WWII Decoy Site

During the Second World War, the British military built a fake aluminium smelter here in the Highlands to draw German bombers away from the real industrial target at Kinlochleven. Walking across this moorland site now, you're standing where decoys, dummy buildings and false lights once convinced enemy pilots they'd found something worth attacking. It's genuinely eerie - the landscape itself tells the story better than any plaque could.

History enthusiasts will find it fascinating, though you need to manage expectations. There's not much physical infrastructure to see, and you'll spend most of your time on open moorland reading the scattered information boards and imagining what was here seventy years ago. Families with younger children might get restless after twenty minutes or so; teenagers who've studied the war will find it absorbing. Walkers, though - this is ideal. The site sits naturally within several decent Highland rambles, and the views across Glencoe are genuinely worth the effort regardless of the historical angle.

It's free to visit and accessible year-round, though winter conditions on the moorland can be rough. You're only a few miles from Kinlochleven itself, making this an easy add-on to a stay at Red Squirrel Campsite or Blackwater Hostel. Allow ninety minutes if you want to read everything and soak in the atmosphere. The real payoff comes when you realise German reconnaissance photos of this site still exist - they believed in it completely.