Other in Inverness-shire

Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve in Wester Ross was established in 1951 as the first national nature reserve in Britain, a designation that recognised both the exceptional natural quality of the mountain, loch and woodland landscape and the importance of protecting the ancient Caledonian pine forest remnants that survive at the foot of the mountain on the shores of Loch Maree. The reserve covers approximately 4,800 hectares of some of the most scenically dramatic and ecologically important mountain country in the northwest Highlands. The mountain itself, whose name means file or ridge in Gaelic and refers to the serrated quartzite ridge that crowns the massif, is composed of some of the oldest rocks in Britain, Torridonian sandstone and ancient Lewisian gneiss overlaid by pale Cambrian quartzite that gives the upper slopes their distinctive white scree character. The combination of these ancient geological materials with the dramatic erosional forms of the glaciated Highland landscape produces a mountain environment of raw geological power that feels genuinely ancient in a way that the younger rocks of most British mountains do not. The Caledonian pinewood remnants at the foot of the mountain on the shores of Loch Maree are among the finest surviving fragments of the ancient forest that once covered much of the Scottish Highlands. These woods, dominated by Scots pine with juniper, birch and rowan, support red squirrel, pine marten, crossbill and a range of woodland invertebrates and fungi associated with ancient forest habitats that are increasingly rare across the British Isles. A programme of deer management and natural regeneration is gradually expanding the pinewood area, one of the conservation successes of the reserve. Two waymarked trail networks provide access to the reserve at different levels of ability, with the Mountain Trail providing a challenging ascent to the quartzite ridge and the Woodland Trail a gentler exploration of the lochside pinewoods and their wildlife.

The Fairy Pools at Glenbrittle on the Isle of Skye are among the most beautiful natural features on an island already exceptional for the quality of its scenery, a series of crystal-clear mountain pools and waterfalls on a stream descending from the Black Cuillin mountains whose extraordinary blue-green water colour, resulting from the clarity of the flow over pale quartzite and gabbro, has made them one of the most photographed locations in Scotland. The setting below the dark, serrated ridge of the Cuillin adds drama and scale to what would already be a compelling natural feature. The walk from the car park at Glenbrittle follows the stream upward through a succession of pools and cascades over approximately two kilometres, each pool having its own character and depth. The lower pools are the largest and most accessible, with some deep enough for wild swimming that attracts visitors willing to enter water temperatures rarely exceeding ten degrees even in midsummer. The experience of swimming in this clarity of water with the Cuillin rising steeply behind is one of the most elemental available in Scotland, the combination of mountain, rock and cold clear water creating a landscape encounter of considerable intensity. The underwater arch connecting two of the lower pools is a particular feature, and at low water flows it is possible to swim through from one pool to the next, a passage that rewards the cold and the commitment with a perspective on the rock formations quite unlike the view from above. The Black Cuillin, visible throughout the walk, provide the most technically demanding mountain terrain in Britain and contrast strikingly with the accessible magic of the pools below them. The combination of the Fairy Pools walk with a drive through Glen Brittle and views over the sea toward the Outer Hebrides makes this one of the most rewarding short outings on Skye.

The Isle of Skye is the largest and most visited of the Inner Hebrides, a dramatic and scenically extraordinary island off the northwest coast of Scotland whose combination of the Black Cuillin mountains, the Trotternish Peninsula's geological features, picturesque fishing harbours and a strong Gaelic cultural tradition have made it one of the most celebrated tourist destinations in Britain. The island is connected to the mainland by the Skye Bridge at Kyle of Lochalsh, making it accessible year-round, and the volume of visitors it receives has grown substantially in recent years as social media has circulated images of its most dramatic features worldwide. The Black Cuillin, the dark gabbro mountain range in the south of the island, is the most technically demanding mountain terrain in Britain, its jagged ridgeline and sheer rock faces providing the only true alpine ridge scrambling available in the British Isles and attracting mountaineers from across the world. The traverse of the complete Cuillin Ridge, which has over thirty Munros and tops, is the most serious and committing multi-day mountain challenge in Britain and is completed in a single continuous traverse only by very experienced parties in settled weather. For the majority of visitors the mountains provide exceptional walking on their lower approaches and extraordinary visual drama from the roads, beaches and villages below. The Trotternish Peninsula in the north of the island contains a series of geological features produced by the ongoing collapse and slipping of the great lava flows that cap the peninsula. The Old Man of Storr, the Quiraing and the Kilt Rock are among the most dramatic results of this process, their towers, pinnacles and tilted rock formations creating a landscape of surreal grandeur unlike anything elsewhere in Britain. Portree, the island's capital, provides a charming harbour setting and a good range of restaurants and accommodation, and the Skye Bridge approach from the mainland through Glen Shiel and over the Ratagan Pass is one of the finest drives in Scotland.

Neist Point is the most westerly point of the Isle of Skye, a dramatic basalt headland jutting into the Atlantic from the Duirinish Peninsula with a lighthouse at its tip and cliff scenery of exceptional quality on all sides. The combination of the dramatic volcanic geology, the lighthouse approach descending steeply from the cliff top to the headland below, the views across the Minch toward the Outer Hebrides and the wildlife that gathers in the surrounding waters makes Neist Point one of the most rewarding and most photographed viewpoints on Skye. The walk from the car park at the top of the cliff to the lighthouse is one of the finest short walks on Skye, descending steeply on a clear path to the broad lower headland and then following the cliff edge to the lighthouse buildings. The basalt geology of the headland is displayed clearly in the cliff faces, with the characteristic hexagonal column jointing of cooled basalt visible in sections and the dramatic black rock contrasting with the green of the cliff-top grass and the deep blue of the Atlantic when the sky is clear. The waters around Neist Point are excellent for whale and dolphin watching. Minke whale, common dolphin and harbour porpoise are regularly seen from the lighthouse headland and from the clifftops, and less frequently orca and other large cetaceans are reported in these waters. The combination of the Atlantic swell, the cold nutrient-rich water and the concentrations of fish that gather in the tidal races around the headland attract marine mammals reliably enough that a patient vigil from the cliff edge is frequently rewarded. The sunsets from Neist Point, with the sky over the Outer Hebrides turning red and orange above the Atlantic horizon, are among the most celebrated on Skye and draw photographers and visitors at every appropriate evening throughout the year.

