Great Glen Way: Fort Augustus to Invermoriston

Fort Augustus and the old fort

The town of Fort Augustus nestles at the southern end of Loch Ness, about halfway between Fort William and Inverness. It was a small settlement called Kiliwhimin before General Wade built a fort at this strategic point immediately after the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion. A small village grew up around the fort and this flourished even after the fort was abandoned.

The fort was sold on to Benedectine Monks who founded Fort Augustus Abbey in 1876, which they later converted into a school. Sadly this closed in the 1990s, and the site is now privately owned.

Fort Augustus village is dominated by a flight of lochs that takes the Caledonian Canal down into Loch Ness. There are several shops, and accommodation is provided by many B&B's and hotels, all of which are ideal for walkers on the Great Glen Way. Nothing is finer than sitting outside a pub beside the locks, supping a pint whilst scrawling on postcards and watching boats slowly rising and falling.

Loch Ness

Loch Ness possibly has to be the most famous location in the entirety of Scotland, eclipsing even Edinburgh Castle in the public's imagination. Just the statistics are mind-blowing: it stretches for nearly 23 miles from Fort Augustus in the southwest to Inverness in the northeast; it is over 1.5 miles wide and is an incredible 230 metres deep. It contains more freshwater than all of the lakes in England and Wales combined.

Yet these figures are not why people visit. It takes a certain something for a place to develop a mythology, and Loch Ness has mythology in spades. It is far from the remotest place in Scotland and the scenery, although grand, is far from the best the country has to offer. So why is it so popular?

The answer is a little sighting made in 1933.

The A82 main road follows the northern shoreline of the loch, whilst the southern shore is much less accessible and quieter for much of its length.

The Loch Ness Monster

The Loch Ness monster is a mythological beast which, like the Yeti, has managed to become an international phenomena. A monster was first reported in the seventh century by Saint Adomnan of Iona, although this was in the river rather than the loch itself. There was a long gap before the next believable sighting, when George Spicer and his wife saw a strange creature cross the road in front of their car. Other on-land sightings were seen until 1963, after which they have all been in the water.

Many photographs have been taken of the monster over the years, but some have been proved to be fakes or suspect whilst others are too grainy or inconclusive. I am a great sceptic and am all too aware that the human mind is exceptionally able at making connection between arbitrary events (just think of the Rorschach test), and it is all too easy to dismiss most of the sightings.

I am not alone. Most scientists believe that the Loch Ness Monster does not really exist; that even the lake's vastness is too small to feed and hide such a large beast. Yet knowledge of science is irrelevant as you stand next to the shore and find your gaze roaming hopefully across the water, looking for odd ripples and wondering, for a moment, what lurks underneath.

A great deal of tourism around the northern shore of Loch Ness depends on the mystique around the monster, and it is possible to buy Loch Ness Monster tea-towels, shirts and even, God forbid, Tam o' Shanters.

Invermoriston and St Columba's Well

Invermoriston is a small village nestled on the northern bank of Loch Ness. Sitting amongst forested hillsides around the mouth of the River Moriston, it is perhaps most famous for the fantastic twin-arches of Telford's bridge over rapids on the river. The bridge was completed in 1813 after a rather prolonged construction; it was replaced by the modern bridge nearby in the 1930s, leaving the magnificent structure traffic-free.

St Columba's Well is very easy to miss; it is situated in a little hollow right beside the main road in the village. It is rumoured (and can be little more than a rumour) that local druids placed a curse on the well, and St Columba defied them by drinking from it.

The village has a hotel, the Glenmoriston Arms Hotel, a post office and a large free car park.