Glen Nevis

Wednesday we went out to a place I would never ever have gone to on my own, but looking back on it I'm so very glad I did. Allow me to explain. Siri had a travel guide which described a waterfall she thought sounded nice, so being ever the gullible and good companion, I decided to trot along. Well, strictly speaking I had to, since the place lay a couple of miles outside Fort William, and she couldn't drive the rental car (cuz girls apparently can't drive on the left, neener neener).

So we set off and drove into an ever narrower valley. The road curved and swerved like a drunken Scot and sheep roamed freely in the road. After a while two lanes became one and several times we thought "this must be the end", but no, it kept going. Finally, we came to a parking lot where the road stopped and went out. Keep in mind that at this point I still thought it was a short stroll to the waterfall. Well, the slightly more than one mile described in Lonely Planet turned out to be 1.6 mile, largely straight up a fuckin' hillside.

I should have known what was waiting for me when I saw the sign warning of mortal danger, but being just too goddamn stupid I kept going along. Dear reader; I climbed, I scrambled, I wheezed, I fell. I walked over uneven rocks, stumbled over roots in the road and my shoes almost got stuck in swampy marshland. I crossed a river on a steel wire while holding on for dear life to two support wires. I skipped from rock to rock at the bottom of a waterfall and thus crossed the river yet again. I then had to cross the main stream yet again, but not wanting to risk life and limb a second time on the wire I just thought "fuck this" and walked across in shallow water and got absofuckinlutely soaked. Then I stumbled and crawled and rambled down the hill to the car again (it took appx 35 mins to walk down, I have no idea how long it took up).

We then drove to the nearest restaurant, where I stuffed face on chicken fajitas (I was famished by now) and back at the hotel again I wolfed down a cheesecake. Because I deserved it. My shoes are still wet from crossing the stream so I've had to resort to sandals for now (and it's been pissing down Thursday). But the scenery up in that valley, with the waterfall and everything was just stunning. It's the kind of place where I would love to go again, maybe with some food and water stuffed in a backpack or sumfin', and at least now I know what's waiting for me.

All Scotland 2013 pics here.

Think I'm kidding? This sign stood where the path took off from the parking lot.


It was a steep climb up the hillside.


Some of the trees along the way were straight out of a fairy tale.


As were the rocks way down below in the river.


Very purdy flowers made the walk a little lighter. Also, they smelled mighty nice.


After the climb up the hillside, the valley opened up onto a river plain with the waterfall at the far end.


Siri crossed the stream first.


These three pics were taken by Siri with her camera. Proof positive that I did actually cross over on the fuckin' wire. At first I was very tentative.


Head down, tongue sticking ever so slightly out of the corner of my mouth.


Sweet effin' fuck, let this be over.