The Commando Memorial Spean Bridge

Weather fine and dry with lots of sunny sunshine. Warm by afternoon.

This morning we had a thought. The Commando memorial is just a mile up the road from Spean Bridge. Why don't we go and see it before all the tourists arrive. Nice thought but there were some people. By the time we left there were a lot more. Still, it was well worth going. The memorial is set within the area where the commandos trained for the second world war amidst amazing views of the surrounding mountains and glens.

" Situated around a mile from Spean Bridge village, it overlooks the training areas of the Commando Training Depot established in 1942 at Achnacarry Castle. Unveiled in 1952 by the Queen Mother, it has become one of the United Kingdom's best-known monuments, both as a war memorial and as a tourist attraction offering views of Ben Nevis and Aonach Mòr."

From the memorial we drove towards Fort William, turning off just before we reached the town to go to Neptune's Staircase.

"Neptune's Staircase is a staircase lock comprising eight locks on the Caledonian Canal. Built by Thomas Telford between 1803 and 1822, it is the longest staircase lock in Britain. The system was originally hand-powered but has been converted to hydraulic operation."

"Neptune’s Staircase at Banavie, near Fort William just north of Loch Linnhe is kept by Scottish Canals. It is the longest staircase lock in Britain lifting boats 64 feet (20 m). It consists of eight locks, each 180 feet (55 m) by 40 feet (12 m) and it takes about 90 minutes to pass through the system."

We took Maeve the Deerhound for a walk along the towpath. A very splendid wide flat towpath is was and the first part of the Great Glen Way which Himself recently walked although he did walk all the way to Inverness rather than the tiny section we had a wander along. When we eventually got back we had a late lunch at a Bistro by the locks, sitting outside in the sunshine so Maeve could be with us.

In the afternoon we had another wander about in Fort William and sat for a while in the quite warm afternoon sun in the tiny little park near the railway station. While we were in town we popped into one or two or three of the "outdoors stores" and both of us came away with something. My something is apparently from a range of soft light breathable versatile mid-layers. Hopefully it will help keep me warm on my wanders along the shores of Campbeltown loch.

DMC-LX7 f/3.5 1/1600 sec. ISO-80 8mm (35mm focal length 40mm)

Extras:

The Commando Memorial Spean Bridge

Neptune's Staircase, Caledonian Canal Fort William

Fingal