Invermoriston to Drumnadrochit

16 May 2012 - Invermoriston to Drumnadochit

Distance - 15.3 miles

Weather - Dry, occasionally sunny and warm!!

We stayed at - Greenlea B&B, The Village Green, Drumnadrochit, Inverness-shire, IV63 6TX
Cost £65.00

Quite a hilly one today, with an elevation profile rivaling the bigger days of the WHW. Straight out the hotel and you're steep up hundred metres or so, then gradually coming down to within 40m of Loch Ness. The first two thirds of the day was in forest, some hemmed in, some with open vistas, and some looking up at the hillside beside you.

We dawdled along, stopping to talk to a couple of guys we'd seen back at the Eagle barge/pub. They'd started at Fort William the same very rainy day as us, but were intending to camp along the way. When they got to Gairlochy all their gear, sleeping bags included, were soaked. They were unhappy and freezing and wet. They would have given up, except that they were able to hire a caravan at the campsite for the rest of the week - consequently they were taking the bus one way every day.

Views looking into the forest

Generally the walk was quite high up, and we found a nice bench to sit and sun

Views of Loch Ness

ourselves on for a while - the only time it happened that whole fortnight, as I remember.

The last third of the day was different. We came out of the mostly evergreen forest and climbed through an open, older looking woodland, almost entirely deciduous in nature. Then we followed an access road along the flat top of the hill. Although we were not far from Loch Ness, it was hidden by the hillside.

Then there was a steep descent to Drumnadrochit, where we found our B&B right in the heart of the village. 

Drumnadrochit is the self proclaimed capital of all things 'Nessie'. There are two competing tourist trap centres, one which looked long established, the other, more brighly coloured, appeared to cater for people with shorter attention spans. Apart from that, there are several restaurants and cafes, and - as far as we can tell - no pubs. 'The Fiddler's' which somehow specialises in whiskey turned out to be a restaurant, which was a disappointment.

It also started to rain after we got here. We've temporarily renamed the village 'Drumnadrookit,' but from the forecast it looks like it's US that'll be drookit tomorrow.

For people doing the GGW tomorrow is a long 20 miles to Inverness, but we take a left turn here, heading west to Tomich.