The High Road North - Part one, starting in Fort William

The Caravan Club site at Bunree sits at the northern end of what, in an earlier posting, I called "The Long High Road", just a few miles south of the little town of Fort William. But in truth, the road north has a long way to run from there and when there's time, there is nothing finer than to carry on going and just follow it.

To do this, all you have to do is drive to the site gate and turn left - and if you do that you're almost  immediately faced with an alternative choice. About two or three hundred yards down the road you could turn left again, towards the loch. Now, unless your car is amphibious this is generally not conducive with further travel, but here your left turn will take you to the Corran Narrows - pretty much the narrowest point in Loch Linnhe - and here the loch is traversed by a ferry which will take you, your bike or your car across to the other side. Bikes and pedestrians travel free. I can't remember how much motor cycles cost, but it'll cost you £7.30 to take your car. Larger vehicles and caravans cost more.

And why would you want to spend so much money to get to the other side?

Well, to reach the same point on the opposite bank without using the ferry involves a pretty hefty detour of at least a hundred miles and a couple of hours, and from the ferry landing you can go on to explore the peninsula of Ardnamurchan. We explored this wild and - I have to say crazy - place a couple of years ago. I might get around to telling you about it at some point, but for now let's just say it was a very strange day out. Pink Stetsons and balloons were involved...

 I can confirm that the place is worth a visit though. The lighthouse at the end of the Ardnamurchan point is spectacular - looking almost like an Egyptian column - and you can climb to the very top, from where there is one ­heck of a view. There also aren't many places in Britain where you can drive across an extinct volcano that still looks like a volcano...

We were up for no such diversions however, and carried on into Fort William. The town takes its name from "Fort William", the fortified garrison built on the instructions of William of Orange (the bloke the MacDonalds of Gencoe were massacred for not swearing fealty to quickly enough, if you remember) and is known in Gaelic as An Gearasdan, literally "The Garrison", underlining the town's military origins. The town has had other names, some connected to local land owners, some designed to be less militaristic, but none have stuck. You can still see the remains of the old Fort, tucked away at the far end of the waterfront near the McDonald's and the Morrison's. In many, many years of driving past it, I don't think I've ever seen a single living soul investigating its apparently unloved walls.

The town itself, it seems, was not always named for the fort, but was once known as "Maryburgh", after the wife of William of Orange, and the "Mary" half of the "William and Mary" dual monarchy. This only seems fair - it was after all Mary who had the legitimate claim to the throne. William only got a look in because he was married to her and it seems that attitudes at the time were fine with the idea that he couldn't reasonably be expected to be a mere consort while his wife held real power, so he was allowed to become king.

All I'll say about that is that it seems to vindicate Queen Elizabeth 1st's decision to remain unmarried. And, now I come to think about it, he got the bit with the soldiers and she got the domestic bit? Yet more sexism!

By the standards of England and Southern Scotland, Fort William isn't very big - although some of its flaws are, I regret to say. For a start, if ever there was a town in need of more sensible town planning, this is it. The A82, the main road running north up the western side of Scotland runs right the way through it. It's the only town of any size for miles in any direction. It ought to be literally raking in the tourism money. But for reasons I'll never quite understand Fort William has been designed to present its least attractive face to through traffic, and make take least possible advantage of its considerable natural assets.

Now. I can understand why you wouldn't want a busy road like the A82 running slap through the centre of your town - it makes sense that the planners sent it around the edge. But they have what must be pretty much the only dual carriageway section of the whole road running between the town and the lochside!

That's right folks - to get from the town to the water you have to cross four lanes of traffic. The remains of the Eponymous fort which gives the settlement both its English and Gaelic names is also on the wrong side of the road. Surprisingly not many people have bothered to set up businesses that take advantage of the fort and shoreline. I cannot imagine why...

Surely now, in the twenty first century it must have occurred to somebody that a vibrant waterfront would be an asset? Indeed, the people who own the numerous bed and breakfast establishments which line the Lochside along the road into Fort William from the south have figured out the attraction. The views across Loch Linnhe are nothing short of stunning, and yet in order to see them you have to cross a major road. It's odd.

This most inappropriate  and unhelpful of town bypasses is only the start of Fort Williams' crimes against town planning. The A82 runs parallel to the town's main street - most of which is now pedestrianised. Sadly, this means that anyone driving through Fort William on the A82 - which is pretty much everyone who travels north up the west side of Scotland-sees the backs of all the buildings on the main street.

Let's just say that the main street is not presenting its best face to the world.

An actual walk down the main street doesn't do all that much to raise the spirits. There are a number of interesting and well presented shops - but there are also a lot of empty ones. On our most recent visit in July of 2013 I counted 14 empty store fronts, many with deadened whitewashed windows, or worse the tattered remnants of "Closing Down Sale" posters which give the whole place a slightly forlorn air. There are some good things to be found on the street though. At one end you have a small grassy area in front of the church (or if you prefer, in front of the Nevisport outdoor shop, which is at ninety degrees to the church - given that outdoor pursuits are basically a religion in these parts this seems strangely appropriate) which seems to be the designated location for town monuments. Right in front of the church stands a life sized statue of Donald Cameron atop a tall slender but craggy plinth.

 

Donald Cameron of Lochiel (1835-1905) was the 24th Chief of the Cameron Clan, Lord Lieutenant of Inverness-shire, and also that county's member of parliament. His statue was erected by "clansmen and friends as an acknowledgement of his humanity and his esteem and their respect for the noble gentleman."

Next to him stands a squat little arch which houses a head sized bell which originally hung in the town hall but was moved to this location when the town hall burned down. The bell arch now stands as a permanent testament to the eternal friendship between the peoples of Fort William, Hiroshima and Dudley.

Yes. Yes, that struck me as an odd combination too.

I mean, I understand that many towns have formed links with Hiroshima. If you want to promote peace and highlight the horrors of war few places on Earth provide a more apposite example than Hiroshima. Likewise, although I have never been there, I have no doubt that Dudley is a perfectly nice place. Lenny Henry comes from there, for a start. Yes, that is the only thing I know about Dudley - it just seems odd to find somewhere so seemingly remote from the Highlands should be linked in such an apparently random way. I bet there's an interesting story there...

There are high points here - about half way down the main street there is a little square which is home to a fine museum, which I most certainly commend to you. The West Highland Museum is one of the best local museums we've ever visited, with exhibitions relating to the fort, local archaeology, Military History, the Victorians and the evolution of the outdoor pursuits scene in the area. Intimate, informative, entertaining and enthralling - and FREE! We loved this little treasure house which seems to us to be the very essence of what a small museum should be.

The far end of the street also marks the official end of the West Highland Way, the oldest official long distance footpath in Scotland, having been conceived in the seventies and inaugurated in nineteen eighty. It runs from Milngavie (basically north Glasgow) to Fort William following old drovers' ways, military roads and other ancient routes. I say that Fort William marks the end, because the tradition with this trail is to walk it from south to north. I suppose there is no reason why you can't walk it the other way around, but the simple fact is that the tradition is partly rooted in the fact that if you start in Glasgow and head north you avoid having the sun in your eyes for the week it takes to walk the trail.

And before you say it, Scotland is frequently a very sunny place.

There's a rather cheerful looking sculpture of a walker sitting on a bench to mark the route's end, and I hope his cheerfulness starts to rub off on the rest of his surroundings. I have a real soft spot for Fort William. It is at the heart of one of the most spectacular areas of Scotland, and for us at least marks the beginning of what we think of as the "real" highlands. But still, the call of the north is strong, and we were on our way to new adventures. But the rest of the road north is the subject of the next post - hope to see you then...