THE MAGICAL GLENCOE LOCHAN . . .

I can’t lie, although I love revisiting some of my favourite Scottish places through writing about them, and looking at the pictures, nothing really matches up to the real thing. And, having been stuck in Glasgow since October now, places like Glencoe seem so far away and unreachable at the moment. If you are actually in an area where you’re allowed to travel far, count yourself lucky as the Glasgow area is actually teeny-tiny.

But I digress. The road through Glencoe is one of my absolute favourites, it doesn’t matter how many times we drive up it, the view just blows me away every time. But have you ever ventured over to Glencoe Lochan? It’s quite the magical place and – you’ll be unsurprised to hear – it doesn’t involve a massive walk. Result!

The story behind the Lochan is that the landowner at the time, who had moved over from Canada with his wife, had the lochan and surrounding area created for the aforementioned wife when she was homesick for her own country. If that isn’t a cue for us to all turn to our significant others and complain that they never do anything that nice for us, I don’t know what is! But the effort it took was worth it.

It’s an easy walk from the car park up to the lochan, and then you have the choice to walk around it if you wish. I’d recommend the walk around it, it’s not a long journey at all and it’s so peaceful, you won’t regret it! There are other more strenuous walks available, but I’ve not tried these so can’t comment.

I’ve visited Glencoe Lochan on several occasions – on dull days, sunny days, days where the loch was partially drained and completely frozen over – and it always looks stunning. There is also a terrific view of the Pap of Glencoe which can be seen rising over the lochan.

It can be a popular place to walk, probably due in part to how beautiful the setting is, as well as the fact it’s probably easier than many of the other walks in the area, so you may wish to avoid on the days it’s likely to be busier – I’ve generally found autumn to be a bit quieter, or days that aren’t either weekends or public/school holidays – but I would definitely recommend a visit at some point!