What's October Really Like in the Scottish Highlands
After the transition month that is September, when the tail end of summer is still hanging on and the crisp mornings of autumn are just starting to appear, the true feelings of autumn come along with the start of October.
October often starts of pretty stormy in the Scottish Highlands. I'm not sure why that is, but almost predictably at the start of October every year, there's a big storm that sweeps in from the Atlantic and brings a weekend of bad weather. It's something to be aware of if you were visiting at this time of year (or even closer to the winter months) and you should plan accordingly if this is something that comes up during your visit to the Scottish Highlands.
At the end of October, the clocks change back to Greenwich Mean Time, meaning we get an hour less of daylight in the evenings. This for me is the start of the really wintery feeling days in the Scottish Highlands. To be honest, once the end of October comes along, November comes with winter in full flow. So, in some ways, October in the Scottish Highlands is when autumn is most concentrated here.
One October adventure we loved in 2023 was the oppurtunity to spend a couple of days on the Orkney Islands. I loved Orkney and October was a great time to experience the beautiful and scope of these islands (whilst also being able to coorie in and take shelter from the weather in the evenings). Orkney is a beautiful and fascinating group of islands with something for everyone, whether you're a history nut, a nature lover or a real foodie (or a combination of all of those). If you want to find out more about visiting Orkney for yourself, be sure to check out these blogposts.
Over the years, there's a couple of places I've visited during the month of October that have truly felt like beautiful autumnal adventures. I've linked a bunch of those below, so there should be something in the list for everyone.
Events happening this October in the Scottish Highlands
6th-25th October: Highland Folk Museum Red Squirrel Trail, Kingnussie
10th October-1st November: Pumpkins at Highland Wildlife Park
23rd-25th October: Dornoch Whisky Festival
23rd October-5th November: Autumn Highland Festival, Dornoch
28th-29th October: Legends of the Castle at Blair Castle
Comments