Glen Etive Highlands
Glen Etive is one of the most beautiful and most remote of the Highland glens accessible by road, a narrow valley extending fifteen kilometres south from the head of Glencoe to the head of Loch Etive, a sea loch that penetrates deep into the Argyll highlands. The glen is surrounded on both sides by the great mountains of the Black Mount and the peaks above Glencoe, the river flowing through a succession of waterfalls, pools and open moorland sections in a landscape that combines the dramatic scale of the Highland mountains with an intimate, sheltered valley character quite different from the exposed high ground above.
The road through Glen Etive is a single-track road with passing places that follows the river for most of its length before ending at the remote settlement of Invercharnan above the head of Loch Etive, from which point the glen continues on foot only. The drive down the glen is one of the finest in the Scottish Highlands, the mountains visible at the glen head growing larger and more dramatic as the road descends, and the river pools and waterfalls passed along the way inviting stops for swimming, picnicking and photography.
Glen Etive achieved international exposure as a filming location for the James Bond film Skyfall, in which scenes set on the fictional Silva island were filmed in the glen. The beautiful pool where Daniel Craig's Bond character pauses during the drive through the Highlands was filmed here, and the combination of film association and existing natural beauty has brought visitors who might not otherwise have discovered this relatively little-known glen.
The walking available from the glen road provides access to the surrounding mountains including the great pyramid of Buachaille Etive Mòr at the glen's northern end, one of the most photographed mountains in Scotland and one of the finest days walking in the Highlands.