Places to Visit between Glasgow and Fort William

Flying up to Glasgow tomorrow morning and driving across to Fort William, can anyone suggest some none biking sight seeing / touristy things to do and see en-route?

Cheers

falls of falloch, loch tulla, lost valley in glencoe, glenoce visitor centre.

Fish and chips at the real food cafe at tyndrum

Green welly shop
Clachaig
Lots of good scenery on the way

Come back via Killin – it is no longer than Lomond Side – and see the falls of Dochart outside my old house.

Falls of Dochart by Matt Robinson[/url], on Flickr

Boat cruise on Loch Lomond at Tarbet Link[/url]

Have you not been up that way before?

The whole drive from Glasgow is stunning.

Stop at The Drovers Arms

Walk up Buachaille Etive Mor

Do not stop in Fort Bill is a nasty place.

Glencoe visitor’s centre for indoors (and some outdoors). Signal Rock/An Torr is a lovely spot for a wander.

You can do a lot of sightseeing without going far from the road, I almost always stop a couple of times. Actually worth stopping on the a82 as it goes across rannoch moor towards glencoe (probably best once it gets all lochan-ey) and then to check out Buachaille Etive Mor, and the big waterfall halfway down the glen, basically anywhere you fancy the look of. Obviously tons of places to walk/climb if you’ve got the time. Oh and the views down loch linnhe near the ballachulish bridge can be absolutely incredible, especially later in the day, never seen a photo that does it justice.

Green Welly Stop I do not understand- used to always stop there on the motorbike as it’s a traditional gathering spot, but it’s basically a very small motorway service station.

When you’re coming back, if you like driving go the long way around loch leven, via kinlochleven- the german road along the north shore is fantastic to drive and there’s some fantastic views down the loch, from both sides. Probably adds 20 minutes or so to the drive, bit longer if you stop for the views. Probably not worth stopping in the town in all honesty, you can go up the Way a little and check out the pipelines and tailrace, maybe the ice factory… But that’d be way low on my list.

Fish and chips at the real food cafe at tyndrum

+1

If you haven’t done this before then the whole journey will be sight seeing and it will be glorious. Actually it still is when you have done the journey many, many times.
There are obvious places where you’ll want to stop and take in the view and you’ll discover these along the way.If you want to stretch your legs and see a bit more then there’s a few good little adventures like the above mentioned ‘lost valley’ in Glen Coe. If you wanted to stretch once at Fort William then I’d thoroughly recommend walking from the end of Glen Nevis to the waterfall/rope bridge at Steall Meadows. And I’d second the Real Food Cafe fish supper.

Edit: seems I’m slow at typing (and easily distracted by pleasant thoughts of the Highlands.

Green welly shop

Please no, Cringeworthy.

Drovers +1
Real food cafe is decent too.
For a shorter walk, but fab views of the big herdsman, park at Altnafeadh and stagger the 30 minutes it takes to get to the top of the devils staircase.

Thanks guys! No will be first time, weather not looking too good at the moment though.

weather not looking too good at the moment though

If you don’t like the weather in Scotland…….. just wait 20 minutes 😉

If you don’t like the weather in it’s Scotland.

At least it should keep the midges down

The whole drive from Glasgow is stunning.

Yup, it’s an absolute treat. Lost valley in Glencoe is a good shout for a short walk and Glencoe generally is bloody stunning.

If the weather is really bad you won’t get the full benefit of Rannoch Moor and Glencoe. Maybe if you have all day go over Rest and Be Thankful and round via Inverary and Oban – nice coastal scenery. Really don’t need attractions, the landscape is enough!

If visibility’s low, yup. But I reckon if the weather’s merely bad, that’s when they’re at their best, when they’ve got their brood on.

(I stopped a motorbike group in the rain one time down at achtriochtan for a break and a look up at aonach dubh and eagach and , one of the group looked pretty unhappy, I asked and he said “I’m claustrophobic”.)

oh and if the visibility is low after the bridge of orchy when it says slow corner, slow down

