BLOG 12: Eilan Donan Castle - Glencoe - Blackford

Soon after crossing the bridge from Skye to the mainland, the familiar view of Eilan Donan Castle appears before us. This castle is probably one of the most famous in Scotland and appears in many films, including 'Highlander'. This popularity is also noticeable in the huge stream of visitors. The car park attendant, who helps us to find a parking space, probably because we are such nice Austrians, tells us that this year the rush has started in April already, not at the end of June like in the past years... Since we still have a few miles to drive today, we are satisfied with the outside view of the castle. On roads of varying widths, past many lochs, we reach the Glen Nevis campsite near Fort William in the evening. The beautiful weather allows for outdoor relaxation with a view of the Ben Nevis .

The next morning we continue east across valleys and mountains. In the famous Glencoe Valley we stop for a short hike up and around 'An Torr' Hill. The initially comfortable, level path soon turns out to be quite a sweaty up and down, but it is nice to hike through this natural forest. Some episodes of the Harry Potter films were also shot in this area, so until a few years ago the film set of 'Hagrid's Hut' was an attraction for the Harry Potter fans - meanwhile, however, it has been demolished... After the hike, we would very much like to get some food at the well-known Clachaig Inn, but since we arrive outside the strictly enforced official meal times we are only offered a rather strange looking cheesecake, which we happily passed up. To save the honor of the restaurant it should be mentioned that we get a really good espresso and café latte for the first time in Scotland.

We continue by car – sometimes driving in convoys and repeatedly stopped by construction site traffic lights. In between there are always beautiful views of the landscape.

In the late afternoon we reach Blackford, where we want to visit the 151st Blackford Highland Games the following day. These games are not one of the big events, but they are held very early in the year and the location is reasonably compatible with our route. There is still a lot of construction going on at the site, but we are assigned our place to stay in a corner of the meadow. A few months ago, we had to send an application to the General Secretary of the Games to get approval for this. Apart from us, there are mainly German campers, plus only one Frenchman and one Brit. We are greeted with bagpipe music - that gives a taste of the following day.