Tuesday, 19th of August, 2025

Heading into the Highlands

I was expecting mountains, rain, and lochs, but I did not know it would be this breathtaking.

Today is my first time venturing into the Highlands. Just a day trip, as we planned for Edinburgh to be our home base this time in Scotland. We decided to take up a friend’s suggestion and ride along on with Discover Scotland Tours so we would not have to worry about driving on the opposite side of the road. Perhaps we could have challenged ourselves to see how it would go, but why not have some fun and have an expert guide showing us around. Also, it is quite lovely that this tour is only a group of about 20 people, so our adventure seems more like we are a group of friends about to go off and explore.

Tall, thin church surrounded by trees with for sale signs nearby the church.

Our tour today will lead us to Glencoe, Loch Shiel, Glenfinnan Viaduct, and a speckle of other stops and sights along the way. Our fearless guide and driver, Jamie, has some jokes in his pocket, leading us to chuckle about Braveheart and coos (Highland cows) as we meander through the Lowlands. As an aside, numerous directors have utilized many of the castles and views in Scotland that we will see today as filming locations for movies and shows such as Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Braveheart, and Outlander to name a few. To be completely honest, I will be focusing on Harry Potter - you will see later. Okay, back to the tour. We started early in the morning, so it is only 9:00 when we arrive at Callander for a quick walk to stretch the legs before the longer drive ahead of us. The town is an adorable collection of buildings with character at the base of the mountains, though, we are confused when we walk by the town’s church and there is a for sale sign up. Will this stay a church, or become a nightclub? We do not know as the doors are not open, so we cross the street over to the bakery to pick up a granola bar for Ramón and shortbread cookies for me. Oh my goodness, these are delicious!!

A pointy mountain lies in the distance, with a slope closer in the foreground and a couple of clouds overhead.

Back on the road, we start to make the climb up the mountains of the Highlands. Here, we find out that there are about 282 mountains in Scotland! These are not the tallest mountains in the world, but remarkable when compared to their neighbours. Equally breathtaking as we curve around the bend is our view of a large loch on the left hand side. The loch contains deep blue/grey water gently moving with the occasional swimmer or canoer passing by. Jamie explains to us that in Scottish Gaelic, the word “loch” describes the dark blue colour of the water, and is not used interchangeably with the term lake. I appreciate how he lets us into the Scottish Gaelic world, as each mountain, loch, or stream has a name that actually describes itself in a unique manner in Gaelic. Nevertheless, I assume that it would be difficult to find out all of the secrets of the Highlands, as this is a massive, expansive landscape.

Another tall, pointy mountain. This one grey and has an overcast sky above it.

My breath catches as we see waterfalls coming almost out of nowhere from the sides of the mountains. It is actually the clouds we see resting on the tops of mountains that provide rainfall; the water from there then feeds our mystical rivers and waterfalls. Then, there are the first sights of Glencoe. When we hop out of the van, I feel I am an ant standing here. If I were to run towards the mountains, would it take days or weeks to get to just one of the mountain pass’s entrances? Despite the cloudy sky and wind picking up, I am standing still and stunned by the sheer beauty of the landscape. I remain flabbergasted by the enchanting views as we reboard the van to visit another part of Glencoe.

A couple of mountain peaks lie in the distance with a waterfall trickling above a cottage below.

Our next view in Glencoe is by a loch and stream with a wooden bridge (which we were asked to not go past to respect the residents of the cottage down the way). While people rush to the bridge to view the loch, I am entranced by the waterfall up and in the distance flowing from the mountain top. This waterfall feeds a little stream that eventually makes its way down to the main stream in front of us. While it would be a steep hike, I could imagine people exploring the waterfall, and perhaps other hidden features before the clouds could envelop them. Eventually, I turn my attention to the loch, and just stare at the glittering water and mountains beyond. The lush shades of forest green of the grasses and dark hues of blue and grey of the water, paired with the quiet lapping of water over pebbles below us, frame a spectacular view of Glencoe that is hard to move from.

View of Glencoe with mountains in the distance, a loch below, some grass, and an overcast sky.

Another view of the Glencoe mountain pass and on the right hand side, a 17th century replica of a house from the Highland area.

Perhaps for the best, the wind and sprinkle of rain usher us back into the van to take a quick lunch break. This may sound silly, but I need to give a big shout out to the Glencoe Visitor’s Centre. This place is not only a perfect stop to rest for a minute, but has multiple features where you can learn more about the Highlands, both in its history and nature, as well as have a delectable bite to eat. We are even learning about wildlife and vegetation of the various seasons as we consume warm bowls of soup. The highlight of this stop is walking into a replica of a former home in the Highlands from the 17th century. Earlier in the tour, Jamie explained the historic power struggle for control of the Highlands and the demand for clans to swear allegiance to England. The MacDonald Clan was late to swearing allegiance to the Crown, so their people were massacred and their village demolished as an example of what would occur to those who disobey orders. The replica of a turf and creel house in front of us is similar to what the MacDonalds would have lived in. Very sturdy stone and natural materials, but not a fortress or a castle to easily protect inhabitants similar to what we have seen in Edinburgh.

