Day 6 was our only full day in Glencoe, unfortunately, and still more unfortunate, it was rainy.
Since we are being quite spoiled and staying at a classy little B&B now, we went downstairs for our breakfast. I had the vegetarian version of the “full Scottish breakfast” which was SO. MUCH. FOOD. But it was delish, so I ate it all. Anthony got the smoked salmon and eggs, which also looked wonderful. After that fuel, we decided to take advantage of the couple hours we would have without rain and started walking toward the Glencoe Lochan trail system.
This trail system was at the base of the mountains, a beautiful forested area with pretty lochs.
Everyone we passed had their dogs wandering around with them, and I just kept thinking that that is one thing I really, really love about the UK. They are so dog-friendly here. Everywhere we go, people have their dogs with them. Going on a walk? Nearly everyone you see will have their dog/s with them. Heading to the pub? Dogs are there. Driving through the countryside? You might think you see a stray dog, but no, their owner is just a few steps back. I love it.
And then we saw a mother duck and her spastic little baby duck, and I was in love.
Once we felt the drizzle starting, we decided to walk on back to our B&B via Glencoe village.
We grabbed our backpacks and headed out again, a short drive toward Castle Stalker on Loch Laich, originally built around 1320. Its more recent fame was an appearance at the end of Monty Python and the Holy Grail as “The Castle of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh”.
Tis a very “wee” castle, but cute and in a rather picturesque setting (probably more so if it weren’t so freaking gray out).
Once we arrived back in Glencoe, we stopped in for some lunch. Menu options included “Really big haddock” as well as a “Tasty wee haddock”, and the server was just so very Scottish, I couldn’t help but laugh. She got confused a few times while we were there and just kept saying, “Just one o’ those days. I can feel it in me bones.”
We saw that the sun was trying to peak out, so we took that as our queue to continue on. That was a mistake. The sun was just being a ginormous tease, as about 5 minutes down the road, we were in the worst weather we’ve had so far this trip. Any time I tried to get out and take pictures, the wind would be blowing me backwards, the rain would be pelting my camera, and it was just so, so cold. So we drove on through Rannoch Moor, but I can’t say we saw much of it. Nonetheless, the area was shown in both Harry Potter and Outlander, so I suppose I will content myself with just checking off that box.
All that rain made us sleepy, so we came back to the B&B for a nap. The next time the sun started to come out, I jumped up, put my shoes on, and rushed Anthony out the door, so we could go walking some more. We went back to the trail system that we had gone to that morning, and took the mountain trail this time.
It would have been nice to do a bigger hike around the area today, but I really did enjoy the Glencoe Lochan walking area. It was very pretty and peaceful. Definitely better than being cooped up in our room all day. Oh, and on the way back to the B&B, I drove on the left side of the road for the first time! It was quite terrifying, but we survived.
