Fort William & Spean Bridge Commando Memorial

These 2 places are some of the first places I recommend to people when asking for adventure. I have done my best to try and capture the landscape, but my images still don't do it any justice.

Spean Bridge is a small village around 8 miles north-east of the town of Fort William in the Scottish Highlands, and the memorial is located approximately 1 mile north-west of Spean Bridge, at the junction of the A82 road and the B8004 road.

It is a prominent landmark visible from the A82, and the site itself offers views across the River Spean valley to the peaks of Ben Nevis and Aonach Mòr to the south.

The location was chosen because it is on the route from Spean Bridge railway station to the former Commando Training Centre at nearby Achnacarry Castle.

Arriving prospective Commandos would disembark after a 14-hour journey, load their kit bags onto waiting trucks and then speed march the 7 miles to the training centre in full kit with weapon, weighing a total of 36 pounds (16 kg). Anyone not completing it within 60 minutes was immediately RTU'd (returned to unit).

It has become one of Scotland's best-known war memorials and a popular tourist attraction, visited by tens of thousands of people every year.

The Commando Memorial is a Category A listed monument in Scotland, dedicated to the men of the original British Commando Forces raised during World War II. Situated around a mile from Spean Bridge village, it overlooks the training areas of the Commando Training Depot established in 1942 at Achnacarry Castle.

Unveiled in 1952 by the Queen Mother, it has become one of the United Kingdom's best-known monuments, both as a war memorial and as a tourist attraction offering views of Ben Nevis and Aonach Mòr.

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