High up in the Highlands

While I found Edinburgh incredible, my heart had been set on an excursion into the Highlands. I'll admit that it was the latest James Bond movie that really convinced me to go, as I found it unbearable to not see the gorgeous northern landscape in person. It did not take much convincing for my parents to agree, so one day we jumped aboard a Heart of Scotland tour bus and headed north.

Our tour began by passing the Linlithgow Palace where Mary Queen on Scots was born, Stirling Castle and the William Wallace Monument made famous by the movie Braveheart. We made a very brief stop at the Deanstown Distillery and were shown the large whiskey stills. Believe it or not, laws prohibited us from buying whiskey at that time of morning so we settled for tea and coffee instead.

After this point we began to enter to Highlands and were surprised to find that they were composed of mountains not rolling hills. The "high" in Highlands is a bit understated. Fabulous mountainous views stretched out before us and as we got higher we were greeted with snow-covered slopes. Apparently it's been the coldest March on record in the UK and Ireland, which meant that although we had to put up with nippy weather we also got to see the Highlands dusted in white.

The bus pulled to a stop in the absolutely stunning Glencoe valley. Glencoe is famous for a couple reasons. Historically it was the location of the McDonald clan massacre, authorised by William of Orange and carried out by the rival Campbell clan. On a lighter and more recent note, the valley was used to film segments featuring Hagrid's hut in Harry Potter films.

We stopped for lunch in Fort William then continued up to Fort Augustus and the infamous Loch Ness, home to Nelly the Loch Ness monster. We took a walk around town and took a few pictures by the lake. Sadly no sign of Nelly, not that I really expected to be that lucky...

 



We found a couple neat things around the town of Fort Augustus. We watched two boats move through the extensive series of locks in the Caledonian Canal, which connects Loch Ness with Loch Oich.

We also took a brief tour of a petting zoo located in the center of town, and saw red deer, lambs, cattle, donkeys, chickens, miniature horses and geese (I'll admit that it was the breeds and not the animals themselves that were novel to my farming family). Highlights included Highland cattle, a well-known Scottish breed, and a surprisingly small roe deer. Our bus tour guides told us an interesting fact about Highland Cattle; before the 1840s the breed was most often black in colour, but Queen Victoria made it know she preferred the red coloured version so those traits were bred for instead.

Shortly after leaving Fort Augustus, the bus stopped near the Commando Memorial to take in the impressive panorama of Ben Nevis. This mountain is the tallest in its range at 1344 metres (4409 feet). We had the amazing luck of catching the mountain on a clear, sunny day. Apparently the mountains are usually swathed in fog or cloud. The WWII Memorial pictured below has held its post at the base of this great mountain since 1952.

 

 



Our whirlwind trip into the Highlands made for a long, but amazing day. I mustered up all my leftover energy to stay awake on the drive back to Edinburgh so that I would miss nothing. We saw a remarkable amount of red deer (a very close relative to the elk) in fields near the highway, and although I'm not completely positive, I'm pretty sure I even saw one which was white in colour!

My family really enjoyed the rich history and distinct culture in Scotland. As usual, much more time could have been spent exploring, but we had made plans to head to Ireland, so off we went.

All the best,
Shannon