7-651: The River Lochy flows southwest along the Great Glen from Loch Lochy to Loch Linnhe at Fort William in the West Highlands of Scotland . Its two major tributaries are the short River Arkaig which drains Loch Arkaig into Loch Lochy and the River Spean which enters on its left bank at Gairlochy . The A830 road crosses the Lochy near its junction with the A82 road by means of
14-706: The Scottish Highlands into the Grampian Mountains to the southeast and the Northwest Highlands to the northwest. The glen is a natural travelling route in the Highlands of Scotland, which is used by both the Caledonian Canal and the A82 road , which link the city of Inverness on the northeast coast with Fort William on the west coast. The Invergarry and Fort Augustus Railway was built in 1896 from
21-705: The Gaelic Gleann Albainn "Glen of Scotland" [ˈklaun̪ˠ ˈaɫ̪apən] ) or Glen More (from the Gaelic Gleann Mòr "Big/Great Glen"), is a glen in Scotland running for 62 miles (100 km) from Inverness on the edge of the Moray Firth , in an approximately straight line to Fort William at the head of Loch Linnhe . It follows a geological fault known as the Great Glen Fault , and bisects
28-527: The Highland Scottish clans , particularly around the time of the Jacobite risings of the 18th century, is recognised by the presence of the towns of Fort William in the south, Fort Augustus in the middle of the glen, and Fort George , just to the northeast of Inverness. Much of the glen is taken up with a series of lochs , with rivers connecting them. The Caledonian Canal also uses the lochs as part of
35-745: The Victoria or Lochy Bridge just northeast of Fort William and the river is bridged again east of Gairlochy by the B8004 road . The only other crossing of the Lochy is a combined rail and foot bridge 500 metres (1,600 ft) downstream from Victoria Bridge. This span takes the West Highland Line between Fort William and Mallaig and carries the Great Glen Way national trail. Great Glen The Great Glen ( Scottish Gaelic : An Gleann Mòr [an ˈklaun̪ˠ ˈmoːɾ] ), also known as Glen Albyn (from
42-705: The route, but the rivers are not navigable. From northeast to southwest, the natural water features along the Great Glen are: The watershed lies between Loch Oich and Loch Lochy. Loch Linnhe to the south of Fort William is a sea loch into which both the River Lochy and Caledonian Canal emerge. At the north end, the River Ness empties into the Beauly Firth at the point where it meets the Moray Firth. Although earthquakes in
49-418: The southern end of the glen to the southern end of Loch Ness , but was never extended to Inverness. The railway closed in 1947. In 2002, the Great Glen Way was opened. A long-distance route for cyclists, canoeists, and walkers, it consists of a series of footpaths, forestry tracks, canal paths and occasional stretches of road linking Fort William to Inverness. The glen's strategic importance in controlling
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