Britain's Most Cinematic Road Trips
The Glenfinnan Viaduct Photo Connor Mollison / Unsplash
Picture yourself in your own blockbuster by taking a road trip to some of the UK’s most iconic film locations. Whether you’re into wizards, period dramas, sci-fi or spy flicks there are dozens of Hollywood hotspots to discover and amazing roads to enjoy along the way.
Scotland’s Cinematic Highlands
This is a journey that will take you through epic landscapes to the scenes of equally epic battles, to magical places where wizards once walked and knights’ quests ended in some of the cinema’s most memorable moments.
Your first scenes are close to Glencoe and we suggest opening with one of the most evocative driving sequences in recent 007 history. There are no stunts and no explosions but when Bond and M escape London in his DB5 to his old family home (the titular Skyfall) Scotland’s majesty is the star of the screen. The road to Skyfall is actually a single track that leads from the A82 to a parking area at the top of Loch Etive, and unlike Daniel Craig and Dame Judi Dench you probably won’t find yourself alone here so watch for fellow fans and use the passing places wisely. It’s a twisty, undulating drive that requires focus, but do try to look around once in a while and admire the incredible vista as you track the River Etive on its way to the loch, humming John Barry’s classic theme as you go.
The road to Skyfall Photo Nik Berg
Once you reach the shores of the loch there’s nowhere else to go and, with no Raoul Silva to fight off you’ll turn around and retrace your steps to Glencoe on the A82. Before you reach the village as you pass Loch Atrichochtan is a quick pit stop for Harry Potter lovers. Turn off onto Glencoe Studio Gallery and park at the Clachaig Inn for a locally-sourced snack of oak smoked west coast salmon or Stornoway black pudding before stretching your legs on a short walk to seek out Hagrid’s Hut from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Before you get your hopes up the hut itself isn’t there but the spectacular view down the river through the valley is, and still will be for millennia.
Carry on through Glencoe village until you reach Loch Linmhe where you’ll join the A828 that meanders along its banks. It’s a delightful tree-lined drive, sometimes almost dipping its toes in the loch itself, at others turning inland. There are plenty of ups and downs and blind corners, but also many open stretches with excellent sight lines.
Your next stop is Castle Stalker, or as it was known in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, “Castle Aaaaarrrgh”. It’s here, at the end of their quest King Arthur and Lancelot are frustrated by a Frenchman who refuses to open the castle gates for them. “I wave my private parts at your aunties, you cheesy load of second-hand electric donkey-bottom biters!” he declares.
The castle, which can trace its history back to 1320, sits on an island in the Loch and is easily viewed from the road, but if you want a closer look you’ll need to book a space on a tour as it can only be accessed by boat. There’s a delightful café where you can wait for your boatman to take you across.
Is that the Hogwarts Express? Photo Jack Anstey / Unsplash
To carry on your own quest you’ll head back up Linmhe on the A82 and then turn left to follow the A830 along Loch Eil. The road is mostly straight as it tracks this relatively spindly loch but becomes more twisty as you approach Glenfinnan and another unforgettable moment from the Harry Potter films. The Glenfinnan Viaduct carried Harry and friends to school on the Hogwarts Express. Time your trip just right and you’ll even get to witness a train steaming across as The Jacobite service runs twice a day chuffing from Fort William to Mallaig on an 84-mile return trip.
Your final setting is the Isle of Skye and to get there you’ll continue along the A830 to the Atlantic coast, first catching site of the Small Isles of Egg, Rum and Canna before turning north to Mallaig to catch a ferry. If you’d rather take the bridge at Kyle of Lochalsh then track back inland to the A82 and then pick up the A87.
Skye and the Old Man of Storr in the distance Photo Nik Berg
Either way, head first to the extraordinary Old Man of Storr which stands 160 feet tall atop the Storr on the Trotternish Peninsula and has starred in Prometheus where it served as an alien planet and The Wickerman where it merely added to the mystery. From here it’s just 20 minutes to the cliffs of the Quairing where Roald Dahl classic The BFG was filmed, along with Stardust, The Land that Time Forgot and Snow White and the Huntsman and Macbeth. The area even doubled for Japan in Keanu Reeves samurai adventure 47 Ronin.
