Got to Fort William

 

https://youtu.be/9GGc7KcvqtE (if video isn't working)

Hi reader,

Second time lucky, I'm in Fort William. Had another lovely drive through the Highlands under grey skies and arrived in the early afternoon.

This town is similar to Oban in terms of parking. There are a lot of visitors and not much space for them to park for free. Thank goodness for supermarkets: Lidl (up to two hours free) and Morrisons (up to three hours free).

I had a wander around the high street and checked out the prices of thermal long johns and vests: around ten pounds a piece for polyester and thirty five pounds for Merino wool. I also located the library where I was able to update this blog, charge my electronics and play some online Sudoku (rock and roll).

Bloody Billy Corgan

As it started getting dark, I used the Park4Night app to find this awesome spot. It's up on a hill on a single track road listed as 'Old Military Road'. There's a great view down to the town and Loch Linnhe, although it was all shrouded in grey rain clouds.

The guy parked in front of me is called Danny. Check out his personalized number plate:

The weather was still grim, but I decided to walk further down the Old Military Road to get my daily steps over 10,000. It's not really practical to do yoga on this trip (I've only used my yoga mat once since I started) so I've decided to walk 10k steps daily instead and just do some back stretching exercises.

The weather stayed foul throughout the night. The wind was causing the van to sway and it rained almost constantly. Happy to say that none of the rain leaked inside the van. Thanks so much again to Lee and Davey at Sandersons Accident Repairs.

Baked beans with bread and butter for dinner with a cup of tea. I settled down for some TV and my new book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (who founded the Merry Pranksters).

That's all for now. Everything's going well, and it's now been over two weeks since I slept in a house. This afternoon I'm going to visit the West Highland Museum in town and educate myself.

As always, thanks for reading,

Brian