Tuesday, July 12th, 2016 — 24km / 15miles.
I set off just before 9am for this, the longest leg, of the Loch Ness Round Walk. Alison decided not to walk today and to take the bus to Drumnadrochit. Probably a good decision given the distance and accumulated elevation gain this day.
The morning started with a steep climb on a zig-zag road out of Invermoriston, into the forest and to the sign where the high-level and low-level routes part. I again opted for the high trail, much more fun! The path kept climbing for quite sometime, through remnant of Caledonian pine forest, with a few steep sections, but nothing too strenuous. Higher up it went through moorland, where I came across ‘The Viewcatcher’: tree branches woven into a circle to highlight the superb views. Soon I got to the highest point of the Great Glen Way, at 415m (1360ft) – as mentioned nothing too strenuous. From there it was easy going across the slopes back into the forest. Another stone windbreak with fine views of Loch Ness was enjoyed for lunch. Eventually the high and low level routes joined again and continued through forest. Around 1pm I left the nice trails to walk quite some distance on and along roads. There were some long and rather boring stretches of this until I reached Lewiston and finally Drumnadrochit. Just short of 3pm I arrived at the Benleva Hotel where Alison was waiting for me. Initially the hotel disappointed me (being assigned a room where they had just finished painting the door – they were still cleaning up – which caused a lingering paint smell all evening, didn’t help), but eventually the place grew on me. We enjoyed dinner a the Fiddlers Highland Restaurant in the town center. This was our last evening together as Alison was leaving the UK the next day.
