After a wander along the main street of Fort William, we drove to Aonach Mor to experience the Nevis Range. The 2.3km gondola ride up the north face of the mountain was exhilarating.

650 metres up, the ski lifts were still slumbering

but the light snow gave a hint of things to come.

The heavy cloud promised more snowfalls and the shafts of sunlight painted beautiful hues through the Great Glen.

We enjoyed a hot chocolate to warm up at the café and, fortunately, it was after 12 o’clock so we added a Drambuie chaser to fortify us for the trip down the mountain.

The cloud had lifted a little and the scenery was spectacular. The Great Glen follows a 100km geological fault from Inverness to Fort William, bisecting the Scottish Highlands into the Grampian Mountains to the southeast and the Northwest Highlands.

We returned to terra firma and continued on our northward journey.