Fort Augustus

33 miles south west of Water's Edge

On the eastern fringes of Lochaber, at the head of Loch Ness, stands the village of Fort Augustus. Following the Jacobite uprising in 1715, a fort was built on a site formerly known as Kilchumein at the southern tip of Loch Ness to house a garrison. The fort was named after King George II's son, William Augustus. William Augustus became the Duke of Cumberland & later became known throughout the highlands as 'Butcher Cumberland' after he defeated the uprising at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. The Fort remained in army occupation until 1854. Thomas Alexander, the 14th Lord Lovat, bought the buildings from the government in 1867 & nine years later, his son gave them to the English Benedictines.

The fort was dismantled & incorporated into an abbey which for many years, used to house a boys' private boarding school. The school had to close a few years ago but for some years after that, the few remaining monks kept the building open by running it as a visitor attraction but regrettably, the doors have recently had to be closed & the public no longer have access. There is a golf course on the edge of the town which was relocated there to make way for tree planting upon condition that it would have to share the land with sheep - this is still true today. Fort Augustus has a series of five locks on the Caledonian Canal, & there are numerous boat trips available & boats can be hired in the village. The main road from the west coast to Inverness (A82) crosses the Caledonian Canal before heading up the northern shore of the loch towards Inverness.