Scottish Highlands

Loch Bad an Sgalaig is a small, irregular shaped, freshwater loch and reservoir lying 5 mi (8.0 km) south of the small village of Poolewe, in Wester Ross, Scotland. The north west end of the loch, where it outflows to the Eas na Laimh stream,was dammed in 1949 to power the Kerry Falls hydroelectric power station. The loch was surveyed on 30 July 1902 by T.N. Johnston and John Hewitt and as part of the Sir John Murray's Bathymetrical Survey of Fresh-Water Lochs of Scotland 1897-1909.

Glen Coe (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Comhann,pronounced [klan̪ˠˈkʰo.ən̪ˠ]) is a glen of volcanic origins, in the Highlands of Scotland. It lies in the north of Argyll, close to the border with Lochaber. It is often considered one of the most spectacular and beautiful places in Scotland, and is a part of the designated National Scenic Area of Ben Nevis and Glen Coe. The narrow glen shows a grim grandeur. The glen, approaching from the east on the main A82 road, is surrounded by wild and precipitous mountains. Further west at Invercoe, the landscape has a softer beauty before the main entrance to the glen. The main settlement is the nearby village of Glencoe located at the foot of the glen. near the site of the 1692 Massacre of Glencoe. The Glen is named after the River Coe which runs through it. The name of the river is believed to predate the Gaelic language, and its meaning is not known. It is possible that the name stems from an individual personal name, Comhan (genitive Comhain).

Castle Stalker (Scottish Gaelic: Caisteal an Stalcaire) is a four-story tower house or keep picturesquely set on a tidal islet on Loch Laich, an inlet off Loch Linnhe. It is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north-east of Port Appin, Argyll, Scotland, and is visible from the A828 road about midway between Oban and Glen Coe. The islet is accessible (with difficulty) from the shore at low tide. The name "Stalker" comes from the Gaelic Stalcaire, meaning "hunter" or "falconer". In recent times, the castle was brought to fame by the Monty Python team, appearing in their film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The original castle was a small fort, built around 1320 by Clan MacDougall who were then Lords of Lorn. Around 1388 the Stewarts took over the Lordship of Lorn, and it is believed that they built the castle in its present form around the 1440s. The Stewart's relative King James IV of Scotland visited the castle, and a drunken bet around 1620 resulted in the castle passing to Clan Campbell. After changing hands between these clans a couple of times the Campbells finally abandoned the castle in about 1840, when it lost its roof. In 1908 the castle was bought by Charles Stewart of Achara, who carried out basic conservation work. In 1965 Lt. Col. D. R. Stewart Allward acquired the castle and over about ten years fully restored it. Castle Stalker remains in private ownership and is open to the public at selected times during the summer. For the 2011 census the island on which the castle stands was classified by the National Records of Scotland as an inhabited island that "had no usual residents at the time of either the 2001 or 2011 censuses.

SS Sir Walter Scott is a small steamship that has provided pleasure cruises and a ferry service on Loch Katrine in the scenic Trossachs of Scotland for more than a century, and is the only surviving screw steamer in regular passenger service in Scotland. It is named after the writer Walter Scott, who set his 1810 poem Lady of the Lake, and his 1818 novel Rob Roy around Loch Katrine. In 1859 Loch Katrine became Glasgow's main water supply, connected by aqueducts and tunnels to the city more than 30 miles (48 km) away through a hilly landscape. The Trossachs became very popular in the Victorian era, and there were early steamship services on the loch. The Loch is surrounded by wooded mountains, and has romantic historical connections including the birthplace of the outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor. Queen Victoria had a holiday house built overlooking the loch. William Denny and Brothers built Sir Walter Scott as a "knock-down" ship; that is, it was assembled with bolts and nuts at Denny's shipyard at Dumbarton on the River Leven, the pieces numbered and dismantled again, transported in pieces by barge up Loch Lomond and overland by horse-drawn cart to Stronachlachar pier on Loch Katrine and there rebuilt with rivets and launched. Denny's assembled Sir Walter Scott at their yard in 1899 and completed its reassembly and launch on the loch in 1900. All ships in the UK must record a measured mile for seaworthiness. Sir Walter Scott completed its measured mile on the Firth of Clyde when bolted together, before being disassembled, transported to Loch Katrine and riveted together again. Its original cost was £4,269, which included a delivery charge of £2,028. Sir Walter Scott weighs 115 tons, is 110 feet (34 m) long and has a 19 feet (5.8 m) beam. It is powered by its original three-cylinder triple-expansion steam engine and has two locomotive-type boilers[clarification needed] which until the end of 2007 were fired by solid fuel fed into the firebox by a stoker. At a time when most steamers changed to oil-fired boilers, the Sir Walter Scott kept using solid fuel to meet the requirement of ensuring that Glasgow's water supply is not polluted, changing from coal to coke to reduce air pollution. In a refit at the end of the 2007 season the boilers were altered to run on biofuel. During this refit, the superstructure was rebuilt and a forward deck cabin was added. Some consider the modified superstructure an abomination, destroying the classic lines of this Victorian era steamer. The vessel has a crew of five. Sir Walter Scott sails from Trossachs pier at the east end of the loch, 7 miles (11 km) north of Aberfoyle) and runs a ferry service 8 miles (13 km) west along the loch to Stronachlachar pier, in the morning and afternoon in spring and summer, taking walkers and cyclists who return by land, then takes those embarking at the pier and those doing the round trip back to Trosachs pier. In the afternoon it also does one or more shorter scenic cruises. In the winter it is taken up on a slipway for maintenance work.

