Fort William is a working town with a mountain behind it, and the mountain is Ben Nevis. At 1,345 metres, it is the highest summit in the British Isles, and from the streets of the town you may or may not see it, depending on the cloud, which hides the top for most of the year. The town itself is not beautiful, a long, practical line of shops, hotels and outdoor stores along the shore of Loch Linnhe, but it sits in an extraordinary landscape of lochs, glens and peaks, and it is a good base for exploring the western Highlands.
The name comes from the fort built here in the 1650s by General Monck's army to control the Highlands, rebuilt in the 1690s and named for King William III. The fortress is long gone, but its role as a garrison town in a rebellious land shaped the place. Later came the Caledonian Canal, completed in the early nineteenth century, which uses a flight of eight locks at Banavie, called Neptune's Staircase, to lift boats toward the Great Glen. The West Highland Way, the long-distance walking route from Glasgow, ends here, and the West Highland Railway, one of the most scenic in Britain, arrives from the south. Just west along the coast, the Glenfinnan viaduct is famous from the Harry Potter films, and a steam train crosses it in summer.
For a rider, the interest is the A82, which runs south through Glencoe and across Rannoch Moor, and north-east along the Great Glen toward Loch Ness. The road south from Fort William, by the shores of Loch Linnhe and into Glen Coe, is one of the most dramatic in Scotland, with long bends and soaring slopes, though traffic can be heavy and slow-moving in summer. The surface is generally good but has its patches. In rain, which is frequent, visibility drops and the road can become slick, so it pays to ride within your limits.
Fort William has all the services you need, including fuel, supermarkets, cafes and pubs, and it is a good place to stock up before the more remote roads to the west and north. The nearest distillery, Ben Nevis, offers tours, and the pubs serve decent venison and haggis after a wet day. Midges are a nuisance in summer, and the best months for riding are May, June and September, when the days are long and the crowds are thinner.