Blown Away by The View | The Weather at Spean Bridge
For all the years I have been walking in the Scottish countryside, there has never been an accurate weather forecast available to predict which of the four seasons Scotland can decide to chuck at you at any given moment of the day.
Such was the case during a recent visit to the Commando monument in Spean Bridge, just north of Fort William in the Scottish Highlands. When we left our little hotel in Fort William, the weather was fairly clear and by my experienced eyes (and the friendly advice of a local), it looked as thought it was going to be a great day for hill walking. 20 minutes later and a few miles further north and the weather had turned nasty! Gusts of wind up to 80mph tore at the side of our car as we made our way up the short incline to this very famous monument. My Cousin was visiting Scotland for the first time in over 20 years and I had pretty much guaranteed him the view to end all views. Unfortunately, the Highlands had set a trap for us and we drove straight into a beautiful, but very rough, snow storm.
Parking our car up in the little car park, we took out our flasks of tea, ready to wait out the storm. But it showed no signs of slowing and I soon had to make the call - head back to Fort William and live to fight another day. Gutted!
As we left the car park, a small piece of blue sky appeared, bringing with it the promise of a glimpse of what I feel is one of the finest views in Scotland. And sure enough it did. For a frantic five minutes, we grabbed our cameras, pulled on our wind cheaters and ran up to the monument. We snapped away furiously before the hail stones and snow began battering our backs and we were soon forced to retreat to the car. Was it worth it? YES!
If there is a lesson to be learned here, it is that you can never truly be prepared for everything the great outdoors will throw at you - but you can make sure you bring the essentials - warm clothing, change of clothing, hats, gloves, torch, mobile phone... But also bring a sense of adventure. Be prepared to doubt the weather forecast, even it is from a 'trusted' local 🙂 Being outdoors is about taking the good days with the bad... and that's why we love it.
Scotland offers some of the finest scenery in the world, but you have to appreciate the constantly changing weather that comes with it. I'll be back up in that area many more times in the future, but I am glad that Mother Nature gave us that one little moment when the clouds cleared and the wind dropped.
If you would like to find out more about the Commando Monument, click here