Last week we took a trip up to the Scottish Highlands which for us is a journey of about three hours by car. At last I was going to that west which I pine for! We were based in Fort William which is fairly well known for being rather wet and it was certainly wet when we were there but as soon as we started travelling north from there we always met the sunshine, as you can see when we got to Glenfinnan it was a lovely day. There is a tourist on top of the monument in this photo, as well as the statue of a highlander. This is where Charles Edward Stuart, better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, stepped off a boat on Monday, 19th August 1745 and started to raise support from highlanders, in the hope that he could reclaim the British throne from the German Hanoverians. Known as the Young Pretender, his father was the Old Pretender and he had counselled him not to rekindle the old Jacobite cause.

This is a view from the top of the Glenfinnan monument. That Scottish baronial house has such a gorgeous setting, if a bit remote.

This is Loch Shiel from the top of the monument and if you are fairly fit I would definitely recommend you to tackle the very steep spiral staircase which leads to the top of the monument, it’s worth it for the views, although it was a bit scarily windy up there so we didn’t stay long.

Still on top of the monument though, these photos were taken in all directions and this is the Glenfinnan Viaduct which has always been famous in Scotland anyway but is even more so today, especially amongst Harry Potter fans as it is the viaduct which the Hogwarts Express travels over in the films.

And the photo above is just a zoom in on the viaduct. If you enjoy beautiful scenery then you might want to put Glenfinnan on your bucket list – if you have such a thing. It is really beautiful.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.