Glen Etive is located in the Highlands of Scotland, heading on the A82, pass-by the stunning mountain scenery of Glen Coe, before looking out for a relatively unmarked, unassuming road on the right side which will take you down the single-track road of Glen Etive. At 28 miles return, allow yourself plenty of time though as you are definitely going to want to go slow.
There is simply breathtaking scenery throughout, and there are passing places where you can stop to take some photos, you will follow the river Etive until it meets the sea loch, loch Etive. In the winter it won’t necessarily be other vehicles you will need to watch out for but rather deer…
Because you will see deer… an abundance of deer in their natural habitat! It is rather amazing, and they are truly remarkable creatures! We highly recommend that you take some food for them as they will come right up to the car and take the food from your hands, deer are non-threatening, and we even felt like the deer were nodding in appreciation to us, it was magical to witness.
Food that deer love and that are healthy to be fed (they are herbivores) are fruit and vegetables, in particular; carrots, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, apples, blueberries, blackberries, grapes, pear and oats, pecan nuts and acorns. As deer are herbivores this means they eat plants, fruits, acorns, and nuts when they are available. In the autumn/ winter when these things are scarcer they will switch to eating grass and evergreen plants. In the winder they eat whatever food is available such as fallen leaves, twigs, bushes, and other woody plants. Unfortunately, these foods are not as nutritionally dense so whilst I would recommend feeding them, do consider they are wild animals are you don’t want them to become reliant on humans bringing food, we seen no signs that stated not to feed these beautiful, graceful creatures however.
Seeing such an abundance of deer almost made our trip alone, but those views that we trawled through were jaw-dropping. When we visited it was in the aftermath of heavy snow fall, and the mountains were topped in snow and the river and waterfalls frozen.
Once you reach the end of the road, there is a car park, you can take a walk around the loch edge or just sit on the large rocks and marvel at the landscape. With our drone we were mesmerised at the way the mountains seamlessly went into the water and back out the other end. You could also pretend to be Adele and sing at the top of your voice ‘Skyfall’ (not saying I did or anything 😉 ) as part of James Bond, Skyfall was filmed here, also parts of Braveheart were filmed nearby.
One huge thing that we cannot say louder is… you should be disposing of your rubbish sensibly, there have been a lot of issues within the Glen Etive area of littering. This gorgeous landscape should not have litter lying around. Be sensible and decent and take it away with you!! We know that goes without saying as it should apply everywhere you go in the world.
The scenic beauty of the Glen has led to its inclusion in the Ben Nevis and Glen Coe National Scenic Area one of 40 such areas in Scotland!
We are already looking forward to coming back to Glen Etive in other seasons, to see how the landscape has changed and maybe even try a bit of white water rafting which the area is famous for!
Camera's used: DJI Phantom 4, Panasonic Lumix G7, Canon G7X, Samsung 7
Do you love deer as much as we appear to?...
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