The Commando Memorial is a Category A listed monument in Scotland, dedicated to the men of the original British Commando Forces raised during World War II. Situated around a mile from Spean Bridge village, it overlooks the training areas of the Commando Training Depot established in 1942 at Achnacarry Castle. Unveiled in 1952 by the Queen Mother, it has become one of the United Kingdom's best-known monuments, both as a war memorial and as a tourist attraction offering views of Ben Nevis and Aonach Mòr. In 1949, the sculptor Scott Sutherland won a competition open to all Scottish sculptors for the commission, The Commando Memorial.Sutherland's design won first prize of £200. The base of the bronze statue is inscribed with the date of 1951. The sculpture was cast in the H.H Martyn and Company's foundry.[3] The memorial was officially unveiled by the Queen Mother on 27 September 1952. The monument was first designated as a listed structure on 5 October 1971, and was upgraded to a Category A listing on 15 August 1996. On 18 November 1993 a further plaque was added to mark the Freedom of Lochaber being given to the Commando Association. On 27 March 2010 a 2 miles (3.2 km) war memorial path was opened connecting two local war memorials, the Commando Memorial, and the former High Bridge built by General Wade, where the first shots were fired in the Jacobite Rising of 1745 in the Highbridge Skirmish. The monument consists of a cast bronze sculpture of three Commandos in characteristic dress complete with cap comforter, webbing and rifle, standing atop a stone plinth. The soldier at the front is thought to depict Commando Jack Lewington who frequently attended Remembrance Services at the monument during his lifetime. One of the other two soldiers is Frank Nicholls (rank unknown) the other is alleged to be Patrick Hynan. The three Commandos are depicted looking south towards Ben Nevis.The entire monument is 17 feet (5.2 m) tall.[7][10] The monument has been variously described as a huge, striking and iconic statue. "United we conquer" is inscribed around the top of the stone plinth, while the original plaque on the stone plinth reads: "In memory of the officers and men of the commandos who died in the Second World War 1939–1945. This country was their training ground."

Inverness (Listeni/ɪnvərˈnɛs/; from the Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Nis [iɲɪɾʲˈniʃ], meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland. Inverness lies near two important battle sites: the 11th-century battle of Blàr nam Fèinne against Norway which took place on The Aird and the 18th-century Battle of Culloden which took place on Culloden Moor.It is the northernmost city in the United Kingdom and lies within the Great Glen (Gleann Mòr) at its north-eastern extremity where the River Ness enters the Moray Firth. At the latest, a settlement was established by the 6th century with the first royal charter being granted by Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim (King David I) in the 12th century. The Gaelic king Mac Bethad Mac Findláich (MacBeth) whose 11th-century murder of King Duncan was immortalised in Shakespeare's play Macbeth, held a castle within the city where he ruled as Mormaer of Moray and Ross. The population of Inverness grew from 40,949 in 2001 to 46,870 in 2012. The Greater Inverness area, including Culloden and Westhill, had a population of 59,910 in 2012. Inverness is one of Europe's fastest growing cities, with a quarter of the Highland population living in or around it,and is ranked fifth out of 189 British cities for its quality of life, the highest of any Scottish city. In the recent past, Inverness has experienced rapid economic growth: between 1998 and 2008, Inverness and the rest of the central Highlands showed the largest growth of average economic productivity per person in Scotland and the second greatest growth in the United Kingdom as a whole, with an increase of 86%. Inverness is twinned with one German city, Augsburg, and two French towns, La Baule and Saint-Valery-en-Caux. Inverness College is the main campus for the University of the Highlands and Islands. With around 8,500 students, Inverness College hosts around a quarter of all the University of the Highlands and Islands' students, and 30% of those studying to degree level. In 2014, a survey by a property website described Inverness as the happiest place in Scotland and the second happiest in the UK.Inverness was again found to be the happiest place in Scotland by a new study conducted in 2015. Inverness has gained notoriety as well for being featured in the "Outlander" novel series by author Diana Gabaldon.