The Old Man of Storr is the most distinctive and most photographed geological feature in Scotland, a great rocky pinnacle 55 metres high rising from the Trotternish Ridge on the Isle of Skye in a cluster of rock towers and spires that stand against the sky above Loch Leathan with a profile simultaneously alien and deeply natural. The pinnacle and the surrounding rock formation are the product of one of the largest and most active landslip systems in Europe, the slow but continuous movement of the basalt plateau above sliding over the underlying softer rocks and creating the chaotic, dramatic landscape of towers, pinnacles and faces visible today. The walk to the Old Man from the car park below takes approximately forty-five minutes and involves a sustained steep ascent through plantation forestry and then open hillside to reach the base of the pinnacle cluster. The approach is straightforward in good weather but the path can be muddy and slippery after rain, and the cloud that frequently envelops the Trotternish Ridge can reduce visibility significantly. The reward in clear conditions is a close encounter with rock towers of imposing scale and the wide views over the Loch and Sound of Raasay toward the mainland mountains. The Trotternish Peninsula as a whole is one of the most geologically extraordinary landscapes in Britain, the ongoing landslip processes having created a succession of dramatic features along the ridge from the Old Man in the south to the Quiraing in the north. The thirty-kilometre ridge walk connecting these features is one of the finest hill walks on Skye, combining continuous geological drama with exceptional views in both directions across the island and the surrounding sea. The Old Man of Storr appears frequently in film and television productions requiring a dramatic, otherworldly landscape, and its profile has become as recognisable internationally as any natural feature in Scotland.

Portree is the largest town on the Isle of Skye and its colourful harbour provides the most photographed view on the island: a row of painted houses in shades of pink, yellow, red and blue reflected in the sheltered waters of the bay, backed by wooded hillsides rising to the moorland above. The name Portree comes from the Scottish Gaelic Port Ruighe, meaning Royal Port, a reference to a visit by King James V in 1540 as part of his royal progress through the Western Isles to assert his authority over the clan chiefs of the region. The harbour developed as a fishing port and trading centre serving the scattered communities of Skye and the surrounding islands. Its sheltered position, formed by a natural bay in the coastline of the island's eastern shore, provided the kind of safe anchorage that was at a premium along the dramatically exposed western coast of Scotland. Fishing boats still work from the harbour, alongside the tour vessels that carry visitors to the dramatic sea stacks, seal colonies and wildlife-rich coastal areas visible from the water. Portree serves as the natural base for exploring Skye and its position roughly central on the island makes most of the major landscapes and attractions accessible as day excursions. The Old Man of Storr, the Quiraing, the Fairy Pools near Glenbrittle, the Cuillin mountains and the Trotternish ridge are all within an hour's drive, making Portree the ideal overnight base for a visit of two or three days. The town itself has a good range of independent shops, seafood restaurants and accommodation options ranging from luxury hotels to budget hostels. The Aros Centre provides visitor information and a cinema, and the town's weekly farmers market offers local produce including Skye seafood, venison and artisan foods. Bonnie Prince Charlie made his final farewell to Flora MacDonald in Portree in 1746 after his escape from government forces following the Battle of Culloden, a connection to the romantic Jacobite history of the Western Isles that adds another layer of historical significance to this already compelling town.

The Quiraing on the Isle of Skye is one of the most dramatic and otherworldly landscapes in Britain, a spectacular landslip terrain on the eastern escarpment of the Trotternish Ridge where the slow, continuing collapse of the ridge's basalt cap onto the softer sedimentary rocks below has created a landscape of towering pinnacles, hidden plateaus, sheer faces and grassy hollows that looks more like a film set for a fantasy epic than a real Scottish hillside. The name comes from the Norse for round fold or cattle fold, a reference to the hidden plateau where islanders are said to have concealed their cattle from Viking raiders. The landscape was created by the largest mass movement of rock in the British Isles. The basalt lavas of the Trotternish Ridge, laid down in the Paleocene epoch around 56 million years ago, overlie much softer Jurassic sedimentary rocks. As the softer rock erodes and slumps, the massive weight of the basalt cap causes it to crack and slide, creating the dramatic broken terrain visible today. The process continues at a geological pace, and some of the rockfalls within the Quiraing are geologically recent. The distinctive features of the Quiraing each have their own names and character. The Prison is a massive free-standing block of basalt that rises abruptly from the hillside. The Needle is a slender pinnacle of rock that punctuates the skyline dramatically. The Table is a remarkably flat grassy plateau, hidden behind a curtain of cliff, that was apparently used for shinty matches by local communities in previous centuries. Finding the Table, up a steep scramble from the main path, has the quality of a genuinely unexpected discovery. The walking route from the car park above Staffin passes along the base of the cliffs with views across the Sound of Raasay and the mainland mountains throughout. The full circuit, which loops over the ridge and returns along the escarpment, takes around two to three hours for fit walkers and provides an experience of this extraordinary landscape from multiple angles. The starting car park on the Staffin to Uig road can be busy in summer, and early morning visits are rewarded with better light and fewer crowds.