Weekend Warrior: Scottish Highlands
Exploring the Glencoe National Nature Reserve and being in awe (yet again) of endless autumn colours 🍂
This was my second trip to the Scottish Highlands in the last 4 months. Previously I had explored just a speck of the Cairngorms National Park, which blew my mind - I can very happily report that this trip to the Glencoe National Nature Reserve was just as impressive.
Getting There
On my last trip to Scotland I loved catching the train, however this time rough I flew from London Heathrow to Glasgow to save a bit of travel time. In reality this didn’t quite work out as intended though because I ended up copping a 1hr flight delay 🫠.
Once I landed at Glasgow, I collected a car I had hired through Avis from the airport - they had the cheapest rate (even with comprehensive insurance included!) compared to the other major providers I looked at. Picking up a car rental from Glasgow Airport is super easy - the collection point is virtually adjacent to the ‘arrivals’ terminal.
It’s been around 5.5 months since I was last driving in Aus - after a couple of trips where I’ve driven a car in mainland Europe I was surprised it look me a few moments to adjust to drive on the left (ie correct) side of the road again.
Accommodation
We stayed at B&B Hotel Inverness - the room was big, with a view (!) over the River Ness of St. Mary’s church, a ginormous TV and kettle with plenty of tea and coffee options. But, if I was to do this weekend trip again, I would give Inverness a miss for a couple of reasons:
Inverness is just that little bit too far from the places we visited, which meant a lot of drive time (including 2hrs each each to/from Glencoe).
It’s not the cutest town I’ve ever visited. I mean, it is nice, but also a weird mix of gorgeous 18th & 19th century architecture amongst gross 90’s concrete boxes.
Based purely on the towns we drove through, Fort Augustus would be my location pick if I were to do this trip again. It’s at the bottom (south-west end) of Loch Ness, so super easy for Nessie spotting, just over a 1hr drive to Glencoe, 25min drive to Urquhart Castle and a 1hr drive to the Glenfinnian Viaduct. Plus, with a population of just over 600, it appeared super cosy and cute!!
Things to Do
I am so far from being a Harry Potter fan - I’ve read none of the books, and have seen the 1st and 8th movie only (very weird trying to mentally fill in the story line gaps between those two) - however a visit to see the bridge made famous by the movies is definitely worth it.
There is a visitor car park (that has a brutal £5 parking charge), with toilets and a small cafe if you need to grab a snack. From here, it is a 10-15 min walk alongside River Finnan and up to one of the multiple view points.
If you’ve time your visit well (we didn’t) you can also see the ‘Harry Potter Train’ (The Jacobite) cross over the impressive 21-arch viaduct.
Glencoe National Nature Reserve
Omggggg... the Glencoe National Nature Reserve was incredible to drive through - particularly in Autumn. The browns, oranges and reds which covered each mountain, combined with the rocky ledges, are beautiful.
We had planned to do the Sgorr na Ciche Circular (Pap of Glencoe) hike however thanks to All Trails we somehow ended up on the wrong side of aLoch, near the area of Strathan on River Pean. This turned out to be somewhat of a blessing though - very wintery weather rolled in (see video below) and I was much happier to be getting blown around and drenched with sideways rain on flatter ground mid-walk rather than half way up a mountain with an insanely foggy outlook.
The 11KM return length of track we walked along River Pean was nothing short of gorgeous. I’ll come back for Sgorr na Ciche next time!!
Urquhart Castle home on Loch Ness dates back to the 1200’s and is an important part of Scotland’s struggle for independence. I really didn’t (and still don’t) know a lot about this - I’ve been reading up big time on Wikipedia - but I found our visit really interesting.
Although it was pouring rain, we still managed to see all areas of the castle ruins and read most information panels in around 1hr 15mins. Tickets for entry to the castle are slightly cheaper if you buy them online, but you’re not going to be financially ruined if you pay at the physical entrance.
I’d spent 2.5 days in Blair Atholl, in the Cairngorms National Park, earlier this year thanks to a very hot travel tip from my Fairy Godmother Jean. I loooooooved my time hiking there so much, and was very happy that a morning tea stop back at the watermill bakery fitted in perfectly to break up the drive from Inverness back to Glasgow Airport on the Sunday.
