14th & 15th August

After a comfortable night in Helen’s flat, I left Sunday morning to meet Melanie and Pierre, two fellow couch surfers. The plan was a two week road trip across Skye and the Outer Hebrides. Our keyword was adventure, and we each had a slightly different idea of what that would involve.
After a very brief stop outside the Wallace Monument in Sterling, we continued to Loch Venachar, where the mountains and lake looked like the Scotland I’d come to see.

We took a few stops on the way towards Glencoe, including Loch Katrine and Loch Lubnaig, finally camping by a lakeside in Invercoe. Melanie generously shared her tent and camping equipment with me, and with Pierre set up on the next pitch, we settled in for our first night on the road.

The fifteenth we woke up early, and set off to Glencoe for a short hike to the Lost Valley (Coire Gabhail). As we arrived, a piper turned up and began to play. There we were, surrounded by mountains, watching a piper! A very tourist-savvy piper, I must say. A very successful, tourist-savvy piper.
The path was visual perfection. Flowers, rocks, greenery and mountains all around. We took one wrong turn, which saw us trying to climb a steep slope, covered in sharp rocks. Every step up would see us slide back another step. There were several other hikers with us, all of us confused as to where the actual path was. Finally, we saw some people on the other side of the river. We stumbled and slid back down, crossed the river, and found our way up to the mountain,

overlooking the lost valley. The views were worth it in the end, and our “adventure” took on another meaning. From our viewpoint, we could see the rocky slope we'd tried to climb, and realised just how steep and useless an attempt it had been. We also realised that every other walker would have seen us scrambling up the slope, probably wondering what on earth we were thinking!

The weather was warm, even by an Aussie-in-Scotland’s standards. We wore t-shirts and I have photos to prove it! In Glencoe I felt I was in the Scotland of my mind. Mountains covered in green and purple, fresh water streams, moss covered stones, high slopes and deep valleys. It was beautiful.
Coire Gabhail has a dark history though. The hidden valley beyond is where the MacDonald clan hid their cattle, before they were massacred by Clan Campbell. The MacDonald’s escaped in the middle of a Winter blizzard. Some died in their burning houses, some in the valley. Those who survived left Glencoe, for fear of the Campbell soldiers.
According to tourist information, over six million people visit the area each year. There is a lot of work done to maintain the natural state and walking paths of the area, and I would recommend to anyone

visiting to leave a small donation, in order to support the upkeep of the region.
By the end our our walk, all three of us had run out of descriptive words. “Wow,” and “amazing” were used repeatedly, while we looked at isolated white cottages, nestled at the foot of great mountains. It’s the scenery of storybooks.

That afternoon, after countless photos, my camera and phone both ran out of battery. We were still stopping wherever possible to look at lochs, and I relied heavily on Pierre and Melanie to take photos, which we’ve agreed to share when we get back. A quick lunch stop at Fort William, but not enough time to see the old fort remains, or much of the area at all.
We drove on to Glenfinnan, where we parked outside the Catholic Church of St Mary & St Finnan, It was a beautiful building, overlooking the valley, with an old bell sitting beside it. We continued up the road to a soldier monument, before heading down to see the Jacobite monument. This monument was built in the spot where Bonnie Prince Charlie first “raised his standard”, and was dedicated to the Jacobites who fought for a Stuart king.

Just across the road is the Glenfinnan viaduct, better known to many Harry Potter fans as the place where the Hogwart’s train drives through. We didn’t time our visit to see the train, but the aqueduct itself is very pretty, and worth the visit, even as a non-fan.

On our way to the campsite, we found a plaque marking the place where Prince Charles first landed on Scottish soil, alongside a summary of the late arrival of the French and their gold. It described the Jacobite’s last stand against the English, and it didn’t go well.

We quickly discovered that all the local campsites were full, and we found ourselves wild camping on a beach. While Melanie and Pierre went to fill our water bottles, I cooked a curry and watched the sunset over the ocean. Our Scottish neighbours were lovely and helpful, and despite the lack of facilities, it was one of the nicest campsites we were to stay at.