Zell am See is a well-known ski resort in the Kitzbuhel Alps approximately 50 miles south of Salzburg, but let me tell you straight away that I wasn’t here to go on the piste, but to enjoy Christmas in a winter wonderland – and that’s exactly what it was.
Originally posted 2025-12-02 17:36:30.
I thought that maybe somewhere like Innsbruck would have a better claim to the title, so I looked it up and can you guess what I found? Yep! That’s right, Innsbruck is also called the capital of the Alps.
I’ll leave it to the powers that be to decide which they think is the best candidate for the title, but if nothing else, it did focus my mind a bit more on how the city of Grenoble sees itself.
There’s no doubt that its location in south-eastern France, where the Rivers Isère and Drac meet, would have been a natural place to build a settlement, and from its humble Gallic beginnings in 43 BC, Grenoble has grown into a fair-sized city.
The official population is around the 160,000 mark, but if you include the sprawling suburbs of the metro area that stretch up through the valleys either side of the Chartreuse Massif, the population is nearer to 700,000.
Originally posted 2019-10-08 05:33:40.
The glen is reached via the small village of Cannich, which is just under an hour by car from Inverness; and from there a minor road follows the glen for another 11 miles or so to a car park located between Loch Beinn a’ Mheadhoin and Loch Affric, and is as far as you’re allowed to drive. It’s a convenient place to park up though for anyone wishing to don their walking boots and continue to follow the glen towards the magnificent mountains of Kintail, the source of the River Affric.
Originally posted 2026-01-03 16:08:20.
The answer is simple – the breathtaking scenery makes it, in my humble opinion, one of the best short scenic drives in Scotland.
As with all scenic drives, it’s best done outside of the peak holiday season. Fans of James Bond come here to see where some of ‘Skyfall’ was filmed, and it’s also popular with kayakers – and of course, climbers and hillwalkers.
Fortunately, when I drove down here one winter’s day, apart from one notable exception, we never saw a soul.
Several streams provide the River Etive with its source on Rannoch Moor, but for most people their acquaintance with it starts at Buachaille Etive Mor, the pyramid shaped mountain at the top of the glen.
The road follows the river down through the valley, at first underneath Buachaille Etive Mor, and then Stob Dubh before widening out as it flows into the head of Loch Etive. Continue reading
Originally posted 2019-11-22 17:37:13.
It would be impossible to exaggerate the stark beauty and grandeur of the scenery, and my words and photographs can’t possibly do it justice, but it’s not just the skies that can give a bleak picture, it’s the glen’s history too – most notably, that of the Glencoe Massacre.
Lying under the Pap of Glencoe and near to the shores of Loch Leven is the tiny village of Glencoe, where you can find a monument to the massacre, which was not as straightforward as some would have us believe, but it was an unwarranted massacre nonetheless.
Originally posted 2019-11-19 14:45:54.