Experience the rugged beauty, ancient legends, and captivating history of Scotland with Andy the Highlander. From standing stones and whirlpools to myths and famous battles, Andy shares stories that bring the Scottish landscape alive. Discover why Scotland is more than tartans and bagpipes in this fascinating discussion about culture, heritage, and a passion for storytelling.

In the introduction, I talk about my personal connection to Scotland (I am a quarter Scottish!), and how it inspired my monster horror, Catacomb, as well as featuring in Day of the Vikings, and the anatomical connection to Desecration.

Andy the Highlander is the bestselling author of Lochs and Legends, A Scotland Man’s Guide to the Heart of Scotland, as well as an actor and tour guide.

Show notes:

• Andy’s journey to becoming “Andy the Highlander” and his experiences on the TV series Outlander


• The allure of ancient standing stones, including Clava Cairns and Callanish


• Historical intrigue from Culloden to the Body Snatchers of Edinburgh


• Eerie encounters in places like Culross and Scotland’s many haunted sites


• Rugged islands, beautiful lochs, and the distinct regional flavors of Scottish whisky


• The rivalry of Scottish clans and football teams, and the “Outlander Effect” on tourism


• Recommendations for books, films, and practical tips for traveling in the Highlands

You can find Andy at Highlander Tours and Lochs and Legends in all the usual places, or here on Amazon.

Transcript of the interview

Jo: Hello everyone. I am thriller author J.F. Penn, and this is the Books and Travel Podcast. And today I’m here with Andy the Highlander, the bestselling author of Lochs and Legends, A Scotland Man’s Guide to the Heart of Scotland, as well as an actor and tour guide. So welcome to the show, Andy.

Andy: Thank you for having me.

Oh, it’s great to have you here. So first up —

Why are you called Andy the Highlander?

Andy: I became Andy the Highlander back in 2015. I was fortunate enough to film on the hit US TV drama Outlander. I was one of Jamie Fraser’s men back in 2015. I filmed about 35 days on the show, and I then did a video in my garden demonstrating how to wear the plaid, the Filmore—the Great Kilt—and it got 5.3 million views in the first 30 days.

So that’s really where this journey of Andy the Highlander began. At the time I started investing in the swords, 18th-century clothing. My wife Anna thought I had lost the plot, and we had no idea this was going to become a business, but also very much who I am. I’m now more Andy the Highlander than I am old Andy. I don’t even know who he is anymore, to be honest. So yeah, it’s been some journey.

Jo: Yeah, ’cause you have a tour guide company as well, right?

That’s right. I run Highlander Tours, and I’m one of the busiest tour guides in the country, taking people from all over the world around Scotland. So that’s a very incredible job. Scotland is my office, and you know what they say: if you find something you love, then you’ll never work another day in your life.

Jo: That is true. So I guess on this show, I’d like to do things that maybe people don’t know, that are a bit less obvious, and you definitely have some of those in this book. So many people listening—maybe a lot of Americans, for example—have family connection to Scotland, even if that’s generations ago and maybe they haven’t even visited, but —

What are some of the historic places that resonate the most for you that are not necessarily obvious?

Well, one of the more well-known ones is Culloden, the last pitched battle fought on British soil, but not far from there you’ve got Clava Cairns.

These are 4,000-year-old burial chambers and standing stones, and they actually line up with the low-setting winter solstice on the 21st of December, and the sun’s rays go inside the chamber. This technology that people had 4,000 years ago—it’s quite an incredible feat of engineering. Like looking at the pyramids and stuff like that, it’s like, how did they know how to do this so perfectly?

I think today we still don’t understand how they cut these stones so precisely. So that’s a magical place. Scotland is absolutely full of gems like that, and they carry deep historical significance.

Jo: Mm. Well, the Highlander series starts in standing stones, doesn’t it?

Andy: That’s right. So Outlander—Diana Gabaldon is from Flagstaff, Arizona originally. She lives in Scottsdale now, but she wrote the first books in the 1990s. It’s quite an interesting story actually.

Diana watched an episode of Doctor Who, and there was a young, handsome Highlander called Jamie McCrimmon in the show, played by English actor Frazer Hines, who’s a friend of mine. So Diana sees this young, handsome Highlander—a man in a kilt—and she thinks, “Oh my, I like that.”

So that’s what gave her the inspiration to go on and write Outlander. It’s historical fiction. Claire is a nurse during World War II and goes back to 1743, then touches these standing stones and goes back to the 18th century, and then they try and stop the Battle of Culloden happening. So it’s a fantastic story and, as we call it, the Outlander Effect. It’s a huge global audience.

Jo: Oh yeah, I’ve read several of the books. There’s some good romance in there. But on rocks as well—’cause my brother actually lives in Edinburgh and did a short film, STONE HUNTERS, about lifting these rocks, sort of as a Scottish tradition of going around lifting stones instead of lifting other weights. Is that something you—oh, it just came up as you were talking about stones there.

Andy: That’s quite interesting. So we say in Scotland, “Only leave your footsteps.

Take photos, only leave your footsteps.

What we don’t want is people lifting and building the little cairns, but what you’re talking about is something different and it’s really cool. There’s a big weightlifting community in Scotland.

You’ve got the Dinnie Stones, for example, and this strongman Donald Dinnie carried these massive stones across the Potarch Bridge and back. I can’t remember the combined weight, but there’s a whole community in Scotland. I’ve actually got a friend—I think he calls himself “The Highland Granddad” or something on Instagram—but he goes around and sets up maybe four or five different-size stones, obviously starting with the lightest one and then finishing with the heaviest one. So I’m all for that. That’s pretty cool.

Jo: So obviously the book is Lochs and Legends, so let’s talk about legends first. You mentioned kelpies, which I think is a fascinating one. So yeah, tell us about—oh, here we go, Kelpies. There you go.

Tell us about the Kelpies

Andy: So yeah, the Kelpies are one of my favorite myths, favorite legends. These ones here are actually the world’s largest equine sculptures. They’re 30 meters high—approximately a hundred feet—and they were done by Scottish artist Andy Scott.

I was actually lucky enough to attend the 10-year anniversary last year. They represent two different things: it’s a mixture of Scotland’s industrial past—our Industrial Revolution here was 1760 to 1830—and the Clydesdale horses would pull the wagons and the barges along the canals. These big, heavy horses mixed with Flemish warhorses.

So it’s a mixture of an industrial past, but also our folklore. Kelpies were mythical, shape-shifting horse spirits that would lure you to the water’s edge and drown you. This was a very real way to keep your children away from the water’s edge.

Jo: It seems odd though to have horses and water drawing you into the water, right? Shouldn’t they be mermaids or something?

Andy: That’s right. Yeah.

Jo: What are some of the other darker elements of legend that fascinate you?

Andy: You’ve got the Corryvreckan, which is a legendary whirlpool. My brother Ian used to do a lot of diving off the west coast of Scotland, so this whirlpool is between the Isle of Jura and Scarba, and it’s one of the most dangerous tidal whirlpools in the world.

But there are also dark tales of the Celtic warrior Fingal, and you’ve got Fingal’s Cave as well. In the book, you’ve obviously got the Kelpies, but there are so many other legends in there as well: the Blue Men of the Minch, stories about cannibals and body snatchers as well. Oh yeah, loads of that.

Jo: Well, let’s talk about the body snatchers, because if you go to Edinburgh, you’re gonna do the body snatcher thing, right? Or at least people like me w