HIGHLANDS & ISLANDS
Glencoe at dawn on a softly lit winter’s day presents a portrait of a country dressed in its full finery (pictured right). Its snowdusted hills, frozen waterfalls and lost valleys are suggestive of a mythical place created by an ambitious god. A rutting deer bellows across the moorland. A snow goose soars above a sea loch. A climber ropes up for a day above the clouds on the famed Aonach Eagach ridge. The pyramid-shaped guardian Buachaille Etive Mor is a fitting introduction. It is your archetypal Scottish mountain: its paths and precipices present challenging obstacles for climbers and hikers; there’s a life-affirming view from its top; and the location - overlooking Glen Etive and Glencoe Mountain Resort (ground zero for skiers and mountain bikers) - is classic movie fodder. You may recognise it from the James Bond film Skyfall, or from the Harry Potter series, extensively shot around the glen. It is a setting made for natural drama.
* Glencoe is a 93-mile drive north of Glasgow on the A82. To avoid midges and crowds, visit in April, May or later in September (discoverglencoe.scot).