up in Beauly, 15 kilometers west of Inverness. After a walk through the village, we decide to go to a Bed and Breakfast, hoping that will be cheaper than a hotel. Well, it is not: £22,- each for one night and we are not allowed to smoke. After asking, we get permission to smoke one or two, with the cigarette outside the window!

But we have no intention to quit smoking yet, so we spent the evening in the town and decide to look for another place tomorrow. We regret it, because Beauly seems a nice place from where we can visit all different parts of the Highlands. And also it means that we will lose some time again tomorrow, searching for a suitable place.

Travel through Europe and Africa

with Elisabeth and Teije