Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and some nonseafood dishes. For warm days, there's an outdoor terrace with a view
across the loch to the Pap of Glencoe, a distinctive conical mountain.
Getting There & Away
Stagecoach (
Click here
)
bus 44 runs from Fort William to Kinlochleven (50 minutes,
hourly Monday to Saturday, three on Sunday) via Ballachulish and Glencoe village.
Fort William
POP 9910
Basking on the shores of Loch Linnhe amid magnificent mountain scenery, Fort William
has one of the most enviable settings in the whole of Scotland. If it wasn't for the busy
dual carriageway crammed between the town centre and the loch, and one of the highest
rainfall records in the country, it would be almost idyllic. Even so, the Fort has carved out
a reputation as 'Outdoor Capital of the UK' (
www.outdoorcapital.co.uk
), and its easy ac-
cess by rail and bus makes it a good place to base yourself for exploring the surrounding
mountains and glens.
Magical
Glen Nevis
begins near the northern end of the town and wraps itself around
the southern flanks of
Ben Nevis
(1344m) - Britain's highest mountain and a magnet for
hikers and climbers. The glen is also popular with movie makers - parts of
Braveheart,
Rob Roy
and the
Harry Potter
movies were filmed there.
History
There is little left of the fort from which the town derives its name. The first castle here
was constructed by General Monck in 1654 and called Inverlochy, but the meagre ruins by
the loch are those of the fort built in the 1690s by General Mackay and named after King
William II/III. In the 18th century it became part of a chain of garrisons (along with Fort
Augustus and Fort George) that controlled the Great Glen in the wake of the Jacobite re-
bellions; it was pulled down in the 19th century to make way for the railway.
Originally a tiny fishing village called Gordonsburgh, the town adopted the name of the
fort after the opening of the railway in 1901 (in Gaelic it is known as An Gearasdan, 'the
garrison'). The juxtapostion of the railway and the Caledonian Canal saw the town grow
into a major tourist centre. Its position has been consolidated in the last three decades by
the huge increase in popularity of climbing, skiing, mountain biking and other outdoor
sports.
