How to explore Scotland as a child! (doing it the right way)
On one of my past trips I wanted to visit some parts of Scotland, and in doing it I fulfilled my childhood dream (at least a third of it - I am talking about the Thee Peaks Challenge - climbing the top 3 highest peaks in the UK, and they are Ben Nevis - 1345M, Scafell Pike - 978M, and Snowdon - 1085M).
I choose Ben Nevis first, as this is the highest, and the most difficult, thinking that I have only a few years left before I am 50 years old, and I want to do this while I still have the stamina to do it. I started from Fort William, and I walked maybe 1-2 miles from the town to the mountain path.
The path was a bit rocky, and I could feel how much I overestimated my abilities, as I needed to take a break quite often to recover. Still, is doable.
The peak was surrounded by clouds, and the atmosphere was a bit eerie, but if you focus on the next stone, and keep going, one step after another, in less than six hours you may find yourself on the top.
The path is a bit tricky at times, yet, you can do it much better if you bring a walking stick, or if you buy it from town before you start. There are some posh ones, foldable and such, if you want to pay a bit extra.
And then, suddenly, you can look around, beyond the horizon, staring in awe at the majestic beauty of mother nature.
Fort William is a good starting point for some interesting adventure, as they have a sky run in the winter, some amazing forest trails, a river to explore by boat and even the Ben Nevis distillery if you are curious to find out how the whisky is done. If you enjoyed Harry Potter, this is also the starting point for the Jacobite train going to Hogwarts, you know, the one going over the amazing Glenfinnan Viaduct.
Bonus: You can do a day trip to the Lock Ness, to see if you can use their underwater radar to find the monster. I only found a lot of fish, nothing else. You can still do it.
The easiest way to go to Fort William, according to the Rome2Rio website, if you are in London, is to fly to Glasgow, and then do a 3-hour trip with the bus. You can make it into a train trip too, but this will last 10 hours, with a trip to Glasgow, and then another 2-hour train to Fort William. Or the slowest one, the bus from London to Glasgow for a 10-hour trip, and then the other bus or train to Fort William. Either way, the transport will cost you a couple of hundred, and you need to add the accommodation price too. Fort William has quite a few pubs, restaurants, fast food shops, and even a cinema.
I like it enormously, and I will probably go again sometime in the future, despite the costs.
All the best,
George