Day 1 Great Glen Way Fort William to Gairlochy

Today is Fort William to Spean Bridge.

The Start

We start the Great Glen Way at McDonald's as one does!! Well the start of the GGW is near the golden arches at what remains of the Fort.
It then does a pretty characteristic feature of most great trails, it goes in quite the opposite direction ti it's final destination-Inverness.
Inverness is to the north east so it start by going north west! Go figure. It takes us past Inverlochy Castle, quite a nice old ruin.
Eventually the GGW joins up with the Caledonian Canal, which we walk along all day. It rather like walking a fire trail, only flatter.
It's quite pretty, though the walking gets a sameness that becomes a slog, especially towards the 17 km mark. My feet hurt and my quads are really sore from the previous days exertions.

Neptunes Staircase

We look over fields and the River Lochy. We walk past Neptunes Staircase, the eight locks that lift the canal level from the west to the level of Loch Lochy. It's all of 19.5 metres and is our hill of the day.
I must say the weather is terrific and we walk in short sleeves.

Ben Nevis nude

Bloody Ben Nevis is there for all to see without a skeric of cloud or mist all day. Today would have been they day to summit. Such is life.
The day finishes at Gairlochy, another set of locks at the start to Loch Lochy where we go on tomorrow. There is a funny lighthouse there. We've had enough walking and summon our hosts from Spean Bridge to pick us up. They are only six kilometres away, of the GGW. Too far with sore feet.
Our room is quite comfy and we have wireless internet, yipee!