We had a nice breakfast made up of fruit that Vicki had sent with us from the Manse. Evan did a great job of cutting it up and adding a few extra's.... delicious! We had a coffee and Kelly headed for the shower.
Evan gave me a rundown on local going's on and the first thing he said was the steam train goes over the canal at 10:20ish. This we had to see so I told Kelly the plan and she said she wanted to go as well, regardless of the state of her hair! This has never happened before!
So off we went, wet hair and all. With Evan guiding me to the best parking area, I felt as though I was having a Scottish Driving Test... and I passed!!
We waited beside the canal crossing as the steam train has to slow down to go over it. A small group of American tourist had bussed in and also waited for the train to cross. It's a thing here.
Steam Train Info here
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| Steam train going by... you can see Kelly in the scrum somewhere! |
The Caledonian Canal stretches some 60 miles (100 Km) and has 29 locks which, over the course of the trip, raises some 106 ft (32m). This canal passes right in front of their house. The spot we were in is called the Neptune's Staircase and just after the train went by, a ship appeared coming up the canal the swing bridge for the train as well as the road started to open up. Well it's not the Panama Canal but I finally get get to see a lock in action!! There are 8 locks in this section alone. Caledonian Canal info here
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| Heading up the canal. |
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| Coming into the lock. |
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| Lock controls for the gates. |
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| Once in the lock, the gates will close and water will be released into the lock from above. The water naturally flows downward to the sea and this makes it all work.. |
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| Yes it's raining!! |
After a quick hike about the area (and a geocache) we popped over to the Shell station and topped up the car for tomorrows trip to Glasgow. Quick and easy with a gas up and then pay inside scenario.
Evan directed us to the beginning of the canal called Corpach Lock and we walked around the area as the rain was coming down.
There is a twinning of the canal in Canada which is the Rideau Canal was highlighted by a large diagram.
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| The house is located at the P in Corpach. |
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| Pepper Mill Light House |
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| A little wet but the forecast looked good!! |
We drove home and had a cup of tea to help us dry out. Dinner arrangements were made and we headed out for a drive with Evan at the controls of his car. Both he and Liz pointed out various spots along the way as we headed to Glencoe for a bite of lunch. It was nice having tour guides who knew all the best spots!
This route would be exactly the same as ours the next day so that was helpful. We worked our way through town and past their old house (schoolhouse) that they had rebuilt many years ago.
We stopped at Crafts & Things at Glencoe and had a nice soup & sandwich in their back room... very good. We continued up the A82 and had a good view of the Three Sisters that lined the west side of the mountain range. Weather was good with high broken cloud that allowed the sun to peek through from time to time. It made the topography really pop! We eventually swung back at the Genitive turn around spot.
I grabbed a few pics as we came back down towards home.
The next stop, as we worked or way back home, was the trail head that led up to the Glencoe Lochan. Lots of salal planted many decades ago has grown up around the area. The story goes that Lord Strathcona brought his native wife Isabella from Canada here and in an effort to keep her happy, planted these to reminder her of her homeland.
We had a nice walk around the lake and enjoyed the fine weather. Next was a stop at a viewpoint at the top of Lundavra.
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| Great view! |
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| Kelly, Liz and Evan. |
We headed home and prepared for dinner. I took some pictures of the house & yard before I got ready.
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| Green house. |
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| Lots of growth in here!! |
Evan had made a reservation at the Ben Nevis Inn where the weary hikers would stop to eat & rest after a days hiking. We didn't hike but the lodge was very popular with good food & drink:-) Dinner was great and we ended up getting a cab ride home as we all had a few beverages.
We had a nightcap and enjoyed a little music as Kelly & Liz had worked on some musical tunes for some new students she had taken on. We also got organized with some packing as we head to Glasgow and then London tomorrow morning.
Off to bed.. exhausted!
Steps - 7,600
Weather - the morning was overcast with light drizzle 16ºc and the afternoon broken cloud with sunny periods and 18ºc.
