Journey No 15 – 14th to 16th February 2011

14th February 2011

Liz and Douglas departed Carrick Castle at 08.30 for Nevis Range by Fort William with our two cats Smokie and Smudge (aged 14+ each) on their first trip in Harrie. Smudge ‘talked’ a lot for the first hour – “are we nearly there?” or something like it in cat language…! We parked up at the ski centre and after a snack lunch, Liz went skiing, whilst Douglas remained in the van with the cats as he was suffering from asthma, so caught up with some reading. (153 km)

Liz enjoyed the skiing in the afternoon, skiing mainly on the Goose. We had our Valentine’s dinner in Fort William and then returned to Nevis Range later in the evening and stayed overnight in the car park.

15th February 2011

It had been a cold night with new snow and ice around the van, however we and the cats were very snug inside. Liz and Douglas prepared to go skiing however the lifts were on hold until 10.00. At 10.00 it was announced that the wind was too strong to run any of the lifts including the gondola so we were unable to going skiing that day.

We decided to go to Glen Roy by Roy Bridge, Inverness-shire to see the parallel roads that surround Glen Roy. These lines were caused by ice in the ice age and are at 265 metres, 325 metres and 350 metres above sea level. They are very distinct features as can be see the the photograph below.

We had parked Harrie in the Glen Roy car park and walked straight up the steep incline stopping at each parallel road, plus a few other stops inbetween as the climb was quite steep… Coming down we zigzaged our way down as the ground was covered with snow and we didn’t want to slide straight down!

Having enjoyed our visit to Glen Roy, we returned to Fort William to look for J-Gas Propane but discovered only Calor Gas was available locally so we would have to get a replacement 11 kg Propane cylinder from Arrochar on the way home.

We refuelled with 48.56 litres of diesel (£65.02) – 117883 km in Fort William.

We then went to Corpach to have dinner with Douglas’ parents and stayed overnight in their car park.

16th February 2011

Douglas drove Liz up to the Nevis Range ski centre in the morning at 09.00 for her to go skiing again whilst Douglas returned to Corpach to accompany his father to a hospital appointment at the Belford in Fort William by taxi. Donald, his father, almost 96, will have to have another operation on his ear to remove another cancerous growth. The surgeon said he would try and operate within a month but it would have to be at Inverness as a day patient.

At lunchtime, Douglas returned to Nevis Range and waited for Liz to finish skiing. Liz said the snow was very good but the visibility was terrible – white out conditions, however she managed to ski in those conditions until 14.00 hrs before coming back down to the van in the car park.

We then drove home, stopping at Arrochar for replacement gas. Unfortunately they only had a 6 kg (£15.65) instead of an 11 kg Propane but at least we now had a spare again.

We arrived home just after 17.00 hrs and the cats were home again. They were remarkable good which was a pleasant surprise. Whilst Liz did manage two days skiing, Douglas didn’t manage to get any skiing in that was rather disappointing.

Total journey mileage = 442 km/276 miles. Total mileage to date 118083 km/73,802 miles.