Wednesday 31 July

Today dawned with a grey sky and low cloud as we set off to Fort William. We followed the coast road and there was some beautiful scenery as I have come to expect from the west of Scotland. We crossed the Connel Bridge, one way,just out of Oban and later the Ballachulish Bridge.

We arrived in Fort William after a pleasant drive and wandered into the town to find somewhere for late morning tea. We then decided to drive to "Treasures of the Earth" a Gem and Fossil place as my friend is really into stones. It was quite interesting but I was a bit off colour today so was just hanging in. We then went to a place called Neptune's Staircase. This is a series of eight locks that will raise (or lower) boats between the sea loch (Linnie) and the fresh water lock (Lochy). There are eight locks in all and the height is 64 feet.

It was very interesting and we watched three boats being raised up as the water was released to raise the level between a pair of lock gates.

The people then pulled the rope attached to their boat and walked the boat into the next lock. The process being repeated to pass through all 8 locks. It took one and a half hours to do this.

The boats waiting at the top to make their way down included some spectacular sailing boats.

We then drove to our booked apartment and were very pleased with it. It was a self catering unit with lots of space and it would have made a great base if we had been staying longer. It was right at the foot of Ben Nevis,Scotland's highest mountain, but we never saw the top of it!!