After a good scottish breakfast and (once again) dry shoes we continued our journey along Loch Etive and Loch Awe. There we looked for (and found) the ruin of Kilchurn Castle, which stands in the middle of Loch Awe. Because I've seen many beautiful pictures of that place during the planning of our trip, we stopped and got off our ride to take some pics. On the way to the water's edge we managed to get our feet wet again (still no wellies)... DAMN!! But the landscape and view on the castle were well worth it, a really fantastic view. We've spent some time there and took a couple of pics (actually one of my favourite pics of the trip is from that place).
After that we „tortured" the van over some really bad roads to Bridge of Orchy and farther through the mountains until we reached kind of a high-plateau, where we found another great landscape. Of course we've disembarked and took some pics. As the weather wasn't that good and really windy, we drove on after a short time. After a couple of kilometers (miles ... ;-) ) and after a little testing of the transits maximum steering angle we reached the Valley of Glencoe (fantastic landscape and obviously a „hiking-paradise" – with good wheater of course). After a really nice and pleasant journey we left the valley at Corran on the banks of Loch Linnhe and continued our journey to Fort William.
As we have't felt a desire for wet feet again we decided to do a little shopping and look for some wellies (or Scotland-shoes we call them), which we found realtively quicky (to our surprise relatively cheap too). Geared up and motivated we drove farther to Glenfinnan Monument, the „goal of the day". There we visited the exhibition which belongs to the monument and tells the story of „Bonnie Prince Charlie" who led the last scottish uprising (yet ... ;-) ) against England. The monument itself is a reminder for the gathering of the clans by Bonnie Prince Charlie and some kind of unconventional attraction. To get to the Top of the monument you have to clime a really narrow staircase (nothing for claustrophobic folks) to an exit which is even narrower ... and you really need some skills get out. I will put it like this: my height the diameter of my stomach is really the maximum which will fit through ... But the scenery is well worth the climb and after a short stay (because of the weather once again) and a couple of pics we climbed back down and enjoyed a cup of coffee at the gift shop.
As the weather was clearing up (or was dry at least), we climbed the little hill behind the monument and tried to get some landscape pics. As we've we were told in Fort William we were just 8 days to early to see the „Jacobite" (a historic steam-train), which is driving over the Glenfinnan Viaduct during summer (and which would have been one of my „places to go and take pictures"). As we reached the summit, the rain started again and drove as down again ...
As the parking lot which we wanted to use for the night was full, we decided to camp on the parking lot at the monument and spent a windy and rainy night in our ***transit.
