Highlands: Glenfinnan

Glenfinnan is notable for many reasons. It is where Bonnie Prince Charley raised his standard at and was in the middle of the Jacobite territory. Of course since most of you are not historians and don't give a flying donut about that then I will tell you that it is also where the Harry Potter bridge is at.
Here's the link:
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/glenfinnan/glenfinnan/

Ok (oooooo.....ahhhhh I know!) here is the Harry Potter Bridge. I'm not a HP fan so I can't tell you what part of the movie it is in, but if you like the movie then you already know and therefore don't need my help anyway.

More of the bridge.

More... got to keep the fans happy =)!

Now for the gooooood stuff. This is the other side of the valley looking down at the Glenfinnan Monument. It is sitting on the shore of Loch Shiel. At the top of the monument is Charles Stuart (Bonnie (it means pretty/handsome) Prince Charley).

All around the monument are trees planted for the different clans that supported him.

The memorial to him.

One of the trees.

To climb up the monument you have to basically scale up this verrrrrry narrow staircase with only a rope to hold on to. Plus as an added bit of fun it was a wee bit slick from leaking water.

The hole at the top of the stairs is barely big enough to fit through.

What it is like without anyone there. Crazy huh!

But when you get to the top ol' Charley meets you as he looks majestically off on his troops (cue cheezy movie music and sigh =).

The view out on Loch Shiel from the top.

So beautiful.

As an added note, I did not go to the top of the monument so these magnificent pictures are all thanks to my wonderful friend Leah who hauled my camera up to the tip top and snapped some shots in the very few minutes she had up there. I decided not to go when I saw other pictures of how small it was at the top and thought it was best not to have a panic-attack at the top like I did on top of the St. Louis Arch. =]