Scotland Travel Blog January 2026

”Our Highlights of 2025”

It has become a tradition for us to use our January Blog to pick out the highlights from our tours of Scotland during the previous year. And 2025 was a bit of a milestone for Secret Scotland as it marked the 20th Anniversary of us quitting our mundane day jobs to work full-time on developing the Secret Scotland tour itineraries. After two decades of exploring and experiencing what Scotland has to offer, we can still find new experiences. I should maybe write a Blog about our best memories from the last 20 years, but I think I’ll save that for later.

Of course, after 20 years of touring Scotland, we are now at the stage where we are going back to areas that we have already visited several times. So, we prepare for trips by spending a lot of time going over Ordnance Survey maps (a fantastic resource) to find places that don’t get much attention from visitors. And some of those places gave us our best experiences of 2025. Places like the stone circle at Old Keig which is unsignposted, and you can pretty much guarantee you will have all to yourself… if you can find it!

Best New Experience:

I’ve wanted to get to the Falls of Glomach ever since I led a conservation project where our main task was to repair sections of the footpath that leads to this remote cascade. For a week, I hiked out and back along the path, but never went much further than the first mile of the 5 mile trail. So the Falls of Glomach have been a thing to do on my “Bucket List” for many years.

It’s a great place to visit as it takes you deep into the hinterland of Kintail where you leave behind all signs of civilization. After hiking up to a high pass called the “Bealach na Sroine”, you are out of view of any houses or roads, and there’s a sense of venturing into a landscape that only the more adventurous visitors will ever see.

On the hike up to the pass, we were scrutinised by large herds of red deer that seemed very blase about our presence. It would seem they have a pretty good idea about the deer stalking season and realised that they were in a safe window.

After the summit of the “Bealach na Sroine”, it’s an easy descent down to a section of skillfully made path (I had nothing to do with this bit) that zig zags down to the glen where the river crashes into a dark and steep-sided gorge.

The noise of the waterfall fills the air, and it fills you with a sense of awe as you have to cling to the sides of the glen for fear that one careless step might see you sliding over the edge to a horrible end in the murky depths of the gully below.

Unfortunately, it’s a very difficult waterfall to do justice with a photo, and there are no vantage points that let you take in the full 370 foot drop of the waterfall in one go. I’m not even sure that it’s possible to reach the bottom of the Falls as the bottom of the gorge is steep-sided and the river flows fast. It’s also a very dark and gloomy place where I suspect some mythical monster would, or should dwell.

Best Historical site:

The Pictish hill fort at Mither Tap was another “bucket list” item for me. I’ve been fascinated by the true story of the Picts ever since reading Stuart McHardy’s “History of the Picts”. In his book, Stuart re-examines the Anglo-Centric view of the Picts as a primitive, illiterate people, and provides evidence that the Roman General Agricola didn’t win the victory at Mons Grapius that he claimed.

So, where does “Mither Tap” fit into this story? According to some historians, it is one of the most likely sites for the battle to have taken place, but it is by no means a certain thing. For one thing, there is the question of why the Romans would refer to it as the battle of Mons Grapius when this place name has no link to any local names for the hill or region. The current name is thought to have evolved from “Mither Pap”, a reference to the breast-like shape of the hill.

What we can say with certainty is that the Picts built a very impressive fort on the top of this hill. There remain significant sections of a thick outer wall constructed from thousands of stones, and the only way to enter the fort would have been through a narrow channel that would have been a killing zone for attackers.

The people who constructed this fort must have been well organised and very fit because the climb up to the fort is a strenuous activity, doubly so when you are carrying stones to build walls.

Personally, I don’t think “Mither Tap” is where the Picts would have met the Romans in battle. The Picts typically used Guerrilla war tactics, using their knowledge of the land to strike hard and fast before retreating into the forests. Given the commanding views from the top of this hill, I think the Picts would have been able to see the advance of a large Roman Army and would have abandoned their hill fort so that they could fight on terms that better suited their tactics and weapons. But that’s just my opinion, and I’m biased towards my ancestors.

Best New Find:

I’m a great believer that historical places are best experienced in solitude. When you are alone, without the distractions of other people, you can really tap into the mood of a place. You can connect with the things that have remained constant through the centuries. The sound of the wind, the coldness of the stone, the smell of the earth, the shadows of a setting sun. The stones near Old Keig have that magic, timeless quality.

Over the last 20 years of Secret Scotland, we’ve witnessed the magic of too many places being spoiled by the increased number of tourists. Fortunately, there are still lots of places in Scotland that the Instagram crowd don’t know and will struggle to find. Old Keig is similar to several other recumbent stone sites in Aberdeenshire, with a large central stone laid on its side like a table between two upright stones that stand like bookends. It's an arrangement that leads archaeologists to think that it may have been used as a site for funeral pyres. What sets these stones apart is the size of the central recumbent stone. I reckon it must be the largest one we've seen.

I’m not going to reveal how to find this place, and don’t want to encourage too many visitors. But I think it will remain safe as it isn’t signposted, and its location is well away from any tourist trails.

Best Hike:

Even if you aren’t a Munro bagger, there are some Scottish mountains that most people have heard of. Ben Nevis, Ben Lawers, The Schiehallion, Beinn Eighe, An Teallach, Liathach. I think it’s fair to say that Ben Wyvis can be included in this group.

