Loch Long
Loch Long is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland, cutting deep into the Highland landscape in a narrow, dramatic fjord-like channel. The loch at these coordinates lies in the region of Wester Ross, in the northwest Highlands, and should not be confused with the more southerly and better-known Loch Long in Argyll and Bute near the Firth of Clyde. The Wester Ross Loch Long is a smaller, more intimate body of water, stretching roughly five kilometres in length, and it drains eastward into Loch Duich near the village of Inverinate. It sits at the heart of an extraordinarily scenic area, surrounded by peaks of the Five Sisters of Kintail to the south and the rugged ridgelines of the Affric-Kintail Way to the north. Its relative seclusion and the grandeur of its mountain backdrop make it a quietly remarkable place, less visited than some of its famous neighbours yet no less spectacular.
The history of the area around Loch Long is deeply entwined with the Clan Mackenzie and later the Clan Macrae, who held much of the land in Kintail for centuries. The broader Kintail district has associations going back to early medieval times, when the region formed part of the Lordship of the Isles and was contested between Norse-Gaelic chieftains and the emerging power of the Scottish crown. Legends and traditions of the Gaelic-speaking Highlanders pervade the glen; the Five Sisters themselves are the subject of a well-known local legend in which the daughters of a local farmer were turned to stone while waiting for their husbands to return from Ireland. The glen through which Loch Long runs — Gleann Lichd and the approaches from Morvich — was once a drove road along which cattle were moved between the western seaboard and the markets of the south.
Physically, Loch Long in Wester Ross is a narrow, finger-shaped loch hemmed in on both sides by steep, heathery hillsides that plunge almost directly into the water. The surface of the loch is often extraordinarily still in the mornings, offering perfect reflections of the ridges and cloud-threaded summits above. The water is dark and peaty, typical of Highland lochs fed by upland streams crossing acidic moorland. On calm autumn days the loch can appear almost black, contrasting vividly with the gold and rust of dying bracken and the grey-green of the higher slopes. The only sounds in most weather are the wind in the rushes at the loch's margins, the occasional cry of a red-throated diver, and the distant rush of burns tumbling off the hillsides.
The surrounding landscape is among the most celebrated in all of Scotland. Loch Duich, into which Loch Long drains, is visible to the southeast and is itself overlooked by the iconic Eilean Donan Castle, one of the most photographed buildings in the country, situated just a few kilometres away at the confluence of Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh. The Five Sisters of Kintail ridge rises immediately to the south — a long, dramatically serrated skyline of Munros including Sgùrr Fhuaran, the highest of the group at 1,068 metres. The National Trust for Scotland owns much of this terrain as part of the Kintail and Morvich estate, which protects the landscape and provides walking infrastructure for visitors. The village of Morvich sits at the foot of the glen and serves as the main access point for hillwalkers heading into the Five Sisters.
Visitors approaching Loch Long do so most easily from the A87, the main road connecting Invergarry and Kyle of Lochalsh, which runs along the northern shore of Loch Duich. Turning south from Inverinate or approaching via Morvich gives access to the glen. The National Trust for Scotland maintains a visitor centre and campsite at Morvich which serves as an excellent base. There is no public road running the full length of the glen beside the loch itself; the terrain beyond Morvich is explored on foot. The area is well served by long-distance walking routes including the Affric-Kintail Way. The nearest town with significant services is Kyle of Lochalsh, roughly twelve kilometres to the west, and Shiel Bridge to the east offers a small cluster of facilities. The best times to visit are late spring through early autumn, when the passes are accessible and the daylight hours long, though winter brings a stark, austere grandeur to the glen that serious hillwalkers prize.
One of the more fascinating aspects of this corner of Scotland is the Battle of Glen Shiel, fought in 1719 just a short distance from the head of Loch Long, in which a Jacobite rising supported by Spanish troops was defeated by Hanoverian government forces. The remnants of that episode — including a hillside still known as Beinn Sgritheall, and the Spanish Steps near the battlefield — linger in the local memory and on the landscape. The glen also sits at the edge of one of the last remaining strongholds of Gaelic culture in Scotland, and the place names throughout the area, rendered in their original form on modern maps, carry an entire cosmology of landscape description in a language that has been spoken here for over a thousand years. For a traveller with patience and a sensitivity to place, Loch Long in Wester Ross rewards deeply.