Scottish Tour Guide's Blog

This evening, I am focusing on Glen Nevis near Fort William in the Scottish Highlands.

To some extent this might be called a ‘hidden gem’ as the glen (valley) is accessed via a small road in a southerly direction form the centre of Fort William. Fortunately, the vast majority of tour buses and related traffic by-passes the road and hence it is possible to enjoy a quiet and peaceful drive down to the Lower Falls and beyond. The return trip takes about 1 hour and en-route it is possible that an encounter with a herd of photogenic Highland Cattle  may occur.

The glen and nearby mountain (ben) are named after the River Nevis which in turn may be derived from the Gaelic neimh (pronounced ‘nev’) which translates as ‘poison’ or ‘evil’.

Glen Nevis  is noted for a number of features including:

• Last stage of the West Highland Way, a hiking trail which takes about 8-9 days to cover the distance from Glasgow to Fort William.
• A favorite area for camping and caravanning.
• Close to Ben Nevis , Britain’s highest mountain which attracts many climbers.
• Near to the Nevis Range of mountains and the Aonoch Mor  Chair Lift.
• Has been as a backdrop for a number of films including Braveheart, Harry Potter and Rob Roy.
• Scenic Lower Falls ( per images above and below) and Steall Falls.

 

Whenever possible I try to fit in a visit to Glen Nevis during my tours of the Western Highlands.

This evening, I am focusing the popular town of Callander which sits on the banks of the River Teith and on the edge of the Scottish Highlands. This area is also known as the Trossachs which benefits from some stunning scenery comprising lochs ( such as Venachar and Katrine) and mountains. This area has long associations with the legendary ‘outlaw’  Rob Roy Macgregor. Within a short drive range of Callander can be found:

• Kilmahog, home of the famous ‘Hamish’  Highland Cow.

• Doune Castle
• Stirling Castle
• Killin and the Falls of Dochart.
• Loch Katrine
• Loch Lomond.
• Lake of Menteith
• Blair Drummond Safari Park

Overall, a great base for sightseeing whilst avoiding the need for travelling long distances.

 This evening I have complied a composite of the first two days of a recent photography tour of Scotland during winter. At end of day 1 the town where we stayed had no electricity and hence I was unable to collate and post images which in turn placed my blogging sequence in arrears. Tonight’s exercise is a ‘catch up’.

After collecting guest at Edinburgh Airport we drove north-west past Doune Castle (above) to Callander where we had a brief stop for photographs and refreshments. 

 Next we continued through Strathtyre, Crainlarich and on to Rannoch Moor passing through some interesting Trossachs scenery en-route.

 

 Rannoch Moor provided some wonderful photo opps.

 

 

 After Rannoch Moor, we cotinued north through Glencoe, one of Scotland’s most stunning scenic areas.

 On arriving at Corran on Loch Linnhe we took the ferry and then continued on the west side of the loch up to Glenfinnan and then our final destination of Mallaig where there was no elctricity due to the recent hurricane strength gales.

After a cold night with no hot water we caught the 8.40am ferry to Armadale, Skye which took us past the spectacular Knoydart Peninsula- and more photo opps.

 On arrival on Skye we stopped first at Knock Castle and then Isleornsay.

 

 Further on we stopped for pics of a small herd of Highland Cattle  before going on to Kyleakin and its ruined castle.

 

 Next, we travelled across the Skye Bridge to Kyle of Lochalsh and then a short distance to the famous Eilean Donan Castle- and more photographs.

 

 Next, we continued trough increasingly wintry Highland scenery via Glen Shiel, Invergarry and Loch Laggan.

 

 

 On arriving at Pitlochry, we called in briefly at Edradour Distillery, Scotland’s smallest such whisky producer but just missed the last tour of the day.

 

Finally we drove on south and then west, first to Aberfeldy and finally to our destination of Kenmore on the northern tip of Loch Tay.

Overall, a great 2 days during we benefited from a very fortunate combination of winter scenery and sunshine- ideal for photography.