Scenic Point in Inverness-shire

Cape Wrath is the most northwesterly point of mainland Britain, a dramatic promontory of Lewisian gneiss 100 metres above the Atlantic in the far northwest corner of Sutherland whose combination of the extreme remoteness, the great sea cliffs of Clo Mor immediately to the east and the extraordinary quality of the light and landscape create one of the most powerful and most sought-after extremity destinations available on the British mainland. The cape is accessible only by the Cape Wrath ferry across the Kyle of Durness and a minibus service across the military range that occupies much of the Parph, the remote peninsula on which the cape sits. The sea cliffs of Clo Mor immediately east of the lighthouse are the highest sea cliffs on the British mainland, rising approximately 281 metres from the sea in a sheer face that supports one of the largest seabird colonies on the Scottish north coast. Puffins, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars and kittiwakes nest in enormous numbers on the cliff ledges, and the combination of the scale of the cliffs, the bird numbers and the complete remoteness of the site creates a wildlife experience unlike anything available at more accessible Scottish seabird colonies. The lighthouse at the cape, built in 1828 by Robert Stevenson, is one of the most remote staffed lighthouses on the Scottish coast and the road from the ferry provides a traverse of the Parph that passes through one of the most remote and least visited landscapes on the British mainland, the bogland and gneiss moorland of the far northwest providing an experience of primordial emptiness that rewards the considerable effort of getting there.

The Old Man of Storr is the most distinctive and most celebrated rocky pinnacle on the Isle of Skye, a 50-metre column of basalt standing on the Trotternish escarpment above Portree whose unusual profile, created by a massive ancient landslide that left the pinnacle and its companions isolated on the hillside below the main cliff face, has made it one of the iconic images of the Hebrides and one of the most visited natural features in Scotland. The walk from the car park below to the pinnacles takes approximately one hour and provides increasingly dramatic views of the stack and the surrounding Trotternish landscape. The geological history of the Old Man of Storr explains its unusual isolated position. The Trotternish escarpment is the largest landslide complex in Britain, created when the heavy basalt rock that caps the peninsula slid westward over the softer underlying sedimentary rocks in a series of catastrophic slips that have created the extraordinary landscape of isolated pinnacles, tilted blocks and jumbled rock scenery visible across the northern section of the Trotternish ridge. The Old Man and its companions are the most impressive and most photographed remnants of this process. The views from the vicinity of the Old Man encompass Portree Harbour and the Portree Bay below, the Sound of Raasay and the island of Raasay itself, the mainland Hills of Torridon visible across the Minch and the Cuillin ridgeline to the south, a panorama that captures the full extent of the extraordinary Skye landscape from a single vantage point.

The Quiraing is the finest section of the Trotternish landslide landscape on the northern Isle of Skye, a complex of tilted rock pinnacles, grassy terraces and dramatic basalt cliffs created by the same geological instability that produced the Old Man of Storr further south, but at the Quiraing reaching a scale and complexity of landscape quite unlike anything else available in Britain. The combination of the Table, a great flat-topped grassy platform visible from the road below, the Needle pinnacle, the Prison and the extraordinary views from the ridge walk above creates one of the most remarkable and most otherworldly landscape experiences in the Hebrides. The landslide that created the Quiraing is still active, the instability of the Jurassic rocks beneath the basalt cap allowing continued movement that has disrupted the road across the ridge at this point on multiple occasions. The road from Staffin to Uig that crosses the ridge provides a dramatic view of the Quiraing landscape and the starting point for the walks into the interior of the landslide complex. The walk from the car park on the ridge road into the Quiraing provides access to the most dramatic features, the path threading between the tilted rock masses and ascending to the Table with its surprising hidden grassland enclosed between the pinnacles above. The views from the ridge above the Quiraing across the Sound of Raasay to the mainland and north across the Minch toward the Outer Hebrides represent some of the finest coastal mountain panoramas available in Scotland.

Suilven in the Assynt region of northwest Sutherland is one of the most distinctive mountains in Scotland, a great sandstone tower rising from the Lewisian gneiss moorland in a profile of extraordinary individuality unlike any other mountain in Britain. Its silhouette of a flat-topped ridge with steep conical peaks at each end, visible from a wide area of Assynt and from the sea offshore, has made it one of the iconic images of the Scottish Highlands. The geology of Suilven reflects the extraordinary ancient landscape of northwest Sutherland, where Torridonian sandstone deposited approximately 800 million years ago sits on Lewisian gneiss three billion years old, among the oldest exposed rock on Earth. The ascent requires a walk of approximately five miles across trackless Assynt moorland before the mountain itself is reached, a commitment that contributes to the wild and remote character of the experience. The landscape of Assynt visible from the summit, with its hundreds of lochans reflecting the sky across the gneiss moorland and the Atlantic visible to the west, is one of the most extraordinary in Scotland. The combination of the geological antiquity, the mountain drama and the profound remoteness makes Suilven an experience unlike any other available in the British Isles.

The Torridon Mountains in the northwest Highlands are one of the most magnificent and most ancient mountain landscapes on Earth, a group of isolated peaks formed from Torridonian sandstone approximately 800 million years old rising from Lewisian gneiss that is the oldest exposed rock surface in Europe at approximately three billion years of age. Beinn Eighe, Liathach, Beinn Alligin and the surrounding peaks provide mountain walking of exceptional quality in a landscape of primordial grandeur unavailable elsewhere in the British Isles. Liathach, the grey one, is the most imposing peak, its great buttresses of Torridonian sandstone rising from the valley floor in continuous cliff faces to the summit ridge at 1,054 metres. The Traverse of Liathach is one of the finest mountain expeditions in Scotland, its combination of sustained exposure, demanding terrain and extraordinary views providing an experience that ranks with the best mountain walking available in Britain. The Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve, the first national nature reserve declared in Britain in 1951, provides interpretation of the geological antiquity of the landscape. The mountain trail from Kinlochewe ascends through four billion years of Earth history from valley floor to summit. The combination of the ancient geology, the mountain drama and the profound remoteness of Torridon creates an experience unlike any other in the British hills.