Against all odds and the coronacoaster we’re all riding this year, our second little jolliday up to Scotland went ahead! YAY!

We spent a magical week in the Highlands with Rei, our paddleboard and our trusty hiking gear so get ready! I’m about to throw some pretty spectacular scenery and holiday snaps at you…

Grey Mare’s Tail, Kinlochmore

Rei absolutely LOVED romping about the hills and dashing across streams and rivers with us. I think she was having the time of her life and I’m not going to lie, I was too!

Ballachulish

We were staying just down the road from Ballachulish, where there was a little carpark with the perfect launch spot for our boards. Needless to say we were down there like a shot when the rainclouds cleared the following day!

We even got all of us on board for a little paddle around the little pontoon…

The Lost Valley

On one of the days, we took a drive through Glencoe to hunt for The Lost Valley. Seeing Rei run about through the trails, surround by such incredible scenery filled my heart with so much happiness!

Loch Leven

One of the best things about being so close to so many lochs was being able to take short drives to hunt for new paddle spots when the weather looked like it was on our side.

As we were driving through Kinlochleven, it surprised us with the most idyllic place to pull over and launch from. We didn’t see a single soul all the while we were there and it was a breathtaking little paddle out and around the little island in the loch.

Am Meall and Glencoe Lochan

Another little hike the wolf absolutely smashed was from Glencoe visitor centre to Am Meall. It was a nice slow, winding track up the hill and the views at the top, over Ballachulish were pretty ace!

We also enjoyed a lovely walk around Glencoe Lochan, taking in the beautiful reflections and leafy trails through the woodlands there.

Another brilliant thing about all these hikes and traipsing about with Rei was that she was absolutely zonked by the time we’d get back to our AirBnB in the evening and she would barely move from her newly claimed spot on the sofa!

Charles Inglis Clark Memorial Hut (C.I.C.) Ben Nevis

The longest hike we did with Rei on our trip was up to the CIC Alpine hut at Ben Nevis. Apparently, it’s the highest mountain hut in the British Isles, 680m above sea level, based at the foot of the North Face of Ben Nevis.

It was a pretty straight forward route, with spectacular views (we were rather lucky with the weather) and although Rei did run off after some poor unsuspecting sheep at one point, she did us proud.

Another hike, another VERY tired wolf! I can’t wait until she’s strong enough to join us on bigger more technical hikes… just imagine how long she’ll sleep for after a full day of trails… bliss!

I could share a BAJILLION more photos of our trip and adventures around this little part of the Highlands, but hopefully you’ve enjoyed this small selection. I can confidently say, Scotland is ALWAYS worth the long ass drive and weather gambling, it rarely disappoints and always leaves us smiling…

…and who knows… maybe one day we’ll be able to say it’s our home!

☀️