Friday 9/6 - Stirling to Fort William

We had breakfast at the hotel, checked out, loaded our luggage in the car and walked to Stirling Castle. The Castle was located at the top of the hill of street our hotel was on.

Free guided tours were provided, our guide was Gordon, a very animated, well informed and entertaining person.













The Castle had a large collection of beautiful artifacts, amongst which the goat unicorn tapestry was my favorites. It was was one of the most important castles and many Kings and Queens have been crowned here including Mary Queen of Scots.













Reluctantly left the castle behind and walked to the the hotel to leave for Fort William. Came to find out that one of the guests had parked their car in an a no parking zone and no cars could get out. There was a long line of cars and we got in line and eventually managed to get out with help from the hotel staff.

Our original plans were to have lunch prior to starting out for Fort William but since we were ahead of time we decided to proceed on. This turned out to be a big mistake combined with unfamiliar and often lack of road signs and having to maneuver a full size SUV.

Arrived in Balloch and had lunch at Duck Bay Restaurant, at the south end of Loch Lomond.













The lunch was very good and the server helpful and smiling as usual, he was a local person named Hamish (James).









Loch Lomond is beautiful but the sky was grey and drizzly so the color was rather drab.









We eventually arrived in Fort William and checked into our pre booked B & B, Stronchreggan View Guest House. We had bookings for two double ensuite and she blithely told us that that's not how it came across to her and she could give us only one ensuite and the bathroom for the other was in the landing.










All of us felt her story seemed "rehearsed", and she gave our room away to someone who checked in prior to us. We wrote to Adeo travels more to caution them than anything.

The hostess was otherwise very friendly and sociable and made hot tea/coffee for us. Free WiFi was available in all the rooms which is always welcome.

We met a group 4 that were in town for the Fell races taking place next day. Apparently they run up Ben Nevis and back. The fastest runners do it in a little over an hour.

Our hostess helped us make reservations at The Tavern restaurant (we were 2-3 miles) south of the city center. The food was tasty, quantity huge, and servers friendly, helpful, and smiling.

We were all tired and had to leave just as they were getting setup for music.

Location:Fort Williams