Skye is just so extraordinarily photogenic that it’s no wonder Hollywood heads there so often. It’s the perfect spot to let the credits roll on this Scottish cinematic adventure.
South West in search of Spielberg
On this route there are Avengers, Half-Blood Princes, Lords, Ladies and war stories to explore on an escape from the capital.
Bourne Wood is less than 50 miles from the red carpets of central London’s movie premieres, but its dense pine forest has seen an enormous amount of superhero action.
Just off the A31 outside Farnham you can stroll through a scene that has featured in Captain America: The First Avenger, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor: The Dark World, and Wonder Woman. Gladiator, Children of Men, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Robin Hood, The Golden Compass and, to kick start the Spielberg search, War Horse, were also shot in these woods.
It’s less than 13 miles up the A31, A331 and B3272 to reach Hawley Woods near Blackwater which also featured in Avengers: Age of Ultron, had a spy spell with Die Another Day and Johnny English Reborn and a role in Son of Rambow.
The road to Downton Abbey Photo Tim Alex / Unsplash
A quick zip on the M3 and the A339 will take you to Downton Abbey, or Highclere Castle as it’s known outside of TV and cinema. The castle is open to the public except for Fridays and Saturdays until 7 September and admission buys you entry to the house and gardens, or for an extra fee, an Egyptian exhibition as well.
There’s plenty of time to practice your poshest Earl or Countess of Grantham voices as you head south on the A34 and pick up the M27, A31 and A35 to get to your next destination, Custom House Quay in Weymouth docks where the little ship “Moonstone” cast off for its adventure in Dunkirk.
You could choose to break your journey here and enjoy the Jurassic Coast or press on to the final location which saw Spielberg spellbound. It’s a stunning drive along the coast, then nipping between the East Devon and the Blackdown Hills Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. At Honiton you’ll pick up the A30, skirt Exteter on the M5 and then follow the A38 Devon Expressway to Godwell. Turn north and pass through Cornwood, Cadover Bridge and eventually you’ll find yourself at Sheepstor where Albert and Joey spend their days before battle calls in War Horse.
“I have never before, in my long and eclectic career, been gifted with such an abundance of natural beauty as I experienced filming War Horse on Dartmoor,” said the legendary Hollywood director.
Dartmoor’s show ponies Photo Jill Dimond / Unsplash
Action and adventure in Wales
This trip is all about the action on the beaches, mountains and roads of Wales.
Your start point is the picturesque Freshwater Beach on the Pembrokeshire coast where loyal house Elf Dobby lived and died in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The film-makers constructed Dobby’s Shell Cottage, which was dismantled after filming but fans of the franchise have created a memorial to the little chap about half way up the beach where he met his end in the film. It’s a lovely stroll along the sand to pay your respects.
Freshwater West - can you spot Dobby? Photo Andy Watkins / Unsplash
Another beach location is next and it’s a cracking drive to get there. First you’ll head inland on th A477 through Pembroke and then the A40 north, before picking up the A478 to cut the corner of the Pembroke Peninsular. Like so many Welsh roads the changes in topography make for a varied drive through patchworks of open fields and between distant hills. The A487 will eventually lead you to Penbryn Beach and the first of a cluster of Bond spots. The secluded beach is where Pierce Brosnan’s 007 and Halle Berry’s Jinx close Die Another Day with a romantic clinch in a cliffside cottage.
Keep going on the A487 and you’ll soon find the road getting more and more tortuous as you follow the valley. Look up and you may catch some aerial action as this area is known as the Mach Loop where RAF fighter jets practice low-level, high-speed flying.
At the Cross Foxes inn turn left and join the A470 which just gets more and more challenging as you head deeper into Snowdonia. Make a stop at Swallow Falls which you may recognise from Wonder Woman 1984 and then take the A498 south and you’ll be back in Bond country. Sean Connery was the first 007 to film in Snowdonia for From Russia With Love, while in Brosnan’s The World is Not Enough the mountains actually stood in for Kazakhstan.
You’d be hard pushed to find a much more dramatic backdrop for the final scene of your movie themed road trip.
Words Nik Berg Twitter | Instagram
This story first appeared in the Institute of Advanced Motorists’ RoadSmart.
Spectacular Snowdonia Photo Jack B / Unsplash