Day 679: Eight locks later

04/06/2023

This morning was an early start, we even had to wake up the kids, we must be going crazy. By 07:30 we were all dressed, the car was packed and we hit the road. Sadly after riding the Hogwarts Express and then completing the North Coast 500 road trip it was time to head back home. It had been an amazing time and was nice having Nail and Grandpa DAVE along for the ride, they certainly hit the ground sprinting. The kids certainly enjoyed their company. The whole adventure had been breathtaking, we were completely spoilt for views from start to finish. Grandpa DAVE thought the drive had “stunning spectacular scenery, hectic at time for the driver”.

We were still exhausted from yesterday’s efforts hiking through the clouds, luckily we got to rest our legs today. We zipped along the narrow windy single track leaving the beautiful Isle of Skye behind. We had been incredibly lucky with perfect weather throughout, it was nice driving along before the morning fog had lifted, it really transforms the place.

After a couple of hours, we were still going strong in the car, although King Lachlan was running out of car snacks. He was having a good chuckle to himself as we flew past his personal, Loch Lochy, no time for stopping this time though.

As we were approaching Fort William we were surprised to see ice on the top of the mountains still, especially after the weather we have recently had.

It was almost 10:00 by the time we all needed our first stop, we pulled into a cafe in Fort William for coffees and breakfast muffins, plus a classic game of frisbee rolling.

The kids are getting quite good with the frisbee. Eloise has almost nailed the direction, Lachlan is always a real mystery which of the 360° it will fire, but he has some serious power, it is hilarious to watch. Lachlan roulette I call it.

Turns out, perhaps that coffee stop was a bad idea. The whole reason we had set alarm clocks, packed up and dashed off so quickly was because we had planned to watch the Hogwarts Express cross the Glenfinnan Viaduct, like so many were during our trip. However, as we arrived with fifteen minutes to spare it was immediately obvious it was not going to happen, the car park and streets were completely rammed, there was not a chance we would get anywhere near it in time. A good excuse to travel up to Fort William again, it is such an iconic image of Scotland.

Disappointingly we got out of the mess of cars and stopped at Neptune’s Staircase. Nali was excited to cross but Eloise did not let her through as she did not know the password. This became problematic as Eloise herself had forgotten her own password.

Eloise and Lachlan were both fascinated by Neptune’s Mirror, surprisingly Lachlan did not run into it.

We chased Grandpa DAVE up the hill after he had snuck off, Eloise was not having any of that.

We had to keep a close eye on Lachlan, he preferred to take the passage across the locks at high speed.

Now we had missed the train we were not in so much of a rush and enjoyed more of the Scottish Sun. We tried to let the kids tucker themselves out as we were only approximately half way home.

As soon as Eloise is the slightest bit tired she summons Uber Grandpa DAVE, who is getting a good workout.

It was a short drive into Fort William, Lachlan demanded more bananas before he was going anywhere.

It was another incredible drive through Glencoe, definitely worth the day trip from Glasgow and passed Skyfall Road, shortly afterwards the mountains were shrinking.

We had gone as hard as we could around the North Coast 500 leaving nothing left in the tanks. The Scottish Highlands are truly remarkable. We had done wonders ticking off our ‘to see’ list which included the majority of the locations shot in the Fensoms in Kilts video header, only Brodie Castle to go.

The kids had been incredible throughout the road trip, it is always easier traveling with the car. They really did jump in and embrace all the “new home days”, especially the #podlyf. They were relieved to be free in their backyard though with no midges.

A couple of days ago the “top Scottish landscape photographers [were] announced”, sadly FIK did not make the cut, however, we hope you all enjoyed following us around the NC500. Until next time…