Macclesfield to Fort William
Daily total: 335 miles
A lot of miles to get through today, so a swift start. Elevenses found us at Tebay services near Shap and from there we just hammered on, through Glasgow, past Loch Lomond and right up to Crianlarich before our next stop. It was a little bit further than I perhaps should have done in one hit as I was getting a bit tired towards the end. Note to self: stick to 2 hour bursts in future. However, from there it was only an hour to Fort William. The weather has been heavy showers and sunshine all day, just as predicted, which has made for some spectacular scenery, especially between Crianlarich and Fort William as we drove through Glencoe and skirted Glen Etive. I can understand why the landscape photographers love this area, though the pressure to get a move on prevented me from stopping in more than a couple of spots. When we eventually did reach Fort William, our hotel (Alexandria Hotel) was easy to find as it was alongside the road overlooking Loch Leven. After tea I braved the showers to walk round the town.
Seemed a bit of a sad place, especially on a wet Sunday night, but then I suspect you could say that about a lot of places, (not Sheffield where I live though, which seems to be hopping on a Sunday night – I suspect University towns are always more exciting?). Eventually I gave up for the evening and returned to the hotel.