Day 4 (continued) Steall Falls

Back at Fort William we were a bit hot, tired, thirsty and grumpy. Well I was. Least said about t'other one the better.
So, we decided that I needed a cup of tea whether or not anyone else did and that we would then have a little walk. There had been some not entirely agreeable conversation the day before about whether I actually do walking. And there had been dismissive comment about how I certainly wouldn't want to climb anything. Have to say I probably wouldn't these days though I used to be something of a mountain goat.
So a short, easy walk seemed to be in order and we went and bought a booklet from the Glen Nevis visitor centre and, over tea, chose the more exciting half of what was described as a 'moderate' walk in Glen Nevis. Then remembered that we had to be back for dinner booked for eight at the Crannog Restaurant in Fort william. What with the heat and having spent several hours bathed in steam, smoke and smuts I needed a shower before mingling with people in an enclosed space. It all began to look a bit sweaty and tight for time .
We drove the first part of the walk, along a gorgeous, narrow, humpy road, All rocky and bracken and fern fringed along the Glen. Glimpses of rushing water and encounters with shaggy long-horned cattle. And a lot of people driving the other way, presumably having finished their walks and now heading back for showers and dinner.
The actual walk was steep narrow and rocky...I'm sure the guide book was right in saying it would be dangerously slippery in wet weather.
After about a hundred yards, I thought, just possibly I'd bitten off more than my legs could chew! they went all weak and rubbery and didn't agree about the necessary lift to get over the steeper bits. Bear in mind that I am fatter than I should be and don't do excercise. but I told the damn legs to get on with it and after a bit longer they did. And there were level bits and even the odd downhill stretch. Ask any of our children and they'll confirm that I can go a long way quite steadily on the level...it's just uphill that slows me down to nearly stop. In past holidays, they would all hurtle past me on the uphills and then I'd trundle past them on the downhills. Swings and roundabouts? Weren't any. So, notwithstanding rubber legs, total absence of useful breath and rivers of sweat I carried on quite briskly. I'll give him 'don't do walking' I thought.
It was delightful anyway. Rushing water glimpsed in a gorge far (very far) below, Sunlight, flitting birds, old and twisty oak, alder, birch and rowan trees clinging to the rocks. Waterfalls crossing our path and towering mountains all around.
Actually we overtook people. I was impressed with me! The legs stopped wobbling and as long as I remembered to keep picking them up a bit higher than they would normally go, I wasn't in too much danger of tripping over my own feet and disappearing over the edge :)
So up to a narrow gap between converging cliffs with a waterfall crashing down through huge boulders. The crowning glory was a flat, circular, mountain meadow opening out, bathed in sunlight and enclosed by dark mountains. At the far end of the meadow, a leaping waterfall shimmering on the rock face and falling into the river below. Which wound lazily through the meadow.
Gorgeous, spectacular, heavenly. A secret valley straight out of a children's adventure book. the place I'd always wanted to run away to. (I still do).
I'm sorry, what with dinner booked and no tripod and no time to really drink it in, the pics have come out a long way short of what it was like.
Much too beautiful to do in a hurry. I could have stayed days and nights and we did the whole walk in about 1&1/2 hours. Stupid. But we didn't know.
It was somewhere up there

Forgot to mention knotted and gnarled old pines


The way back.

On the way back down, I practically skipped along. Some years ago Barney made walking sticks for a while and I claimed one for myself. On rocky downhill treks it's like having something halfway between an extra leg and eyes in your feet. Felt quite mountain goatlike and very pleased with myself for having got up to the meadow in the first place.

Day 4

Breakfast at Loch View is good we've decided (smoked salmon and scrambled egg on the menu) (but the coffee is horrible)
We decided to go and book a steam train ride from Fort William to Mallaig for tomorrow but found it was booked up till Friday when we're going back. Disappointment loomed and we wandered sadly up the platform to drool over the engine (that's Barney not me) and sit down. Discovered that you can get late bookings too. So queued up and got two for today. Yay, we're going on the Hogwarts Express! It is really the train and track used in the Harry Potter film. I suppose that's a bit cool?So. got tickets for today, had a parking panic and a flurry of seat searching and settled in opposite 3 chinese ladies, who semed to me to be daughter, mother and grandmother..Barney thought mother and aunt. Whichever, they were, respectively, chatty, smiley and smiley and shortly after the train set off, they all fell asleep! But not before a little animated chinese conversation in which the words Harry Potter and Hogwarts featured.
You can't turn a corner in this part of the world without seeing yet another fabulous view. As well as the famous viaduct we passed several scenes from Local Hero (I remember watching the film and thinking Iwould like to go there!). the weather was brilliant.
Mallaig was quite nice though not particularly picturesque and the hoped for views of Egg and Skye and other islands were obscured by the industrial / fishing areas of the port. But there were jelly fish in the harbour which I wasn't expecting!
We had a pleasant lunch. Barney beginning to feel a bit over fished (he seemed to have had fish at least once with every meal since we'd left Lancaster) but he had Langoustines anyway since they were advertised as world famous...clients have travelled hundreds of miles to eat our langoustines. Hmm. After tasting, we realised that we had also travelled hundreds of miles to eat them. Nothing so special about that then.
After a hasty visit to a Himalayan craft exhibition (in Scotland? Well why not) yielded 2 pairs of thin trousers for Barney but nothing for me, we hurried back to our train and this time, I got myself a window by a door and stood there popping head and camera out of the window whenever it looked safe (dire warnings about possible decapitation by passing vegetation and rocks notwithstanding).
Minutes before we crossed the viaduct which features apparently in the Harry Potter film (if, like me, you've not seen the film, you need to know that it's pretty impressive in its own right) my battery ran out. Of course while I rushed to the compartment to change it, I lost my (by now) coveted window space. The viaduct curves elegantly and conveniently in such a way that you can lean out and take a picture of the train going across and both Harry Potter and steam train fans were all determined to get that shot! the corridors were briefly seething wth camera waving tourists.
Anyway, my space had been snaffled by a very elegant, poised indian lady who cheerfully offered to let me have a turn after she'd taken her picture. And naturally, the train went slowly enough to allow everyone a good chance at the picture..it is one of the big selling points of the ride after all.
So we both did our shots, and compared notes and agreed that it was all very lovely.By this time I was a bit tired of standing so went back to sit with our chinese ladies, now very animated and cheerful. Saw three herons sailing majestically across Loch Eil but there wasn't time to get the camera out again so I just enjoyed the sight.
(To be continued)*


*Because I'm knackered and there's a whole lot more of day 4 to come. At least I think there is. I might have got some days mixed up.