1. Luss for tourist trap by Loch Lomond. The shop does good bacon rolls.
2. Tarbert or Sloy for boat trips on The Loch
3. Drovers Inn at the top of Loch Lomond for a slightly crap pub that requires a sense of humour to appreciate (it’s gone down hill since Bubbles the vicious car park goose died)
4. Falls of Falloch for waterfalls.
5. Tyndrum. It’s a bit of a dump but depending on your taste there is the famous Green Welly Stop, Brodies Mini Market and the Real Food Take Away. The Green Welly is a petrol station / cafe / pizza takeaway / outdoor shop / whisky shop / outdoor shop / tourist tat shop. Next door is Brodies mini market which is where the smart money goes. The Real Food Takeaway is across the road and you can queue there for an eternity for overpriced but pleasant food (or you could just keep driving and use the 2hrs of queuing time)
6. Bridge of Orchy. There’s a nice picnic spot by the bridge or drive down the Glen to the amazing waterfalls at Essan Dubh and Eas Urchaidh.
7. Kings House Hotel. Nice hotel and bar
8. Glen Etive. Take a drive down the Glen, it’s spectaular and lots of waterfalls.
9. Glencoe. It’s really nice, take a walk up to the hidden valley if you have time.
10. Clachaig Inn. A fairly rubbish pub that’s also an institution. It’s been expanded over the years to include all manner of out buildings and resembles a shanty town. Good fun on Friday / Saturday nights.
11. Signal Rock. great walks, worth doing.
12. Ballachuilish. Nice walks around an old slate mine.
13. Onich. Amazing forest walks and red squirrel viewing area. highligh recommend.
14. Fort Bill. Abandon all hope.

14. Fort Bill. Abandon all hope.

😆

@tomd, interesting that about Onich, I stop there quite often if I’m riding at fort william or kinlochleven, just because of the location and cheap unbusy hotels but I’d never thought of it as anything but a stopping place. Will need to check that out

Yeah it’s a great spot. There’s a Forestry Car park just up behind Inchree. They have some nesting things for red squirrels and viewing screens so it’s one the best places to get up close to red squirrels. There are some forest walks from there too, the watefalls on the Abhain Righ are spectacular and quite unusual in Scotland.

7. Kings House Hotel. Nice hotel and bar

It’s crap. Makes the hotel from The Shining look positively buzzing with atmosphere

I think I’ve had opposite experiences to tomd in the Kinshouse (and the Real Food Cafe).

Cheers for that! Funny how you can just miss places off your radar

the Kingshouse is a bit Marmite and I have a softspot for it as I bought my first pint in the climbers bar there so I respect others opinions of it. You can camp out the back of it and it’s pretty unpretentious. I’ve always found it a bit friendlier than the Clachaig. They don’t allow Campbells either and lets be honest there’s no need for condensed soup any more.

Killin is lovely but tbh the rest of the drive once you get out of the Trossachs proper is meh, all that flat grind to Stirling then the motorway.

Going right at Tarbet and taking the road to Helensburgh at Arrochar is fun. Turn off back over to Loch Lomond through Glen Douglas for single track goodness through the magazines or take the missile road back over at Faslane for a good view.

+1 for the views across Rannoch Moor and then into Glencoe. Worth getting out of the car and wandering around a bit just to grab the atmosphere

Also +1 for the fish and chips at the Real Food cafe in Tyndrum and the fact that the Green Wellie stop is no better than a normal service station. Probably the most expensive fuel in the UK – make sure you can get through to Fort William
The Bridge of Orchy hotel is good for both beer and food

Squirrelking, stay off those roads please. They are where i do my road riding…..

Green welly shop

What??
Stop there if you need the bog & thats about it.

Walk up Buachaille Etive Mor

Yep, that’ll kill an hour or two.

8. Glen Etive. Take a drive down the Glen, it’s spectaular and lots of waterfalls.

Fantastic but it’s also a 24 mile round trip on a singletrack road (to the head of the loch.)
Most of tomd’s ideas are right though

FWIW, I mustv’e done this route a hundred times over the last 40 years & It’s still my favourite drive anywhere in the UK.

Glen etive is stunning but was the scene of the worst midges I’ve ever seen. They were surrounding my dog like a black cloud making him look like a badly animated sheep from a ’90s episode of ruhbarb and custard.

This was bad enough but was made much worse by my wife calling him in to the camper. Drive, she says. I’m stark bollick naked under the duvet. In a van. With more midges than I’ve ever seen before. Hilarious scene as we race off up the road with windows open and pots pans and kettles crashing around in the back.

Oh how we laughed

Balmaha, inchcaillaich island could fill an hour and the hill house at Helensburgh as a rainy day alternative.

Bit of otter spotting at the picnic area between Onich & FW?

SSDT 2015 008 by jimmyg352[/url], on Flickr

seen them a couple of times here.

Squirrelking, stay off those roads please. They are where i do my road riding…

Plenty of room for us all unless you’re trying to insinuate something about my driving style.