Christmas in the Highlands: Loch Ness and Glencoe

Over Christmas we headed up north to Scotland. We've visited Scotland once before a couple of years ago when we spent Easter in Edinburgh. During that visit we discovered a country with beautiful countryside and super friendly locals, so we were looking forward to returning.

We flew out from London to Inverness on Christmas Eve, the day after a huge storm hit London and the South West of England. Thousands of people lost power and were hit with severe flooding so we were concerned we might not actually get out of London.

The night before, having planned to get the train to Luton, we figured the trains wouldn't be running so ordered a taxi instead, which was lucky because when we woke up the next morning, there were no trains but the roads were clear so we arrived with no issues at all.

Landing at Inverness was a slightly scary experience, the storm was making its way up the country, scheduled to hit Scotland the evening of Christmas Eve. The winds were already strong, but we managed to land on the first attempt, which was an amazing job by the Easyjet pilot since the plane was being blown around a lot!

Upon arrival we stopped to have lunch and calm down before picking up our rental car. We had a really delicious Turkey Christmas dinner from a cafe at the airport, the only one we ended up having since everything was shut the next day.

We picked up our rental car, a cute Fiat 500, and Bradley spent a few minutes driving around the parking lot, having not driven for over two years. Once he was comfortable and we'd figured out how to wind down the windows, we headed South away from Inverness towards Fort William, where we were staying for the next three nights.

The route to Fort William takes just under two hours, and took us right past Loch Ness. Loch Ness is famous of course for all the sightings of the Loch Ness monster. It must have been too windy for Nessie, and everyone else, on the day we were there because we didn't see anything.

Loch Ness is one of the largest in Scotland, and definitely the most well known. It is absolutely huge, and even after driving next to it for an hour, we still hadn't reached the end.

Despite the fact it was blowing a horrendous gale and bucketing down with rain, the Loch was so beautiful that we couldn't resist pulling over every time we could to a lay-by.

Trying not to get blown away for the sake of a photo!

We stopped to admire Urquhart Castle on the shore of Loch Ness, the Castle is now in ruins having been abandoned in the 17th century.

We arrived at our Bed and Breakfast, Ardarroch Cottage in the late afternoon. The B&B is located about 15 minutes outside of Fort William, overlooking Loch Eil, another beautiful Loch.

By this time the storm had hit full force, so we were happy to settle in for the night and listen to the winds try to blow the roof of the house.

The view from our room

We woke up the next morning to a fantastic Scottish breakfast, along with a lovely gift and Christmas crackers, making it one of the best Christmas morning's we've had in the last few years. The owners really made us feel welcome and like we were staying with friends, definitely one of the best places we've ever stayed.

After breakfast we headed out for the days exploring. We decided to drive slightly south of Fort William, to Glen Coe, a beautiful Volcanic Glen made famous in the new James Bond movie, Skyfall.

We stopped to stretch our legs and admire the stunning scenery of Loch Linnhe, which was surrounded by tall trees and made us feel like we were in British Columbia.

We hopped back in the car and continued on our way. Our next stop was just past the Glen Coe visitors centre where we pulled into a car park and discovered several hiking trails we could take to further explore the area.

We chose one at random that took us over a wooden bridge and up into woodland. We were hoping to see some red squirrels, but they must have been in the same place Nessie was, hiding from the cold.  

A winter visit to Glen Coe means there was hardly anyone on the roads, and we could take our time driving through the valley, frequently slowing down to about 50km or lower so we could admire our surroundings. 

The mountains were also covered in mist and snow, though I imagine they are equally as beautiful in Summer, you'd just have to share them with more people.

Though Glen Coe is one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland, it does have a rather horrible history. 

In a scene that could have come straight from Game of Thones, Glen Coe was the site of the Glen Coe Massacre in 1692, where the MacDonald clan was massacred in their homes by guests who had accepted their hospitality.. sounds like the Red Wedding?

38 of the MacDonald clan were slaughtered, and a further 40 women and children died of exposure after their homes were burnt to the ground.

Looking around us it was hard to imagine such a horrendous event happening in such beautiful surroundings.

Over several hours we drove through the valley, stopping constantly to take photos of the ever changing scenery. I think in just the one day, I took about 600 photos. Narrowing them down to just a few was probably the hardest part!

After driving for a while through green valleys and seeing snow only at the very tops of the mountains, we turned a corner and were instantly in a snowy wonderland.

We stopped the car and our feet crunched through fresh snow as we wandered across the road to admire two waterfalls tumbling down the mountainside.

Further along it got foggier and the scenery was no longer green, just white as far as we could see.

This part of Glen Coe reminded me of the Central North Island of New Zealand, and we felt as if we were driving along the Desert Road.

We drove almost the entire way through Glen Coe, before turning around and heading back along the way we had come. Parking the car we got out and walked for a while through some thick snow, stopping when we encountered another person to wish them Merry Christmas.

It was so strange to again turn a corner and see greenery, with the snowy landscape behind us.

The downside to visiting the Scottish Highlands at Christmas is that the sun sets at about 3.30 p.m., meaning it is pitch black by 5.00 p.m. Not liking to drive on small roads with no lights, we made sure we were usually home not too long after nightfall.

Having left Glen Coe in the early afternoon, we continued driving South to Oban, a fishing town popular in Summer when you can get ferries out to the Islands in the Inner Hebrides, such as the Isles of Mull and Iona.

The town was mostly shut down when we arrived, being Christmas Day, with signs of the pervious days storm evident along the sea front. There were huge piles of seaweed along the road, and sandbags lining the streets and in front of shops doors.

We stopped and warmed up with a coffee at a rather terrible hotel full of elderly people, its only positive being that it was open, and watched the sunset before heading back to our car for the drive back to Fort William and the promise of a hot shower and Christmas movies in our pyjamas.