Fort Augustus

A beautiful start to the morning, the sun giving light, but little warmth. Out in the loch we could see the heads of the seals popping up above the surface of the water. One young seal climbed onto a nearby rock, causing great excitement, and a flurry of photography. Just before we left this morning a gaggle of geese congregated in the shallows, emitting a cacophony of noise. Marge thought the word was out that she was in the area. No, Marge, they meet here every day for their elevenses.

Next stop Inverness. As we travelled the last few miles of the north coast 500, we passed near the Cromarty Firth where we saw lots of redundant oil rigs.

An eyesore of giant twisted metal. Not exactly 'a room with a view' as far as the nearby homes were concerned. Back at Inverness, we stopped at Tesco for a 'big shop', then visited a campsite where we paid £2.50 to sort out Marge's ablutions. With no guide book showing us our route and pointing out sights we should see, we were now on our own to plan our onward journey.

Fancy seeing the Loch Ness Monster Marge?

As we drove alongside the loch Angela spotted an AA Sentry Box, the second we'd seen whilst we've been away. A blast from the past. She remembered it was featured in her Michelin I Spy Book of The Road. Loch Ness did not really do it for us. It is a large expanse of water, with mountains to one side and no monster. You'd think by now they would have a model of the cryptozoological monster bobbing about. But no, not a Nessie in sight. It soon became quite apparent that we would find nowhere suitable to stop for the night, as the illusive monster had given the area celebrity status, and wild camping motorhomes were not considered a suitable backdrop.

So, when we reached Fort Augustus we booked on to a campsite. Marge is a little confused. Money has been spent on her overnight accommodation.

As for us, we're living the dream, long hot showers, fish and chip supper, what's not to like?

The site is right in the centre of Fort Augustus, near to the Caledonian Canal and a spectacular flight of locks. Our neighbours here have today returned by ferry from the Outer Hebrides. We had already thought next year we might like to return to Scotland at some point to travel between the islands. At the moment we are eighty-three miles from the Isle of Skye, we could feel Marge pulling us in its direction when she saw the road sign, as we arrived in Fort Augustus.

Tomorrow we will head towards Harry Potter land, Fort William and the Jacobite steam train known also so as The Hogwarts Express.