A Birthday Weekend in Fort William
Growing up with your best friend is the best thing about being a twin. I am so privileged to have someone who will always be by my side, totally understand me and always be there for me. Sharing a birthday is the icing on the cake. We often explain it to people, that it is like having an anniversary. It’s a day to celebrate our connection and love for each other – another year has gone by, that we have spent on the planet together.
When planning this trip, it was a condition that I was somewhere accessible, for our birthday weekend. We’ve never spent a birthday apart, and neither of us wanted this to be the first! As I was planning, it just so happened that I would be in Fort William.
I’m so grateful that my sister travelled up to meet me. True love really is getting the 6am train! (I’m the morning person between the two of us!)
We’d had quite a few discussions about what to do for our birthday. I’d suggested that we could climb Ben Nevis. We could sing happy birthday on the highest mountain in Great Britain. That was very quickly vetoed! It’s important that we both enjoy our birthday and it is a special day for both of us.
We started by opening our presents, with our parents and brother on video call.
The walking pole saga had developed and the shop in Peebles had a second customer with a faulty pair. It turns out that it was a manufacturing fault that caused the issue. (It’s good to know that it’s not me!) They very kindly agreed to refund me, without me posting the poles back! So that meant we popped into town to buy a new set of poles. I brought a nice Leki pair from Nevis Sport, so hopefully they’ll last me for years to come! We then popped into Mountain Warehouse so that I could buy another can of camping gas. You have to be over 18 to buy gas. We both burst out laughing when the guy at the till asked us for ID, on our 29th birthday! I did sympathise with him, it took me back to the days when I had to ID customers in the Co Op.
For the afternoon we had booked a cruise on Loch Linnhe. The cruise takes you around the Loch, shows some local attractions and hopefully some seals!
We had a lovely time on the cruise. There were beautiful views across the Loch. We sat on the top deck, which was a little windy at times!Unfortunately, Ben Nevis was shrouded in cloud. Just as we’d hoped, we got to see seals! It was amazing to see them flopped on their backs, resting after their latest search for food.
The skipper was really knowledgeable about the local area and took us around the shoreline, regularly stopping to show us parts of the local heritage. It was really interesting and I’d never realised that Fort William had such an industrial past.
The cruise also doubled as a little recce, I was able to see some of the road along the Loch, that I’ll take towards Ardnamurchan on Monday.
After our cruise, we went back to the flat and watched some Homes Under the Hammer. The flat had a Samsung TV, which didn’t seem to have normal channels, but instead had individual channels which showed different TV shows on repeat. There was a Come Dine with Me channel, Homes Under the Hammer channel and even a Total Wipeout channel! We had a bit of a rest, watching some Homes Under the Hammer, before heading out for a meal.
Along the high street, there was a little Italian pizzeria. We went there for pizza, which was delicious.
We then headed back to our flat for birthday cake. Our Dad had baked a lemon drizzle cake and lovingly packaged it, so that it could travel to Fort William! We sang Happy Birthday to each other, then spent our evening relaxing together.
Sunday was a much more relaxing day. We pottered about in the morning, then went for a wander down the high street in the afternoon. I’d wanted to take Georgina into the Highland museum, but we’d not realised that it was closed on Sundays! There were loads of lovely little shops. I bought some badges for completing the West Highland Way, and signed the completers’ book. In one of the art shops, there was this little lichen book. Each lichen has cute illustrations and a description which gives them a personality – I couldn’t resist buying it!
The rest of the day was spent watching more Homes Under the Hammer and relaxing – enjoying just being together.
It’s been so nice to take a couple of days, away from the trail and spend time together. I feel refreshed and ready to head into the wilds of Scotland!
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