Today was always going to be a day of driving to get us well positioned for a short run to the airport tomorrow morning. Bolton was our destination, and with a minimum of 5.5 hours driving from Fort William we were up early and on the road by 7:30am. The sun was making its presence felt as it warmed the steep hills opposite our B&B. Our timing was good as we left before the Fort William peak hour rush. The road followed the shoreline of yet another loch before turning east to pass through Glencoe.
Once past Glencoe we could clearly see the journey we would take through towering mountains shrouded by cloud. The valley closed in on us as we climbed towards the pass that would be our entry point to the highland plains. Unfortunately there are few stopping points along this road where photos can taken, and when there are parking bays they are typically occupied by overnight campers in their camper vans.
The high plains are unspoilt, with the only man-made presence being a modest ski resort with chairlift up one of the imposing mountains. The resort also doubles as a mountain bike downhill run in summer, but T he majority of people we saw were here for the hiking. They were well rugged up as it was still a cool 11C as we drove by. Apparently the West Highland Way walk passes through this part of Scotland – it just might get added to the future list of potential walks for us to attempt.
It was a gradual descent from the highlands down to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park – which a friend from Melbourne was involved in managing for some time in the 1990s. Loch Lomond is another loch that seems to go on and on forever, with heavily timbered hills running right down to the shoreline.
Once clear of Loch Lomond the landscape quickly flattened out. Pastures with grazing cows and sheep became commonplace. Hay had already been cut, leaving paddocks of yellow stubble behind. The traffic was picking up as Glasgow grew closer and closer; the centre of town was visible off to our left as we skirted the busy city streets. Our in-car GPS was directing us first towards Carlisle before then taking us to Bolton, close to Manchester.
Before leaving Glasgow Chris stopped to fill up with fuel (at £1.47 per litre – roughly equivalent to A$3.00/L). This would be more than enough to get us to Bolton later in the day. We continued through Glasgow, eventually stopping for morning tea at a Tesco store in an outlying suburb where we also bought a few sandwiches for lunch later in the day. Eventually we connected with the M6 that would take us over the Scottish border with England and much closer to our destination.
As lunch time approached Wendy suggested peeling off the M6 to stop in the quaint and historic village of Gretna Green. The village has been a destination for young couples looking to marry since the 1700s, as the laws in Scotland were less onerous than those in England and Wales. Couples as young as 14 (males) and 12 (females) could wed here without their parents’ consent, while England and Wales imposed a 21 years minimum age for marriage (which, up until this age, could be vetoed by parents). While the age restrictions have changed over time, the Scottish laws remain less restrictive even to this day, making Gretna Green a popular wedding destination still.
As we resumed our journey south, traffic continued to build until we came to a halt as lanes were merging around supposed roadworks (that were not active when we passed them by). This delay probably added 45 minutes to our trip as we crawled along for many miles until we were beyond the ‘roadworks’. We left the M6 to make our way across to Bolton, where we have checked in to our last B&B before returning home. We caught the host out by arriving prior to 4pm (which had previously been confirmed). We only had a short wait before he returned from the supermarket and showed us to our rooms.
Dinner is booked for a nearby restaurant that comes recommended by our host. It is a short walk – which also means we can leave our car conveniently parked out the front of our B&B, given the scarcity of parking spaces here.