A snippet of a red train with passengers moving quicky, with some foliage around the train.

After our pit stop I grew tired due to a food coma from the tasty food. But, I awoke to Jamie yelling, “there’s the train!!!!!”. I jolted up from my nap and for a second I thought I was in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I am not kidding you, we are neck and neck with the Jacobite Steam Train, just like Ron and Harry, and are keeping our speed despite turns and trees. It is a first for Jamie, and he lets us know if we run, we can see the same train run past at Glenfinnan as that one was running on a delayed schedule. We run out of the van and make it to the entrance of the Glenfinnan Viaduct area and see the Jacobite Train chugging, then stopping on the viaduct. The train knows it is a model, and provides us all a moment to snap some photos as it poses in front of the tree covered mountains. As fast as it came, the sun begins to shine again the train goes forward and left to disappear into the trees.

View of the highlands, and small in the foreground is the viaduct and the long red Jacobite Train from Harry Potter.

As if floating on the blueish/grey loch, an island of trees infront of the mountains.

The Glenfinnan Viaduct is a beautiful viaduct of tall stone arches standing in the middle of a valley. We turn away from the viaduct for a moment as Ramón and I walk towards the Nelson Monument and Loch Shiel - or others may know it as the Black Lake in Harry Potter. I will admit, this is where we fangirl a bit as we are wearing our Harry Potter sweaters for pictures (Gryffindor for myself and Slytherin for Ramón). As we walk to the backside of the monument to see the floating island of trees, I almost walk into the water! Watch your step. I love the trees floating on the little island to our slight left. We take a moment looking at this view, and I understand why people have used this location for filming as this place is purely and utterly magnificent.

A wide angle view of Loch Shiel; the blue/grey loch in the center, surrounded by forest green mountains on all sides.

The viaduct, a set of light grey stone arches, standing alone in the valley of green mountains.

As more people trickle into this area, we take a brief stop inside the shop to warm up and view the mini museum. Once we are warmed up, we go back outside and climb. Now, if you are reading this in preparation for your own trip to Scotland, I want to highly, highly, highly suggest you have a pair of shoes ready for the outdoors and wet weather. I am saved by wearing my waterproof shoes as the stone stairs were slippery with puddles and mud, and the hiking trails provided uneven, muddy terrain. Our hike up the mountain leads us to scale some boulders (not too much scaling) in order to have a fantastic view of the Glenfinnian Viaduct and Loch Sheil. Rain is now steadily pelting us as we wait for the Jacobite Train to come from the other direction, but that is all right. We are in Scotland after all.

A closeup of the red train, with a black engine car, rolling across the stone viaduct, with green trees infront and behind the train.

We start to get worried as the train does not appear on schedule, and the time slowly approaches for us to return to the van to go back home. I decide to make one last dash down the mountain, to run up to the Glenfinnan Viaduct for a flatter, but closer view of the train, just in case it comes at the last possible moment. Unfortunately, this train is late too, and we reboard the van to make our way slowly back to Edinburgh. On the brightest of brightsides, we have fun neighbors on the van, and the girl next to me offers to share with me closeups of the Jacobite Train from the first sighting on the viaduct! One of her photos is shown here to the right. I should note, I am grateful we did see the train once today, as others visiting the site missed the train. Plus, who gets to say they raced the train?! As we continue on, I am having fun chatting with my van neighbors as Jamie puts on Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” in Scots - a language also spoken in Scotland and different from Gaelic.

A family of three light brown cows standing and sitting in a grassy field, with a blue sky overhead. Even though we have completed the main stops of our journey, we still have a couple of fun things left to do. This includes seeing a family of Highland coos. For myself, it was helpful to grab a snack first, and then see the family of coos as the crowd has settled and the coos are able to relax a bit on the grass. They are a little intimidating with their large horns, but are still cute fluffy cows with soft, flowing locks draping over their eyes. After this stop, we are back on the road for the final leg of driving, catching our last glimpses of the Highlands before we are back in the Lowlands approaching Edinburgh. Our tour ends on the best of notes as we are laughing hard to jokes and singing the rest of the ride.

While it is sad that a fantastic day has ended, we keep the adventure and positive energy up by venturing to Ghillie Dhu for dinner. The walk from our drop off location to the restaurant includes a walk along Princes Street, catching the last of the Sun’s rays striking across Edinburgh Castle. After we have meandered through busy streets, we enter the establishment and sit at a table with flowers and vines falling from the ceiling, and live music playing at the bar, creating a whimsical atmosphere. Haggis meatballs, fish and chips, and a splash of whiskey revive our spirits as we reminisce on the magical day we had. We for sure need to spend more time in the Highlands next time.

The volcanic stone hill of Castle Rock standing in the center of the photo, with Edinburgh Castle on top, catching the last bits of sunlight to the right. Lush trees fill the bottom half of the photo.

Thank you for reading today’s blog. In the next post, I will take you with me to Rosslyn Chapel and Rosslyn Castle.

Also, a special thanks to Discover Scotland Tours and our tour guide, Jamie, for such a fun experience. This tour has provided so many laughs and memories - we look forward to the next one.