I won’t lie. I was pretty underwhelmed by the scenery driving into the Highlands. It just looked barren and treeless - more grey than I imagined and with way more sheep. Thankfully, the scenery improved as we got closer to our base the first night, Port Augustus, at the southern end of Loch Ness.
Our room was above the Caledonian Canal Centre and it was awesome watching the boats being moved up the half a dozen locks from the comfort of our room. It was also amazing to learn all about the Caledonian Canal which was built in the early 1800s to connect the east and west coasts of Scotland and required a total of 29 locks.
The next day, we made our way north half way up Loch Ness to Dromnadrochit to learn more about the legend of the Loch Ness Monster and investigate the evidence and alleged sightings (there have been more than 1000!) Still unsure, we headed for the water where the boys got to take it in turns driving our boat and monitoring the sonar and radar tracking devices to try and see the elusive beast with our own eyes. Alas, we weren’t able to spot Nessie and can neither confirm nor deny her existence.
More confused than when we arrived, we left Loch Ness and headed down south to Fort Williams to catch the Hogwarts Express and take what has been rated as the best railroad journey in the world. That might be overstating things a bit, but pretending to be wizards and imagining dementors sneaking onto the steam train was really cool.
Leaving Fort Williams, we drove across Glen Coe, a magnificent glacier valley and Scotland’s hub for outdoor adventure. It was truly magnificent. So green and unbelievably scenic that we had to pull over and take it all in. The Highlands really are every bit as beautiful as everyone says. You just have to be in the right part!
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