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You may view the information for ALL the towns and villages
in the Fort William area (the page may be very large)
or
You can view your
preferred location from the list on the left.
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The wild west coast of Scotland is one of
the most spectacular regions of Britain and even though it is
occasionally shrouded in real-life Scotch mist it is never
less than inspirational.
With a haunting combination of mountains, lochs, winding roads
and remote villages, it attracts hordes of climbers, artists,
poets, skiers, boaters, walkers and photographers as well as
the usual crowd of sightseers.
Its majestic landscapes, ever-changing
skies and joyous coastline vie for attention with historic
attractions that hold an important key to unlocking the
stirring history of the Highlands.
The most obvious place from which to
explore this multi-layered vastness is Fort William, a
bustling town lying at the foot of the United Kingdom’s
highest mountain, Ben Nevis.
Situated on the eastern shore of Loch Linnhe at the southern
end of the Great Glen in the district of Lochaber, the town
developed around an earth-and-wattle fort built by General
Monk in 1655 as a bastion against the rebellious Scots during
the English Civil War.
Rebuilt in stone during the turbulent reign of William 111,
the fortress withstood attacks by Jacobites only to fall
victim to the creation of a Highland railway in 1864.
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Beyond the town is an internationally
famous mountain bike track. Each year the town stages a
round of the Mountain Bike World Cup, a mountain festival
and a Highland games.
Fort William is both the finishing point of the West
Highland Way, which runs for 95 miles from the outskirts
of Glasgow, taking in the shores of Loch Lomond,
Scotland’s largest freshwater lake, and the terminus of
the Great Glen Way, which runs to Inverness.
At the 4,000ft summit of the Grampian peak of Ben Nevis
stands the ruins of an observatory used in the 19th
century to collect crucial meteorological data. |
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Ben Nevis
Photo:
David Crocker |
Close to Fort William is beautiful Loch
Leven, the stunning (and spooky) valley of Glencoe - scene of
the infamous Glencoe massacre – and the Road to the Isles,
which heads west to the Atlantic Ocean. The town of Mallaig, a
one-time herring port, has a ferry linking the mainland to the
magical Isle of Skye.
The nearby town of Inverlochy was formerly
the region’s main human settlement and its 13th century ruined
castle was the site of the bloody Battle of Inverlochy in 1645
in which Royalist forces defeated an army of Highland
warriors.
To the north of Fort William is Glen Spean
and the Great Glen area as well as Invergarry, an alternative
route to Skye. Offering some of wildest and most rugged
scenery in Britain, the area boasts Loch Ness and the
Caledonian Canal.
The Ardnamurchan peninsula is the most
westerly area of the British mainland. Often remote and always
atmospheric, it is a place of single tracks roads, crofts and
near-deserted beaches. Here are eye-popping vistas that take
in the silhouettes of some of the Scottish isles, including
Eigg, Rum and Muck.
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In the far north of the peninsula
stands Eilean Donan Castle, one of Scotland’s most
photographed buildings. The eerie edifice stands on a
small island at the junction of three sea lochs in the
village of Dornie.
It was created in the 13th century to
guard the lands of Kintail but was virtually destroyed in
a Jacobite uprising in 1719 and lay in ruins until it was
restored in the early 20th century.
Eilean Donan Castle
Photo:
Dominic Moore |
Beyond Dornie lies the charming village of
Kyle of Lochalsh at the entrance to Loch Alsh. Two miles
further on is the modern road bridge that leads to
Skye.Together with the nearby fishing village of Plockton,
Kyle of Lochalsh was the main setting for the BBC drama series
‘Hamish MacBeth’.
Wherever you turn on this giant peninsula
there is something fresh to see and experience.
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