Fort William - Just a glimpse into the highlands.

A trip to the highlands, we decided to take the train to Fort William and then visit Glencoe to see the pictorial views. The train timings available were limited, only three trains were there from Glasgow to Fort Williams at 5 am, 8 am and one later in the day. The train journey was about 4 hrs and the last train from Fort William to Glasgow was at about 5:30 pm, there were no train services available after that. Which left us with a short span of about 5 hours to explore the highlands. Only after booking the tickets did we realise that the train to Fort William does not pass through Glencoe, in-short Glencoe does not even have a train station. The other alternative would be to take a bus from Fort William to Glencoe but since the journey to Glencoe is almost 40 min, we would not get to see anything around Fort William. Lesson learned - Plan ahead. We checked various other stations on the way if we could get down their and check if any other trains would be available later. But with no hope, we were like let's just go and see what we can see around. Having read about the few things to do in Fort William we started our journey early in the morning.

The train journey was a scenic beauty with mountains after mountains. The snow-capped mountains between the blue sky and the loch making the view breathtaking. We saw deer's with and without horns wandering around. Eventually, after the 4 hr journey we reached Fort William. I would suggest these two stops before Fort William where you could get down if you want to trek mountains - Rannoch and Corrour. Our very first resort was to find the information desk to check information regarding the bus to go to steal falls, which apparently was the nearest destination to visit. But we were disheartened when we were informed that there are no buses running from Fort William to steal falls and also if we even ended up going to Ben Nevis she advised that there won't be enough time. She suggested to visit the Inverlochy castle, the museum and if we wanted to see the view then to take the cow hill circuit.

To find something to eat happened to be our first priority, having found a famous fish and chips restaurant ordered a haddock. We decided to go for the cow hill circuit and then later visit the castle. Walked through the town, a pretty little town filled with locals. It had such a calm and peaceful feel altogether. The Cow Hill circuit is the summit that blocks the view of Ben Nevis from Fort William. Taking our time climbing the circuit, enjoying the beautiful sceneries around us. It was beautiful, the sky, the snow-capped mountains. We reached the summit after trekking for about 2:30 hrs, it was completely worth it. The weather was perfect no rain. Later trekked down the hill, went to the town, went inside a small church, the interiors were beautiful. Then decided to go grocery shopping in Morrisons, brought chips, ice cream and cake. Had the cake with the ice cream just outside, right when it started drizzling.  Badly wanting to see the Great Glen walkway I made my friend tag along till we reached there. We found a place very close to Loch Eil and just sat there for some time - PEACEFUL.  Around 5:10 pm we left there and headed back to the station. The train was right on time thus bringing an end to our trip to Fort William. It was a great trip even though we did not see a lot of places, we had fun. If you are planning a trip to Fort William, I would suggest that it would be better if you would take the bus through Glencoe or have a stayover if taking the train. The best alternative would be to rent a car and just drive to the highlands.