The Scottish Highlands are mountainous, beautiful, and romantic. On August 25, 2025, we took a 12-hour, small group tour that dashed from Edinburgh to Glencoe, north to Ft. William and the Caledonian Canal, and back again.
We love Scotland's Highland cows, with their long horns and shaggy manes. Near a former woolen mill in Trossachs National Park were several Highland cows, red and black, hosting an adoring public.
We drove through moors covered with heather.
Our guides, Connor and Stevie, stopped to let us walk into the moors and feel the spongy peat beneath. They described the way peat is dried out and used for fuel.
Finally, we reached Glencoe, the canyon where, in the 1700s, the Campbells murdered the McDonalds, who had sheltered the Campbells the night before on a snowy evening. The Campbells chased the McDonalds deep into the snowy canyon and many of the McDonalds died. It was considered such a great betrayal that when Dave, with McDonald ancestors, married me, with my Campbell ancestors, one of Dave's father's Scottish friends was concerned. "Those Campbells, ye canna turn yer back on 'em," he said. Of course, the Campbells did their dastardly deed at the instigation of the English.
A bagpiper entertained the buses stopping at Glencoe.
We stopped for lunch at Ft. William, on the edge of the Atlantic, across Scotland from Edinburgh. We wandered through the shops, selling handmade sweaters, and tartan blankets, scarves, and even tartan stuffed animals!
I love the stone Scottish churches, with the Gaelic crosses in their graveyards.
Next stop was Glenfinnian. For lovers of Harry Potter, this was the highlight of the trip, since it was across this bridge that Harry and his friends raced in front of a train, in a Harry Potter movie. We waited nearly an hour to see that same train come steaming past.
There were images of Harry Potter throughout Scotland, since many incidents in the Harry Potter movies were filmed in Scotland.
Glenfinnian was also the scene of one of the vicious battles by the Jacobites against the English, as the Jacobites tried to restore the Stuarts to the throne.
We stopped at one of the locks on the Caledonian Canal. My great-great-grandfather, George Calder, worked on the Caledonian Canal for many years, when he and his family lived in Edinburgh.
The Caledonian Canal extended from south of Ft. William, all the way to Inverness. It tied the west of Scotland together with the eastern Highlands.
It was a sunny day, and we could clearly see Ben Nevis, Scotland's highest mountain.
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