If you know me well, then you’ll know I absolutely love Scotland.

There are so many things about it that I adore; the scenery, the history, the people, the accent, the food, the whisky! I can’t help but get the feeling that there is something magical about the Highlands… it is a place of myth and legend, of blood and honour, of family and clan. England (not to mention Ireland and Wales) definitely has its fair share of beautiful hillsides and amazing mountainous regions… but I can honestly say the Scottish Highlands are absolutely incomparable to anything else! I’m not ashamed to admit that I was brought to tears at least twice during our recent trip to Glencoe. Now, I’ve been to some far flung places on God’s green earth in my lifetime, but nothing has taken my breath away as the Highlands did.

As I said before, it’s definitely a land imbued with magical properties…

I have been to Scotland a few times now, but mostly just to the lowlands (Edinburgh, Glasgow, etc), never before had I ventured this deep into the mountains. We chose to drive to Glencoe, rather than catch a train, to ensure we were able to stop along the way at any particularly picturesque points, and I am so glad we did – I would recommend this to anyone planning to travel north of Loch Lomond. The views are utterly jaw-dropping and you wont want to miss a jot. One minute you are zooming through winding roads and thick pine tree forests, then all of a sudden, as you turn a corner  – BANG! An astoundingly large loch opens up right before you, with an almost sheer drop down one side of the road. You can feel the mountains moving aside as you hurtle through the countryside, revealing unbelievably spectacular scenery. And then, in a flash, you turn another corner and the view is once again concealed – it’s like you were let in on a secret and for the briefest moment you felt enraptured to be included.

After spending a few days of wallowing in it’s magnificence, it succinctly started to feel as though the Highlands was boasting at us everywhere we want. “You want a loch? Ok, here’s Loch Lochy. Not big enough for you? Fine, here’s Loch Ness! Oh and look here’s a cloud covered mountain, with a tiny bothy nestled in some trees. You want more cloud covered mountains? Suuuure, why the hell not!”