Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Day 17 - The hunt for Nessie
Fort William to Beauly - 63 miles
Afterthebrutalityofthepreviousday'scyclingIsleptforninehoursstraight.Ben'ssleep
was somewhat shorter after his lengthy late-night communism tutorial with the Chinese stu-
dents.
Breakfast, on the other hand, was not one of my most memorable; a Londis tuna pasta
bake cooked in the hostel's microwave. They were already two days past their use-by date,
but we didn't have the heart to throw them out, or the desire to take them both with us. On
our way out, Tootie - who seemed to be on a 24-hour shift - gave us the packed lunches that
the chef had promised us.
TheA82wasmuchfriendlier oncethefoghadcleared. Thebank-holidaymakers wereall
still asleep, and so the road was almost deserted.
A few miles north of Fort William we passed a sign for the Nevis Range, which is one of
Scotland's main ski areas. Seeing as we were passing, we decided to call in and take a look.
We regretted this decision instantly, once we realised that it was actually a mile-long uphill
graft away from the main road.
I had always been very sceptical about Scottish ski resorts. I imagined them being little
hills with a couple of rickety drag-lifts transporting people the 15 metres to the top of the
slope.AttheNevisRangeIwasshockedtoseeseveralchairlifts,andanactualgondola.Not
the
'just one Cornetto'
type that you find in Venice, but a proper cable-car that stretched up
the mountain as far as we could see.
In the winter, it carries hundreds of skiers and snowboarders, and in the summer it trans-
ports hikers and mountain-bikers to the top.
'Let'sseeifwecangetafreetripupthemountain.Itmightbefuntocheckouttheview,'
I suggested.
'What would be the point in that?' asked Ben.
'I don't know. I just thought it would be nice to try and do these things while we're here.
It's unlikely we'll be passing through here again anytime soon.'
'But what's the point in going up a stupid mountain in a stupid cable-car?'
'I bet the views are brilliant from up there. You'd get to see all the mountains and lochs.'
'We've seen nothing but bloody mountains and stupid lochs for the last few days. I think
I've seen enough of them, to be honest. Also, look at the sky. It's going to chuck it down
soon and we'll have wasted loads of time pissing about up a stupid mountain.'
'I thought part of the point of this trip was to do fun things along the way, too?'
'Yeah, FUN being the operative word. There's nothing FUN about going up a big hill for
no reason.'
'Why are you in such a bad mood today?'
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