Scottish Highlands - Part 1

Somewhere that has long been on my bucket list for a more comprehensive visit, is the Highlands of Scotland.

I know, at my age, it is somewhere that I should have visited long ago. However, apart from a few sightseeing visits to Edinburgh and the odd business trip to Glasgow, Greenock, Motherwell and the Scottish borders regions, I had never ventured further north than Greenock.

Well, last week it was time to remedy this failure in my life and we headed up into the Highlands of Scotland and boy did I realise the photographic opportunities that I have been missing.

Whilst this was in no way a photographic excursion, I did take the opportunity to snap off a few shots whilst we were travelling around soaking up the endless wonder of this beautiful, rugged and ever changing landscape.

The ever changing patterns of weather, also made for some interesting opportunities and I will share with you some of the truly splendid sights that we were presented with during our short 7 day trip, which was made all the more interesting by the fact that Covid restrictions were still very much evident in Scotland. Eating and drinking out presented quite a challenge, with almost all restaurants being fully booked for days in advance or suffering staffing shortages. So be warned, if you are planning a visit to Scotland any time soon, be sure to plan your eating out well in advance.

After a reasonably uneventful trip from Leicester to Glasgow, we we're heading north and took a route that would take us past Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, towards our first planned stop over in Fort William and we were not disappointed by the beauty and serenity of Loch Lomond

After a brief stop to take in the misty allure of Loch Lomond, we moved on along the road to our final destination, only to be attracted by another attraction along the route, this time it was the Falls of Falloch, well who wouldn't be attracted by the lure of a waterfall, what did we have to lose?

After our short stop at the Falls of Falloch it was time to move on and with time against us after almost almost 7 hours on the road, we pressed on along our journey on the A82 through Argyl and Bute, and even though the weather we had was rather overcast the majestic beauty of the Scottish Highlands was absolutely breathtaking. We passed though the picturesque Bridge of Orchy.

Suffice it to say, I was truly falling in love with the breathtaking beauty of the Scottish Highlands and photographic opportunities presenting themselves as we passed through every bend as we travelled through the glens, we were looking forward to reaching our destination. As we pressed on the hills slowly began to turn into mountains as we passed through the popular mountain resort of Glencoe, a favoured destination for winter skiers. Even with no snow on the mountains the scenery was absolutely amazing and called out for a final photo opportunity.

Whilst the temptation to stay longer and take more photographs was certainly evident in Glencoe, it was time to press on and get to our hotel for some food and refreshments and a deserved rest before our trip on The Jacobite steam train which was scheduled for 10:15 in the morning from Fort William to Mallaig, but I will save that story for the next instalment of our Highlands adventure.