Scotland Event - The Information

[chris dees]

What do you mean that Fort William is not a pretty town. I luv it and luv Oban even more specially for the famous fish restaurant.
On our way to Ben Nevis, we stayed in Inverness in an old castle turned hotel which was amazing.......cannot remember the name.

Utterly luv Scotland and Scottish people.......a random bakery somewhere en route, refused to take my money for 2 Strawberry tarts as they were the last in the tray.......These are the real Scottish people.......Luv them!

I only know Oban for its whisky

[Almass]

Well......you go to Oban for the whisky and go back to Fort William and see how nice it is 

[Anthony]

Have some sympathy for someone who will be doing the driving to Oban 

[Almass]

Have some sympathy for someone who will be doing the driving to Oban 

Well......once you get to Oban.....you have arrived 

[Anthony]

Well......once you get to Oban.....you have arrived 

True.

It is the return journey that's the problem.

The answer is, of course, to bring some samples back with me, making sure that my passengers do not consume them on the journey.

[simato73]

Thanks for the excellent idea.

"one route passes along the edge of a field belonging to the owner of one “Dochart House” - trespassers, especially photographers, shot on sight."

On the OS map I see a permissive way following Innis Bhuidhe on the south side of the Dochart from the road bridge to a smaller foot bridge.
Surely nobody will consider trespassing walking there?
Where is the house of the furious shooter?

[David Paterson]

Sorry - that was my little joke, and the field referred to is actually mine . . . .

I am the "furious shooter" but only with a Nikon, and usually not very furiously.

There is no footbridge - what you are seeing is a viaduct across the R. Dochart, which used to carry a railway line ending at the head of Loch Tay. There is no way off Innis Bhuidhe except via the entrance at the bridge - or by wading the river.

But, fwiw, here is something I put together very recently for Clan MacNab.

[simato73]

I am the "furious shooter" but only with a Nikon, and usually not very furiously.

There is no footbridge - what you are seeing is a viaduct across the R. Dochart, which used to carry a railway line ending at the head of Loch Tay. There is no way off Innis Bhuidhe except via the entrance at the bridge - or by wading the river.

But, fwiw, here is something I put together very recently for Clan MacNab.

"Furious" is indeed not the adjective I'd associate with Dave. Sorry I overlooked the joke 

Viaduct it is then. The path I was mentioning runs on the south side of the Dochart, following the island but not on it. After the island ends it then seems to cross the river by the viaduct, am I wrong in understanding that the viaduct is now open to walkers? It would be a pity if it is not.

How difficult is it to get permission to walk on the island?

[rosko]

Dave, thank you again for all these useful informations.

I would love to visit the west coast.

Do you reckon that visiting Oban, castle Stalker and Cruachan power station is feasable the same day (I we leave early of course) or Cruachan P S could be the plan ''B'' in case of bad weather ?

Also I would love to stop at the North-East end of Loch Awe near Dalmally to take pictures of this beautiful ruins of Kilchurn castle (one stop on our way toward Oban and one on our way back as we can get two different lightings).

So, we'd probably need 2 trips to do that without rushing ?

Cheers, Francis.

[David Paterson]

Simone - the viaduct is, in fact, open to any kind of traffic, but by common consent no-one in the village uses a car there except in dire emergency - pedestrians rule; only the local farmer who has land and animals on both sides of the Dochart uses a vehicle, and he may well own the bridge; he certainly owns a lot of the old railway line which crosses it.

Francis - CruachanPS, Oban, Stalker - in that order - would be possible in a day - morning at the PS, lunch and afternoon in Oban, and Cas.Stalker in the evening (it's an evening location anyway). Tight, but possible.

Kilchurn is not for the some day, I think. There is quite some walking to get good camera positions - you would need an hour for each camera position, plus you might have to wait for good light.

[David Paterson]

Oops - a little problem - Cruachan.

Though I have been inside the mountain twice, taking photographs, I was commissioned to do so by the electricity company and I didn't realise that the public were not allowed to take pictures - it seems very mean. Infrastructure companies are often very nervous about a perceived danger that photographs will somehow help potential terrorists, though of course this is 99.9% nonsense, and anyway they publish photographs on their own website.

I have emailed them asking for exceptional permission.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

What about available local maps, Dave? I have only an electronic map (Garmin) and it is on the scarce side regarding local names although the topographic details seem pretty good.

I hope we can buy adequate maps locally?

[simato73]

What about available local maps, Dave? I have only an electronic map (Garmin) and it is on the scarce side regarding local names although the topographic details seem pretty good.

I hope we can buy adequate maps locally?

The Ordnance Survey maps at 1/25.000 scale are amongst the best in the world. Even the 1/50.000 scale is pretty good.
I will bring a topo map and you can peruse it if you don't find one locally  - which should be easy to do.

[David Paterson]

What about available local maps, Dave? I have only an electronic map (Garmin) and it is on the scarce side regarding local names although the topographic details seem pretty good.

I hope we can buy adequate maps locally?

Yes, there are good maps available locally - the same maps as described by simato - UK Ordnance Survey maps. I'll check on exactly what they stock - but the "outdoors" shop in Killin definitely has OS maps. You can probably buy OS maps via the internet - the one you want is Map 51, Loch Tay and Glen Dochart 1/50,000. This covers an area 60km EW by 40km NS, with Killin near the centre of the area covered. The also have the "Explorer" series, 1/25,000, and Map 378 is the one, and covers exactly the required area in very great detail (it is double-sided). I doubt  whether this level of detail is needed for our purposes.

[David Paterson]

The OS online map shop is at:

 https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/shop/maps.html?gclid=CIKMxr2e-ssCFawp0wod23EJ_Q

At another of their websites I found some excellent aerial photo-maps and have pirated and annotated two of them for our use.They show very precisely the relationship between variious locations I have frequently talked about and posted images of.

1) Detail of Killin village and immediate area
2) Smaller scale, showing Loch Tay, the village and the Lodges.