Q is for Quidditch Locations

 Q on the A-Z Tour of Harry Potter Filming Locations is for the Quidditch sites.

Quidditch featured in five of the eight Potter films.  Hogwarts Quidditch stadium was clearly enchanted as it tended to move around Scotland a bit, sometimes even in the middle of a match!

Before we continue, we need a little Scottish-to-English translation: "ben" means "mountain"; "glen" means "valley"; "loch" means "lake".

Glen Nevis & Ben Nevis
Ben Nevis, north of Fort William in Scotland, is the highest mountain in the United Kingdom, standing 1346 metres above sea level.  It is a popular location for bush walkers, hikers, mountain climbers, etc.  Ben Nevis is one of the mountains surrounding Glen Nevis.

Ben/Glen Nevis featured as the background to the Hogwarts Quidditch Stadium in four of the Potter films - The Philosopher's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, The Goblet of Fire, and The Half-Blood Prince.

Steall Falls, Glen Nevis

to avoid confusion - these are what Aussies call "thongs"
Image: http://bpfaus.com/documents/aussie-thongs.jpg

At the northern end of Glen Nevis is a walk leading up to Steall Falls, the second highest waterfall in Scotland.  There is a rather stern sign at the begining of the walk warning hikers to wear proper shoes and be wary of slippery ground as it can become quite wet and muddy in sections. That being said, when I was there I saw people completing the walk in thongs and with small dogs so each to their own.

The Steall Falls have appeared behind the Hogwarts Quidditch stadium in two films.  For the first task of the Triwizard Tournament in The Goblet of Fire, the stadium is located on a ridge of Glen Nevis, with Steall Falls visible in the background. The falls can also be seen behind Ron during his trial for Gryffindor Keeper in The Half-Blood Prince.

Loch Shiel
I mentioned Loch Shiel briefly in the J post, and it will come up again in the S post.  Loch Shiel appears behind the stadium in The Chamber of Secrets - one of those times when the stadium moved mid-match.

Beachy Head was the location of the Quidditch World Cup, but I went into all of that back in the B post, which you can find here if you want to catch up.

I'm cross stitching two alphabets for the A-Z challenge as well - you can see my progress on my other blog - Q is for Abadian (Supernatural) and Quilava (Pokemon)

Happy travels

Ros