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Day Trip from Fort William

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My parents (~55 years old) as well as my sister and I (~25) are going to be in Scotland in late June and want to focus on hiking and history. I think overall the itinerary looks doable, but I am worried about too much time in a car on one specific day. I have seen many comments about how drives always take longer than expected and would love some opinions on whether the loop should be attempted.

I was planning to do this drive:

  • Start from AirBnB in Fort William
  • Aviemore/Glenmore area in the Cairngorms (a British friend suggested a hike)
  • Do a distillery tour or tasting in the Speyside area (open to recommendations nearish the A-9)
  • Hit Clava Cairns and Culloden before getting to Inverness for dinner (recommendations would be great) and rest
  • Then, drive down A82 past Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle (will we be able to walk the grounds later in the evening?), and Fort Augustus on the way back to Fort William

All in, google maps says it's about a 178 mile, 4.5 hour drive and I'm sure it will be longer once boots are on the ground. I really would like to see all of these sights, but am open to other day trips and hikes closer to Fort William. We will have done a full day Isles tour from Oban the day before, meaning we may be tired of sitting but will have only driven ~2.5 hours total. Stirling and Glencoe are also already covered but Glencoe could be revisited, and we will go through Glenfinnan to Skye the next day.

Posted by
7380 posts

We had 2 nights in Fort William, and my husband, 55 at the time, planned to hike up Ben Nevis, the highest point in the UK, which is very close. Unfortunately, he woke up that morning feeling very under the weather, and spent the day in bed. He’s been up lots of mountains around the world, but The Ben eluded him that trip. Maybe next time …

Posted by
1323 posts

You can walk to Neptunes Staircase, an impressive seven locks.

Take the Jacobite train (aka the "Harry Potter Train") to Mallaig.

Posted by
5841 posts

The obvious distillery on this route is Dalwhinnie, which is on the line of route just as you join the A9. But there are several on Speyside proper.

You don't say how long your walk is, but this feels to me like a very full and very long day. If you're having dinner in Inverness then driving home down the Loch/Glen afterwards it's a 12 hour or more day after a long day the previous day.
It's an observation, I'm not really sure I would do it, but understand that you have come a long way and want to maximise a probably inadequate amount of time in the area.

https://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/dalwhinnie-distillery-visitor-centre-whisky-shop-p418511

You'll be missing things like going up to the Cairngorm Railway, seeing the Ospreys at Boat of Garten, the Strathspey railway, I'm not sure you'll have much time to visit the highland town of Grantown-on-Spey and other places I could mention.

Ideally I would have added at least one, possibly two days in the Aviemore area, but if the schedule doesn't allow that so be it.

You'll have been to Fort William, but not done any of the wonderful walking in the local area. I'll let Auchterless be more specific in the local area.
if you're looking for a scenic drive from Fort William you could do the Ardnamurchan peninsula, with the option to hop over to Mull on the Fishnish ferry , drive to Tobermory, and back over on the Kilchoan ferry- that part of Mull may or may not have been included the previous day but more than enough for the full day on Ardnamurchan.
I'll be interested to see comments by Auchterless or MC-Glasgow and others (which will be more detailed) and am trying not to duplicate them too much.
On the way to Skye don't miss Neptune's staircase just outside Fort William (the locks on the Caledonian canal) and the wonderful beaches at Morar/Arisaig.
Make time to see Mallaig- your ferry port across to Armadale on Skye. Give yourself time before the ferry to do so.

Posted by
1287 posts

Hi Madison -

I’d echo the above comments re hiking. It all depends how you define ‘hiking’ but for my money I think it would be a waste of a journey to traipse across to the Cairngorms to hike when you have so much sensational stuff in or around Fort William. However much of it is steep and rugged and will take up the better part of your day although the same can be said if the Cairngorms. The difference I suppose is that the Cairngorms in general are a vast upland plateau while the stuff around FortWilliam/Glencoe tends to be more individual peaks. Perhaps you can give a clue about what constitutes a hike for you then we can be a little more specific?

Ian

Posted by
14 posts

Thank you for the suggestions! That distillery looks like a great option. I'm sure it will partially depend on how people are feeling that morning and I'll play it by ear.

This was the trail that I originally hoped to do:

Meall a' Bhuachaille on AllTrails
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/scotland/highlands/meall-a-bhuachaille?u=i

I would likely do the full circuit while my parents do other hikes and activities avaliable at the same parking lot (reindeer and other easier walks) or do part of the hike as an out and back. Overall it should take 3.5 hours or ~4 if my parents are walking too.

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