Blog

We wake at 5:30 in the morning to drive to see the Jacobite train cross the Glennfinnan Viaduct. Absolutely gorgeous drive into the Highlands! Lush green hills, rugged mountains, rivers and streams, and purple wild flowers! Fog wisps on the mountain tops! Drive 3 hours from Edinburgh through highland and National Park and arrive at Glenfinnan. Arrive at 9:30am and the parking lot is already starting to fill up. Cannot believe how busy it is already and nothing opens until 10am. Train crosses the viaduct at 10:50am. Feed kids breakfast from the car and sit at a picnic table. Meet a kind man named Joe who is from Glenfinnan and volunteers to help visitors. He was very friendly and kind and brought us to the lake across the road which is the Hogwarts lake! His house is on the lake with a boat. He shows us the monument that is leaning like the leaning tower of Pisa. And he sings us a Scottish song. It was really beautiful and very sweet of him! We say goodbye and thank him for his kindness then head back to hike to the viaduct. The path is muddy after the rain and a large crowd gathers on the mountainside. The views on the trail are amazing! We find a nice spot and we wait about 15-20 mins before the Jacobite steam train crosses the viaduct. The black and red steam train crosses the 21 arches of the viaduct with steam streaming from the top as the train blows its whistle. The conductor and engineer and all the passengers wave and we wave back. It was so fun and the whole thing was magical! We hiked from the viaduct to the church where we got hot cocoa and muffins from the cafe (and told them we promised to mention Joe sent us which they loved!) and we also saw a herd of stags on the hike and chatted with another local helping to guide traffic. She loved that we had met Joe! She told us they are a village of 150 and they get a million visitors to the viaduct and they all volunteer to help manage the crowds! Amazing! After heading back to the visitor center we finish our cocoa and snacks, we take the most scenic drive to Fort William then Glencoe and see Ben Nevis the highest point in Scotland. We park at Glencoe and eat lunch at the Glencoe Cafe. Sandwiches (ham for the kids, delicious toasted chicken sandwich for C, a baked potato with cheese for V, leek and poatao soups, and fancy hot cocoa. It was great!) We drive to see Castle Stalker on an island on Loch Laich, then drive to another castle, Dunstaffnage Castle. We walked the castle walls, and the boys got to hold heavy metal swords of all varieties which absolutely made their day! Walk over to see the pretty beach, then head back to the car just as the castle parking lot closes. Begin our drive back to Edinburgh with an unexpected stop in Stirling for dinner and exploring the former capital of Scotland. More to come on our visit to Stirling, the Gateway to the Highlands!