Alongside creating content for my own blog, I also work with the lovely Carly Rowena, who's a gem in the fitness & wellness world here in the UK and all over the world. She's been doing this whole blogging/social media/YouTube gig a heck of a lot longer than I have, so it's really cool to be able to work with and learn from her, help her create content for her pages and also capture some of my own in the process. Our last job was for Visit Britain, who needed help covering the Northwest part of Scotland. Since I'm into travel content, Carly, the agency and the people at Visit Britain left the decision up to ME on where to go. After lots of research, I landed on Glencoe, a glorious mountain escape in the Scottish Highlands. We were not disappointed with my choice (phew!)
A short blog post for a short trip, but worthy to share.
Since I started my travel blog, I have only really travelled during the winter. This can skew our experience in places a bit, but I love getting a different perspective of a place in a less popular season. Scotland is one of those places that is equally beautiful in the winter as it is in the summer. In fact, I may prefer these scenes in the winter. The warm, brown tones of the ground contrasted with fluffy white snow was my aesthetic dream.
Glencoe is approximately a 2.5 hour drive from Edinburgh, and a little less from Glasgow. We arrived well past dark to the cutest, warmest, coziest and most lovely AirBnb. It was a guesthouse to our wonderful host, Mary, who made our whole experience that much better.
**If you want to stay here during the month of March or April, you can email the host, mary@bluebellcottageglencoe.co.uk with the subject jenjennalauren to get 20% off your stay!**
The best way to get around Glencoe, especially in the winter, is to rent a car and just drive. We drove about a half hour out and worked our way back in towards the town of Glencoe. I'm going to be absolutely useless with names of streets, hiking trails, etc, but everything is extremely accessible and easy to discover; We rarely looked anything up. This is a nature playground - go without much of an itinerary and just explore.
The biggest attraction for outdoor lovers in Glencoe is most definitely the Three Sisters, the ridges amidst highest mountain in the county, Bidean Nam Bian. They're a major staple in the drive through Glencoe and will leave you speechless, especially in the winter.
Our AirBnb was in Ballachlish, just outside of the town of Glencoe, though they might as well be one little town. There's one main grocery store, and we only ate out twice. The times we did, we weren't disappointed.
Glencoe Cafe - delicious for breakfast or lunch
Isle of Glencoe Hotel and Leisure Centre - we ate here for dinner but they serve breakfast as well. Very delicious and an amazing view when sitting in their covered patio!
When we left, we had only one more mission...and that was to find a highland cow. Or, as the locals say it, a highland coo. These cute creatures only really exist in the highlands, and are just a joy to look at. We almost gave up on our way out, until we saw this guy! We abruptly pulled over and disturbed traffic but so worth it. Just look at him!
So grateful my job lands me in unexpectedly wonderful places like Glencoe. I can't wait to explore more of the Scottish Highlands, with Isle of Skye at the top of the list!
To see the short video I made for CarlyRowena/Visit Britain:
This trip was too busy and short to really report any behind the lens moments, except that we were just rushed! If you plan on escaping to the highlands, plan to go for at least 3 full days.
Where to next?
Xx,
Jenna