Bob’s globetrotting adventures have obviously been on hold this year due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Here, he once again delves into his blog archive, this time to recall the second stage of an adventure a wee bit closer to home from July last year…

by Bob Costello

Loch Laggan

After the blistering hot day yesterday, I woke up to the pitter-patter of raindrops on my window – and it quickly went from that to a deluge! Oh well, it is summer in Scotland… So, down for breakfast and then on my way again, heading south this time and retracing some of yesterday’s route as far as Newtonmore before turning west towards Fort William.

I’d a long drive ahead, but I was intending to stop off at various points as I progressed towards my final destination for the day, Oban. The rain was coming and going, with some quite bright and warm spells in between, as I made my way along the banks of Loch Laggan. Looking across the loch I could see the estate that Queen Victoria initially considered as her home in Scotland before deciding the weather was too dreich and settling on Balmoral instead!

I stopped at Laggan Dam, which is part of quite an interesting project. It collects water to turn the turbines in the aluminium smelter in Fort William, some 20 miles away. The water collected at Laggan Dam feeds a smaller loch in the hills towards Fort William then goes through a five-mile tunnel to the smelter, which is sited on the slopes of Ben Nevis, where it turns turbines to produce the high volumes of electricity required in the smelting process.