Today I was asked to move my stuff to a different room within the hostel, after which I set forth on today's outing. The weather was poor, drizzle at 8.45, which increased in intensity all the while. In other words, it was sogging wet. I headed south into Glen Nevis. There was this gaggle of sheep stampeding down the road again. I decided to take an alternative route after the Lower Falls. There is this path on the southern bank of Water of Nevis. It is being improved, and looks very nice to start with. After a few hundred yards though, it reverts to a boggy affair, and after the wooden bridge half way to the car park, it turns into a hit and miss affair. At one point, I sank into a bog and the mud got right into my boot. I had hoped to cut through to the Steall Falls, but the going got outright impossible. Bogs, trees, steep hills. And after the fencing started to march straight up the hill, everything got rather vertical. I decided to be more cautious and turned back. Played about with a rivulet of rainwater, then crossed the river and went on to the carpark. After that, I proceeded along the path and came out by the cable-bridge. This was being used by a group; you won't get me on that for any money. The river is very deep underneath and fast flowing. Had my lunch there, then decided to turn back. I still have to do my shopping. On the way to the carpark met somebody who was definitely taking the wrong turn. Climbed from the carpark a little way up the path along the waterfall. There is a chipped police notice with dire warnings about it. All justified incidentally. The path is a pig, and you cannot afford to go wrong there. Noticed a crag-bound sheep very high up a hill. At 2.45, I went on my way. Met some girls in a car who were looking for Ben Nevis. Not visible from the road, sent them on to Corpach for a view, if there is any. The Lower Falls were spectacularly in spate. Headed up the road, past the hostel at 4.10 and into Fort William, which I reached at dusk at 4.55. Did the shopping in Safeways, then went back along a very dark Glen Nevis road, to return to the hostel at 6pm. The spagetti bolognese was a burned disaster.
Oh, my illegal action yesterday. Grin. I walked along the railway track for a mile or so. The path running parallel was practically unusable. If caught, I would have incurred a £200 fine. Lots of people walk along the track between Corrour and Tulloch, which you can do with relative impunity. Provided you observe the traintime, beware of any goodstrains and get the hell off the tracks if you hear a train coming. There was a trackworkers hut, which had been wrecked in a gale.
On a naturalistic note, the autumn colours are spectacular, even if the leaves have started to fall now. The lorks are shedding their needles, and the birches their leaves. The air was full of them, as were the rivers. There are spectacular lichens on the trees, demonstrative of very clean air. Similar growths were conspicuous on Rum last week. Bracken is red/brown and dead. Blackberries, which were very good in October are now nearly gone. In this area, there are hardly any broadleaf trees, it's nearly all sitka spruce, lork, birch and alder. Saw quite a few buzzards, there are also kestrels about. Rabbits do not live in Glen Nevis, but have seen them ad nauseam in the islands.
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