It’s a mountain that most folk probably couldn’t point to on a map, and a lot of folk pronounce it wrong (the “y” is pronounced more like an “i”, so it sounds like “Wi-vis”), but it is one of the most distinctive of Highland mountains as it stands all on its own just a few miles North East of Garve. It’s one of the landmarks of the drive along the A836 between Ullapool and Inverness.

We climbed it on a glorious April day with clear skies and perfect visibility that allowed us to see west towards the Fisherfield Munros and East towards the Black Isle and Cromarty Firth. The splendid views from Ben Wyvis make it a popular mountain with hikers, and we were nearly always in sight of other climbers.

Ben Wyvis has been given National Nature Reserve status due to its high mountain plateau which is a habitat for rare birds such as the Ptarmigan and the migratory Dotterel. The Nature Reserve is managed by NatureScot and they have built a very good path that climbs in a zig-zagging series of steps up to the plateau that you traverse towards the rounded summit of Ben Wyvis. It’s not an exciting mountain to climb, in as far as there’s no sudden reveals or rocky outcrops to scramble over. But on a clear day, the gentle traverse of the plateau gives you lots of time to look around and enjoy trying to identify distant mountains.

With a picnic on the way up, and a bit of a hike back to where we parked the car, we managed the ascent / descent in ~5 hrs, and freshened up with an “invigorating” dip (i.e. very cold) at one of our favourite wild swimming spots on the Black Water river.

Best Wildlife Spot:

Nothing terribly exciting this year. We did see some dolphins at long range when taking the Nigg ferry over the Cromarty Firth, but we didn’t manage to get the camera out fast enough to catch them leaping.

The only notable wildlife sighting that we managed to document with photographic evidence was a large herd of around 20 Red Deer moving at great speed across the slopes of Cairn of Claise in the Cairngorm Mountains. We were about 90 minutes into a 6 hour trek to “bag” 4 Munros, and felt very envious of the grace and ease with which the deer could gallop over the rough moorland.

Best Meal:

We had several good meals on our travels this year. One of our old favourites, the Sutor Creek in Cromarty, delivered the goods again with lovely pizzas that fuse Italian cuisine with local ingredients. Junior was delighted with his “Black Isler” which is a pizza topped with Haggis, Black Pudding, Bacon and mushrooms. It’s like a full Scottish breakfast on a pizza.

Cafe One in Inverness wins our prize for the best value dinner of 2025, with their £25 three course “Early Bird” menu. Can’t recall what they called the soup that I had for a starter, but it was an amazing combination of flavours.

But the highlight meal of 2025 was served at the Loch Melfort Hotel in Argyll. We enjoy good food, but we don’t like the places that charge a fortune for artistic plates with dainty servings that leave you feeling that you need a bag of chips on the way home. Fortunately, the Chef at Loch Melfort combines fantastic flavours, perfect presentation and proper portions, so you end the meal feeling satiated.

Since we were also celebrating Aury’s birthday, we did indulge ourselves a bit more than usual. We can recommend Loch Melfort Hotel’s Venison Tartare and Goat’s Cheese starters, followed by their Roast Duck Breast with Tarragon Jus, or Sea Trout with Beurre Blanc. And then, if you have any space left, close out with Tonka Bean Panna Cotta or Lemon Tart Fine.

We hope to go back soon to try out the rest of the menu!

Most “Spiritual” Experience:

Tucked away on a side lane off the A9 just South of Aviemore, Kinrara Distillery is barely signposted and therefore easy to drive by. But for any gin lover, it is an experience not to be missed.

Kinrara is one of the new wave of Scottish gin distilleries that have emerged over the last few years. The production areas and Visitor centre are housed in a handful of attractive old farm buildings, but tours of the distillation process aren’t offered. However, they more than make up for this with their extensive tasting experiences.

The host of our tasting session was very generous with her measures, and the limit of 8 guests per tasting helps to make this a more personal experience than a large distillery tour. Our host made the experience very interactive and fun, with stories about how each gin came to be.

If you go, make sure you appoint a designated driver, as you are bound to leave a little tipsy.

Best Wild Swim:

Amongst our friends, we have a bit of a reputation for picking the best weeks for exploring Scotland in sunshine. This isn’t down to any skill on our part, we just seem to get lucky with good weather on our trips, and good weather means we’re motivated to look for places for a “wee dook”.

Believing that we have some special arrangement with the weather Gods, some friends decided to join us on one of our research trips exploring around Royal Deeside. Mercifully, it turned out to be one of the sunniest and warmest weeks that Scotland had in 2025 and finding places for a cool swim was high on the kids’ wish list.

Fortunately, we had done a bit of a recce some months earlier and had made a list of places that would make good swimming spots. One place stood out as it has some great rock pools carved out by years of erosion, it’s like nature has created its own water theme park. And the kids got a kick out of finding they were sharing the rock pool with some Salmon parr who were sheltering in a deep hollow safely out of reach.

I’m afraid that I’m not going to share the location with you because the path to the pool is a bit dangerous, and I wouldn’t want anyone to have an accident because of me. All that I will say is that it’s somewhere on the National Trust’s Mar Estate.