HIGHLAND MEMORIES 161 



Glen Spean is very wonderful, so also is Glen Roy. Hard by 

 the last-named, there is the station of Bridge of Roy, and from 

 thence to Spean Bridge the ride is awe-inspiring, as the line skirts 

 a deep ravine, at the base of which a tumbling burn presents itself. 

 The manner in which this waterway has carved out its rugged 

 course through a rocky bed is remarkable. On either side, the 

 high banks are festooned with ferns of many kinds, such as 

 Bracken, Male and Lady Ferns, the Northern Hard Fern, the 

 Broad Buckler Fern, Maiden Hair Spleenwort, and others. Here 

 and there a stately spike of Golden Rod reared its proud head 

 among the greenery, dark rocks, and darker water, lighting up 

 the scene to a nicety. If I were asked to choose the most im- 

 pressive sight I met with on this memorable northern journey, 

 I think I should be inclined to select the mile or two of rail between 

 Bridge of Roy and Spean Bridge. The deep, rock-strewn torrent 

 will always come back to me when my thoughts wander towards 

 my Highland pilgrimage, and the journey I undertook amply 

 repaid me, if only for a sight of what I have just briefly described. 



We stayed a minute or two at Spean Bridge as it is an important 

 stopping-place for the line to Fort Augustus, which takes one 

 close to the shores of Loch Ness, and then on to Inverness. 



Bidding good-bye to Spean Bridge, we soon espied the snow- 

 capped heights of Ben Nevis. This mountain, as I mentioned 

 on a former occasion, is the highest in Great Britain, attaining 

 an altitude of 4406 feet. The view of it from the train proved 

 to be the best we obtained, as the mountain was free of clouds 

 in the late afternoon, and a more majestic sight has never fallen 

 to my lot, We could not see the disused observatory on the 

 summit, but that was hardly a disappointment, especially as 

 it is now being transformed into a hotel, the proposal being 

 to construct a railway line up the mountain. Will this make, 

 or mar, the mountain ? My Scotch friends appear to dis- 

 favour the proposition. Not being a practised mountaineer, I 

 have an open mind on the subject, though, truth to tell, I am 

 of opinion that a railway will quite spoil the wildness and majesty 

 of the environment. At present the more usual way of making 

 the ascent is along a precipitous winding road, seated on a pony, 

 though, of course, many undertake the climb on shank's mare ! 

 I did not adopt either course on arrival at Fort William. For 

 one thing, I was fatigued after several hours' journey in the train, 

 for another, the light was failing, and Ben Nevis had become 

 almost completely enveloped in the clouds when I walked out 



