You're a Wizard, Harry: Goodbye Skye and Hello Fort William!

Our last big trip of Bev’s Big Scotland Tour (I‘m still trying to figure out a good name for it!) took us back to the Isle of Skye. We did out same trip that we did the last time so I won't bore you with a long drawn out story or a history lesson. I will however, let you click here to head right to the gallery to see those photos. It was lovely. We're always happy to be on the Isle of Skye and look forward to many, many trips back to the Island! There's still so much more we haven't seen yet!

On our way back to Dundee, we decided to take a detour and head to the famed hills of Glencoe. Glencoe, heavily featured in the Starz series Outlander, is a volcanic glen akin to what we saw at Corrie Fee, just on a larger scale. Our drive took us through one of the quintessential highland journeys in Scotland.

The main settlement of the glen is Glen Coe, the home of Scottish mountaineering, named after the River Coe, which runs through it. We stopped a few times to take photos and let me tell you, it’s truly breathtaking. Glen Coe also happens to be the filming location of Hagrid‘s hut in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban!

Our journey through Glencoe led us to the famed town of Fort William, south of Loch Ness, to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct. For those who don't know, a viaduct is just a fancy bridge usually made up of a bunch of arches over a valley.

Glenfinnan in Fort William has a very, very famous viaduct universally known thanks wholly to the Harry Potter movie franchise. Ever see the iconic scene of Hogwarts Express billowing large plumes of smoke, riding over a valley? That’s the Glenfinnan Viaduct! The Jacobite steam train actually runs a few times a day, unfortunately we missed it going over the bridge while we were there but we did drive past it down the road.

You can get tickets to ride the train but it only runs April-October, and we just missed the cut off. We do plan on taking a ride on it when it opens again in April though. The train runs from Fort William to the seaside town of Mallaig, the gateway to the islands as you can catch ferries to the isles of Skye, isles of Rùm, Eigg, Muck, and Canna.

Across the street from the viaduct, you’ll find the Glenfinnan Monument and insane riverside views of the Loch Shiel as well as the island The monument was erected in 1815 to pay homage to the brave Jacobite clansmen who gave their lives fighting to put Prince Charles Edward Stuart back on the throne of Great Britain and Ireland. The loch and small island you see off the shoreline are the locations where the second event of the Triwizard Tournaments were filmed in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!

What a great way to end Bev's tour of this beautiful country and although we were sad to see her off, we're thankful for the time we had travelling together! As always, to see all the beautiful photos we took, click any of the images below or head to the gallery page linked above to see all the things! See you next time!