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Honeymoon Day

During the lead up to our wedding we both knew that we wouldn’t have a honeymoon in the traditional sense of the word. Deciding to have our wedding in Scotland meant we were on holiday with our family so going away on our own wasn’t an option. So what could we do instead?

The Plan

Having walked in the area we were staying – and then some! – I really wanted to show Shelli the Glencoe area. It is absolutely stunning and I knew she’d love the mountains and scenery. I also wanted to visit a couple of places I’d walked to as well, for old time’s sake, so a plan started to be hatched: a drive up to Glencoe, have a look round, visit Kings House Hotel and , and then head back to to the lodge.

If that wasn’t a good enough reason to drive up to Glencoe, Shelli wanted to drive down the road used in Skyfall; just across the road from the Kings House Hotel amazingly!

With all that in mind I started to put together a scenic drive up to Kings House Hotel, where we would have lunch, visit the Skyfall location, head back to The Drovers Inn for dinner, and finally back to the Lodge at Rowardennan (you can see the original route further down this page).

The Day

After an amazing wedding day, and a couple of chilled out days after, the weather was looking on the up so we decided it was now or never for us to get our day away as husband and wife. We had breakfast with the girls, mum and dad, and then headed off for the day.

We made our way up to Aberfoyle, heading up the A281 to take in the the Three Lochs Forest Drive.

Having driven the roads up to Aberfoyle a number of times on our stays at Loch Lomond, heading off the main road taking a track past three picturesque lochs: Lochan Reòidhte, Loch Drunkie and Loch Achray. The scenery was stunning and the weather was the best we’d had in days which meant we could pull over every now and then to really take everything in and take some photos.

After making our way round the track we joined the “main” road again and made our way up to Kings House Hotel. The driving was fun. The view out of the car windows was awesome. The company was amazing.

Everything was going to plan until we got past Bridge of Orchy, where the traffic just stopped. We waited for a bit going nowhere fast when I took a stroll up the road to see if I could see what was going on. It was an accident and the road was shut both ways by the police. Not good.

We looked to see if there was an easy way round the blockage but alas there wasn’t. A little bit downhearted we turned round and headed to Tyndrum to find somewhere to get a spot of lunch and to come up with a plan for the rest of the day. We couldn’t believe our luck, or lack there of, as we were literally just a few short miles away from our intended lunch destination before turning round. Gutted.

We pulled into the car park of the Tyndrum Inn – over the road from the world famous (?!) Green Welly Stop – and plonked ourselves down for a bite to eat and a drink.

While sat in the bar we overheard a conversation between a local and the young lad behind the bar about the trouble up the road. During the conversation they mentioned someone heading up to Glencoe by heading up to Connel and following the A828 up to Glencoe.

On hearing this we fired up Google maps to see what that route would mean. I was desperate for Shelli to see the Skyfall road – everything else really didn’t matter at that point, but that I really wanted to do for her – so we made the decision to go for it. Besides, the road looked like it was going to be a nice drive with more lovely scenery so what was there to lose?

Fed and watered we jumped back in the car and started the drive up to Glencoe. It may not have been the original route but it certainly was a lovely drive, offering loch views, sea views, mountains and pretty much everything in between.

The day was getting on by the time we got to Glencoe so we headed down the A82 to get to the Skyfall road, but we couldn’t not stop to take photos and soak in the mountains as we made our way down. It…was…stunning, and everything I remembered it to be. Breathtaking!

Getting to the turning of the Skyfall road, Shelli put on Adele’s “Skyfall” (on repeat), and I did my best Bond impression as I took the road probably a little bit too fast really, considering the rain had started and some of the corners were a little hard to see round.

Shelli’s face was an absolute picture! She was literally grinning from ear to ear as we shot down the road; she was loving every second, and I couldn’t have been happier! I wouldn’t normally get away with driving like that but this one time, this special time, was an exception, a one off that was most definitely worth it to see that beautiful smile.

We got to the point we best estimated as the spot where the shot from the film was taken, got out the car, and immediately got swarmed by midges! There were millions of the little bastards! We took a few hasty shots and then had to figure out how to get back in the [now covered] car without filling the it with the little beasties.

We didn’t do too badly, but we shot down the road to Loch Etive with all of the windows open to try and flush the little demons out.

The weather was turning for the worse so we parked up, walked to the loch shore and took a few photos before heading back to the car and on to Kings House Hotel for some dinner. We both thought it would be too late to get to The Drovers Inn, eat, and then get back to the lodge, so Kings House Hotel it was. The Drovers Inn would have to wait for another time unfortunately.

It was strange walking into the hotel when we got there. Nothing had changed and as we entered the bar everything from the night I stayed there came flooding back, even remembering the table I sat at that evening for dinner and far too many pints!

Food eaten and reminiscing over it was – sadly – time to get back in the car to head back to the lodge.

We took a different route back, taking in the west coast of Loch Lomond, driving past The Drovers Inn and through Balloch.

It was a long drive, a long day, but an amazing time. I will never forget the look on Shelli’s face as we headed down the Skyfall road; that in itself made the day 100% worthwhile!

Route Details

Original Route

As mentioned above, before going up to Scotland for our wedding I’d already come up with a route for the day. As things turned out this wasn’t meant to be. Below though, you can see the original 188 mile route in case you are interested.

Final Route

Below you can see the final 257 mile route we actually took. This includes the Three Lochs Forest Drive we did along the way.

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