Down the High Street: the museum, the end of the Way and where to eat

Fort William is long and thin, strung along the eastern shore of Loch Linnhe, and most of what a visitor needs in town sits on or just off one street. This is a walk down it, from the station at the north-east end to Gordon Square at the south-west, with the history and the places to eat in the order you meet them. From the station to Sonas is well under a kilometre.

Station Square

Most people arrive here, by ScotRail from Glasgow or by the Caledonian Sleeper from London. The Gaelic name for the town, An Gearasdan, means the garrison, and Wikipedia's history explains why: a wooden fort, the Garrison of Inverlochy, was built in 1654 as a base for the New Model Army, and the fort that replaced it after 1688 took William of Orange's name. The settlement around it was called Maryburgh, then Gordonsburgh, then Duncansburgh before Fort William stuck.

Belford Hospital, the town's 24-hour A&E according to NHS Highland, is on Belford Road, a short walk from the station.

Cameron Square

Walk south-west along the High Street to Cameron Square. Three things sit together here.

The West Highland Museum is free, with donations welcome, and open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00. It says its most renowned and unusual collection relates to Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite cause, and it also covers war, tourism and the coming of industry to the West Highlands. The building is listed, so some rooms may be hard to reach, but there are stairlifts to the upper floors.

Crannog at Garrison West, at 4 Cameron Square, is the town's seafood restaurant, which has moved here from the Town Centre Pier where older guides still put it. It serves lunch from noon and dinner from 17:00, seven days, and takes bookings online, by phone or by email.

The Highland Soap Company has a shop on the High Street. The soap itself is made at its visitor centre at Inverlochy, north of town, where you can watch through a window or book a 40-minute workshop.

Down the High Street

At 88 High Street, The Geographer calls its food street food with a story. It does not take reservations from April to October and does not publish opening hours, so look in as you pass. Further on, at 147, Sonas, which is Gaelic for happiness, opens from 16:30 Monday to Wednesday and from noon Thursday to Sunday and recommends booking.

Gordon Square, where the Way ends

The West Highland Way runs 96 miles from Milngavie, and since September 2010 it has finished here, by a bronze walker missing one boot, whom Highland Council's announcement called Sore Feet. Before that the route stopped at what grough magazine called the inauspicious roundabout at Nevis Bridge, an extra mile back along the road, beside the Ben Nevis Woollen Mill. The last stage from Kinlochleven is 15 miles, per the route's own site.

The Black Isle Bar, the Black Isle Brewery's Fort William bar, is on the square, pouring its own beer with wood-fired pizza. It is walk-in only and it likes dogs.

Along the loch to the Lime Tree

Carry on south-west onto Achintore Road for the Lime Tree, a hotel on Achintore Road. Its restaurant, the Silly Goose, serves dinner from 18:00 to 21:30 and keeps a smart casual dress code, with no flip-flops or open-toed shoes, so it is a change-out-of-your-boots evening. Book through the restaurant's site; groups of six or more should contact it directly.

The other end of town

Back past the station, at Nevis Bridge where Glen Nevis Road begins, the Nevis Bank Inn has Brown's Restaurant, serving breakfast through to dinner; it does not publish times, so phone. Up the glen, the Ben Nevis Inn at Achintee and the Glen Nevis Restaurant and Bar are covered in our Glen Nevis guide.

A note on Sundays and winter

The museum is closed on Sundays. The Geographer's no-reservations rule covers April to October and its site says nothing about the rest of the year, so ring ahead in winter.