Focus on Scotland - The Wild West Coast

The further you venture north, on the west coast of Scotland, the more spectacular the scenery becomes. If you’re considering buying a holiday home or a permanent park home in this wonderful region, you’ll be wanting some ideas about how to make the most of your leisure time here. We’ve found plenty.

Days out are spread out before you, from discovering magnificent, dramatic scenery and hill walk challenges to much more sedate rambles and wonderful roads to drive, taking you to amazing views, magical oakwoods and tiny white sand beaches – places to visit again and again in this region that’s rich in history and wildlife.

Our expedition of discovery started at the Corran Ferry, one of the few remaining mainland ferries. The ferry crosses Loch Linnhe, nine miles south of Fort William at the Corran Narrows. The ferry route provides the most direct route to Ardgour, Morvern, Sunart, Moidart and Ardnamurchan, ancient districts in the far west, which – although attached to mainland Scotland – feel more remote and less populated than many of the Hebridean islands.

It’s a swift crossing. We make for the Ardgour jetty, to meet friends for a hill walk.

After a couple of hours of puffing up a fairly precipitous slope of grass and rock we arrive at the trig point on Sgurr na h-Eanchainne, which is an incredible viewpoint. Loch Linnhe stretches away to north and south, while serried ranks of mountain peaks recede into the distance on the other side. Below us, a flat green triangle of land protrudes into the loch with the Corran Narrows at its tip.

This, however, isn’t the highest point. We continue over gently undulating ground to Druim na Sgriodain, the top of the hill.

Loch Linnhe

Back at the bottom we enjoy a buffet at The Inn at Ardgour, which originated as a hostelry for drovers who brought their cattle this way to swim them over the narrows. This one walk demonstrates the brilliance of this area for anyone keen on walking. And there’s more. Much more, for exploring on foot and by car.

The next day we meander south down Loch Linnhe. The single-track B8043 runs through pretty scenery where green pastures and groves of trees are strung along the shore with  ochre-coloured hills rising inland.

We discover why the road has a 7.5-tonne weight limit when the hills thrust towards the loch. Suddenly we are driving along a narrow strip with only a low stone wall between us and a precipitous drop to the sea.

Loch Sunart

We turn north for Loch Sunart. This sheltered sea loch winds deep inland and is bounded by Atlantic oakwoods, a rich place for wildlife.

We drive around the head of the loch to Strontian, a little village established in 1724 to house workers in lead mines that once employed 600 men. In 1790 a new element was discovered in rocks mined here and named Strontium after the village.

We spend the afternoon between the village and the disused mines in the woods of Ariundle, a National Nature Reserve. The oak trees were a valuable resource as pit props and to make charcoal for smelting lead, so they were regularly coppiced to encourage new stems. This was last done in 1850, so they are now all of a similar age.

We follow the three-mile waymarked Ariundle Trail beside the Strontian River, where boulders and gravel are stained brownish-red by the peaty water. Then, rather than returning along the main track, we take the Woodland Walk, a narrow path that climbs into the oakwood. 

This is a magical place with every tree and boulder covered in moss and lichens. The damp substrate they provide allows ferns to sprout from trunks and branches.

We continue west on the A861, which runs from the Corran Ferry in a big loop around Ardgour, Sunart and Moidart. The next section of single track bobs and weaves along the rocky loch shore with woodland reducing visibility.

We pass the Forestry Commission car park for the walk to Garbh Eilean wildlife hide, which overlooks a rocky island in Loch Sunart. We’ve been there before and seen seals, ducks and a heronry, but not the hoped-for otter.

Eigg and Rum

Native woodland rich in flora and fauna surrounds the burn and rough grazing extends upwards towards the summit of Beinn Resipol. This hill is renowned as offering one of the finest views in Scotland and is our target for tomorrow. 

Our walk starts at Resipol and initially follows a path beside the burn. Higher up we tramp across boggy moorland and then climb steeply up a rocky little valley. The scenery is magnificent. Fingers of blue water thrust inland between ridges of tawny hills while out at sea castellated islands float in a silvery haze. Eigg shows its classic profile, while Rum rears up behind, its peaks looking formidable. The clear light gives us a vivid, picture-postcard view of the coast.

Our onward route turns north at Salen and we drive past pool-dimpled marshland, through Acharacle and over the bridge at the foot of Loch Shiel – scenery of which we had a bird’s-eye view from Beinn Resipol.

Loch Moidart

A little road leads to Castle Tioram, a romantic ruin on a tidal island. The tide is high, which means we can’t walk across, so we drive on over a low pass, to Loch Moidart.

Here we see the remains of the Seven Men of Moidart, a line of beech trees planted, about 100 years after the event, in memory of the seven companions who landed with Bonnie Prince Charlie at Loch nan Uamh on 25 July 1745.

Sound of Arisaig

Another little pass, the Bealach Carach, lifts us up and over into Glen Uig, which leads down to the hamlet of Glenuig on the shore of a more open stretch of water. This is the Sound of Arisaig which divides around the Ardnish Peninsula into Lochailort and Loch nan Uamh.

Along the shore from Glenuig, little islets guard white sand beaches and vivid green salt marshes and provide sheltered moorings for yachts.

Glenfinnan

Our route now takes us to Loch Ailort, then eastwards to Glenfinnan at the head of Loch Shiel. The much-photographed Glenfinnan Viaduct is barely visible in the mist and it’s too wet to contemplate the climb to the top of the Glenfinnan Monument – a columnar stone tower erected in 1815 to mark the spot where Bonnie Prince Charlie came to rally support after travelling around the coast. Hundreds of clansmen trooped to meet him and so began his challenge for the throne and the start of the second Jacobite rebellion, which ended at Culloden.

Fort William

We drive on east and stop in Fort William to enjoy coffee and cake. We stroll along the waterfront.

In our days of exploring the west coast we had discovered brilliant hill walks and easier rambles around magnificent scenery, rich in history and wildlife in a region that we can strongly recommend.