Highlands

The Scottish Highlands had been sitting on our bucket list for far too long, so the August Bank Holiday became the perfect excuse for an ultra-extended family road trip. Inverness, Loch Ness, Skye, Glenfinnan, Fort William and as much Outlander history as we could squeeze in between them.

My carefully crafted itinerary promised "optimised for low driving". As it turns out, my definition of "low" and reality are very different.

We started gently in Inverness. After collecting the hire car, we abandoned it by the hotel and explored the city on foot. Leakey's Bookshop was the perfect introduction to Scotland. A giant second-hand bookshop inside an old church, with books stacked on every wall, every balcony and probably a few hidden behind the altar. We wandered past Ness Bank Church, Inverness Castle and finished the evening with dinner at the Castle Tavern. Not a bad way to warm up before disappearing into the Highlands.

Saturday was all about castles and dramatic scenery. Urquhart Castle has one of those ridiculously unfair locations where every photo looks professionally staged, with Loch Ness stretching behind the ruins in every direction. Nessie never showed up, but the view almost made up for it.

From there we headed west via Eilean Donan Castle (more castle, less ruin), crossed the Skye Bridge and spent the rest of the day ticking off postcard after postcard. Sligachan, with the Cuillin mountains reflected in the water, the Old Man of Storr playing hide-and-seek inside the clouds, and Kilt Rock disappearing into the sea. The weather couldn't decide whether to reveal the landscape or hide it completely. Somehow that made it feel even more Scottish.

The following morning began with an aggressive encounter against approximately one million Highland midges. We lost the battle and we lost the war...

The ferry from Armadale to Mallaig was a welcome break from driving, gliding quietly across the Sound of Sleat with mountains, tiny harbours and enough scenery to remind us why we'd spent half the weekend sitting in the car.

Glenfinnan was exactly what we expected. The famous viaduct curves across the valley as if somebody built it purely for photographers. The Jacobite steam train may be the celebrity (there are definitely more Harry Potter fans than the world actually needs), but even without the train the place is spectacular. Looking the other way reveals Loch Shiel and the Glenfinnan Monument, where real Jacobite history easily competes with Hollywood.

That evening we stayed at Croft 52 near Fort William, in a cosy timber cabin that looked considerably more comfortable than travelling through the Highlands in the 1700s.

Monday became our official Outlander pilgrimage. The Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore, with its reconstructed eighteenth-century township, was instantly recognisable from the first season of the series. Unlike many filming locations, this one didn't feel like a tourist attraction pretending to be authentic. It simply was.

Culloden was different. The visitor centre tells both sides of the 1745 Rising, but once you step onto the battlefield, the silence says far more than the exhibits inside.

Before returning to Inverness, we stopped at Clava Cairns. Any Outlander fan knows exactly why. Sadly, none of the standing stones transported us back to the eighteenth century. Probably for the best, considering the midges.

The trip finished at the newly opened Inverness Castle Experience, and I genuinely wasn't expecting much. It turned out to be one of the best museums I've ever visited. Modern, interactive, beautifully designed and completely different from the usual "look at another old sword behind glass" experience. After days of castles, battlefields and filming locations, it was the perfect finale.

Five days. Four hotels. One ferry. More castles than I can remember. And considerably more miles than the words "low driving" should legally allow.

We came for the scenery and the Outlander trail, but as usual, the best part wasn't the destinations. It was everything in between.

The Highlands were absolutely worth the long driving hours.

Next time, though, I'll allow Scotland more than one Bank Holiday... and perhaps fewer "optimised" routes.