The High Road North - Part Two: Just that little bit further...

So. Last time we set out from the end of the Long High Road and set out on the High Road North. But in purely geographical terms we didn't get all that far, pausing as we did to examine the town of Fort William, a town which for all its charms fails to light our fire.

For us, the main reason for visiting Fort William is not the town itself but its environs. The area around Fort William is exquisite - dominated by the glowering hulk of Ben Nevis (Bheinn Nibheis  in Gaelic, pronounced basically the same way), it's a magnet for walkers, mountain bikers, ice climbers, rock climbers and folk interested in pretty much every kind of outdoor pursuit. Except caving. So far as I know there aren't any of those in Lochaber - what with it being all volcanic and that.

I've never climbed Ben Nevis. I probably will at some point, I like climbing hills and of course Ben Nevis is the biggest one we've got on these islands of ours. Not that the mountain's fame is always a good thing. Because it's the biggest, a lot of people go up there. Because a lot of people go up there, there is a pretty substantial path for most of the way. Because there's a pretty substantial path for most of the way, people who don't do a lot of walking see the path and think it must be an easy stroll.

It isn't.

This of course should come as no surprise. I mean it's the biggest mountain in Britain! Many people every year are surprised, it would seem. The clue is also in the name. Bheinn is Gaelic for "Mountain" - which of course is why every hill in Scotland is called "Ben something or other". "Nibheis" translates variously as "venemous" or "Malicious". You'd think that people would take the hint.

They really don't though. Although I've never climbed to the top, I have driven to the car park that sits on the lower slopes. From there, I have observed people setting out on a warm summer's day (they do happen in Lochaber, honest) to ascend the highest peak in all of Britain unencumbered by map or waterproof, clad in flimsy tee-shirts and - I kid you not - flip flops! Not most, not even many, but the fact that there are any is testament to the lack of respect and understanding so many people have of the dangers of the hill.

It strikes me as unlikely at best that anyone setting out to conquer the summit in beach-wear ever actually makes it, and it is my fervent hope that they see sense and turn back after a relatively short distance, and that they do not swell the ranks of the  people who are rescued by the Lochaber Mountain Rescue teams or the Royal Navy's search and rescue Sea King Helicopter**. Even the well equipped and experienced can be caught out in places like this, where the weather can change in a matter of minutes and the temperature can drop faster than Harrod's prices in January.

Head past the road up the Ben and out along the road north and you soon find yourself out of the town and heading towards the southern reaches of the Great Glen - that immense chasm that cuts Scotland in half diagonally from Fort William on the West Coast to Inverness on the East. There are a couple of things to see before you get there though. For a start, as you leave the semi-industrial outskirts of the town behind you come to the junction of the A82 and the A830, which runs westwards to the little fishing port of Mallaig, from whence you can catch a ferry to the Isle of Skye.

It's a beautiful drive, the road criss-crossing with the railway which carries both regular diesel electric trains, but also a brace of fabulous steam engines - one of which featured as the Hogwarts express in various bits of the Harry Potter films.  It's a tempting diversion - although I can't really understand why you'd go all that way to catch a ferry to Skye when there's a perfectly good bridge, Mallaig is pretty nice though, and the drive would be worth it on its own.

We weren't going that way however, so I'll probably go into more detail about the delights to be had along the Mallaig Road at some other time. We were pressing on northwards through the rain, passing by Nevis range as we sped towards Spean Bridge. If you have even a passing interest in Mountain Bikes, you really, really really need to stop off at the  Nevis range, two or three miles outside Fort William. I'm more of an urban cyclist myself, and have never really explored the joys of screaming downhill on a pushbike at more than forty miles an hour over rough terrain that could pitch me over the handlebars at any second smashing my skull like an egg against the hard, unforgiving granite bones of a mountain.

I can't imagine why.

What I have done, however is sit in the car park where several of the more insane downhill bike trails finish and watch other people doing just that. As a fattish forty-something, I confess that I can occasionally be made to feel a little physically inadequate by the super fit biker types who sit on the tailgates of their cars gearing up for their rides - all natural tans and muscle tone, but the spectacle they provide once they've reached the top of the trail and started their descent is enough to make me forgive them for being the uber-fit stud muffins I no longer am*.

As I say, if you're feeling particularly energetic you can take your bike up the trail and have a go yourself, or you can have a go at the slightly less life threatening, more level bike trails on offer. If , as we were, you're in the mood for a bit of relaxation then you can take the easy route up and down the hill.

The Nevis range boasts a rather spectacular gondola system which won't take you to the top, but will get you about half way up. Lazy bikers can buy a one way ticket, lazy pedestrians can ride all the way up, pause for some light refreshments in the cafe and a browse around the gift shop, then ride all the way back down again. The views are spectacular when the weather is good, although the experience is not recommended for the faint hearted on windy days, when a certain amount of swinging around is to be expected. However, we were headed further into the north, and certainly were not contemplating any strenuous bike related activity. Apart from anything else, on the day we made the drive it was absolutely chucking it down - possibly the worst day of weather we had over the whole expedition.

By the time you're past the Nevis Range Fort William is behind you and you're beginning to approach the Great Glen, that great diagonal rift that cuts Scotland in two. First though you need to follow the road through the village of Spean Bridge and up the hill that takes you to the Commando Memorial which will be our starting point for the next phase of the Long Road North.

*Oh, alright. Never was.

**Soon sadly to be replaced by a private company as part of the defence cuts. Just don't get me started on how disgraceful this is.