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Wester Ross places to visit in the Scottish Highlands

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Last Updated on Saturday, 05 May 2012 17:33

The Atlantic seaboard of Wester Ross includes such notable areas of Highland scenery as Apple cross, Torridon and Gairloch. The scenery is wild and dramatic with magnificent mountains and placid lochs as the basic elements of the landscape. Explore the area from anyone of the main touring centres, Kyle of Lochalsh, Gairloch or Ullapool. Discover the rugged beauty of a wild and rocky landscape, the splendour of majestic mountains (Beinn Eighe, Liathach, Slioch and An Teallach). the beauty of Lochs Maree, Torridon, Broom and Ewe and the charm of small isolated communities like Plockton, Poolewe, Kinlochewe and Apple cross.

Take the time to walk or climb, and sail or fish, to enjoy to the full this glorious area. The itinerary described covers 102 miles, The route covers some of the finest Wester Ross scenery namely the shores of Loch Maree, the Torridon area and the fastness of the Applecross peninsula. This is a land of incomparable mountains, of lochs and seashore, of woods and moorland, where all come together in nearly perfect proportions. Parts of the route are busy roads in the tourist season but other stretches still permit the luxury of enjoying it all in solitude. Keep the petrol tank well topped up.

Plockton - This most attractive village, with its palm tree-lined main street has an ideal site facing east overlooking a sheltered bay. Originally a refugee settlement at the time of the clearances, it is now a holiday centre popular for yachting and windsurfing.Pass, down on the shore, Strome ferry a former rail head and ferry point. The loch side road on the southern shore has fine views of the loch.

loch Carron - A small linear settlement down on the loch shore this sea loch has two branches, Loch Kishorn and Upper Loch Carron, backed by the glen of the same name. On the far side are the Applecross mountains, from left to right are
Meal Gorm (2 328ft-710m) and Sgurr a' Chaorachain (2539ft-776m), forming the sides of the valley to be ascended, and Beinn Bhan (2938ft-896m),
The route has hairpin bends and 1 : 4 gradients and is not recommended for learner drivers, caravans or heavy vehicles.
The pass is impassable in wintry conditions. The splendour of the views well rewards those prepared to make the journey. Bealach-na Bo at 2 053ft-626m. The road winds upwards then rises gradually following the east flank. Striated rock and scree slopes are overlooked by rocky overhangs. Hairpin bends allow the final ascent of the back wall of the corrie. The vista framed by the hanging valley is spectacular with below, Lochs Kishorn, Carron and Alsh and Skye in the distance.
The rocky moorland surface is dotted with lochans.  there are superb views westwards of Skye, the Cuillins and the fringing islands. The descent to Applecross and the coast is more gradual it is on a bay with a popular red sandy beach.
This was the site in the 7C of St Maelrubha's monastery.
The coastal road has good views across the Inner Sound to Raasay and Rona with Skye

The Torridon Countryside Centre centre has an audiovisual introduction to the Glen, Here you can find information  available on climbing and walking routes. Remember these mountains can be dangerous and are only for the experienced, fit and properly equipped. Changeable weather makes them treacherous. Always leave behind a detail of routes and objectives with an estimated time of return the glen, the start leads through a flat bottomed glacial valley. The lower part of the glen is overlooked on the left by liathach (3 456ft-1 054m) meaning Grey One, with its seven tops, another mountain of impressive dimensions. The valley on the right, containing Loch Clair, leads through to Glen Carron. Torridon village lies at the foot of Liathach at the head of Upper Loch Torridon. 

 
The imposing range of Beinn Eighe (3 309ft-1 01 Om) to the left is a long ridge of seven peaks, the most easterly ones have a whitish quartizite capping. Kinlochewe. The village has retained the loch's original name and is today known as a good centre for climbing, hill walking and fishing.

Aultroy Visitor Centre has an excellent three dimensional model of the area between Lochs Alsh and Broom. Discover the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve, its total area of 11757 acres here you can find the imposing mountain ridge of Beinn Eighe (visible from a window in the centre), as well as one of the few remaining fragments of the native Scots Pine Forest. The roadside picnic area makes an ideal vantage point for viewing the loch and Slioch (the Spear) on the far side. This is also the starting point of a 4 mile nature and mountain trail on the lower slopes of Beinn Eighe a  4 to 5 hour hike, wear good walking boots.

loch Maree is a magnificent loch epitomizes the rugged scenic grandeur of the West coast. 12 miles long and 3 miles wide the loch is ensConced between the towering form of Ben Slioch (3 217ft-980m) to the north and a shoulder of Beinn Eighe. At its widest part the loch is studded with isles and it was on the Isle Maree that St Maelrubha set up his cell in the 7C. The isle became a popular place of pilgrimage and Loch Ewe was rechristened Maree. a Corruption of Maelrubha. In the 17C the well forested lochside slopes were the site of iron smelting.

Victoria Falls A viewing platform and riverside path have good views of these falls as they drop in two stages over great Slabs of rock. The falls are named after Queen Victoria Who visited the area in 1877. A roadside viewing point overlooks the dammed Loch Bad an Sgalaig. The surrounding Country dotted with small lochs.

Gairloch As a holiday centre Gairloch lies at close proximity to the majestic mountain scenery of the Torridon area and the splendid sandy beaches of the immediate coastline. At the head of Loch Gairloch the pier still has the lively bustle of a fishing port.
The Gairloch Heritage Museum is a local museum dealing with life in the past in the parish of Gairloch. There is a realistic reconstruction of a croft interior of 100 years ago. Other topics of interest include the Loch Maree ironworks of the 17C, illicit whisky distilling and Queen Victoria's 1877 visit to the area. The run reveals to full advantage the Scenic Coastline to the north where bays, beaches and headlands succeed one another backed, inland, by breathtaking mountain scenery.

The A832 leads northeast wards across the rock and moorland neck of the Rudhe Reidh peninsula. The roadside viewpoint has a superb view of Loch Maree with its forested islands and majestic mountain flanks. Loch Ewe stretches ahead enclosed by the peninsulas of Rudhe Reidh and Rubha Mar. Poolewe is a mall village at the head of Loch Ewe.

View indicator. - This vantage point has a lovely view of Loch Thurnaig in the foreground, the Inverewe Gardens promontory behind, then Loch Ewe backed by Rudhe Reidh, and the Isle of Ewe  lieing  straight ahead While Aultbea shelters down in a bay to the right. The road rises up and Over Rubha Mor Peninsula.

The descent offers a wide view over Gruinard Bay and Island of the same name, once the scene of an anthrax experiment. As the road follows the southern shore, to the left are the twin peaks of Beinn Ghobhlach, the Forked Mountain. At the head of the loch the road follows the wooded Strath Beag up to the moors of Dundonnell Forest. This stretch of the road, known as Destitution Road, was made during the potato famine of 1851 to give work to starving men. There is an excellent roadside vantage point with a view over the farmland and woodland of Strath More at the head of Loch Broom.