750 SECRETS OF SCOTLAND’S WILD SIDE
IT is one of Europe’s last true wildernesses – a daunting yet magical landscape of hidden waterfalls, plunge pools, intimate glens, lost ruins and secluded beaches.
And by taking the road less travelled, a new guidebook aims to confound the ‘shortbread tin’ image of the Highlands and Islands and shine a light on hidden gems rarely visited by tourists.
The Wild Guide to Scotland lists more than 750 secret places where, it claims, it is still possible for anyone to leave behind the digital age and immerse themselves in this area of outstanding natural beauty.
The authors camped, climbed, walked, swam and ate their way from the Hebrides to Angus and Perthshire to the Northern Isles to compile the ultimate compendium of wild camping, wild swimming and wild adventure. Here, the Scottish Daily Mail joins up for a walk on the wild side:
WILD CAMPING AND DISTANT BOTHIES
THANKS to Scotland’s enlightened ‘right to roam’ laws, wild camping is perfectly legal on most of its unenclosed land.
A trek with a backpack is often required to reach the best sites, but trading in the relative comforts of an organised campsite is rewarded by waking up next to some of our loveliest beaches, lochs and mountains and breathing in that uplifting sense of remoteness. Often there will be not a soul to share the shifting light of a sunrise above the dunes of remote Sandwood Bay, in north-west Sutherland, or the glowing embers of sundown reflected in the glassy waters of Loch Beinn a’ Mheadhoin, in Glen Affric, Inverness-shire.
Lengthy walk-ins can be avoided if you know where to look – Glencoe’s Lost Valley, or Coire Gabhail, is only a few miles from the A82, but this secret glen, which gave refuge to the survivors of the famous 1692 massacre, can still offer sanctuary from the hurly-burly of the rat race.
Vatersay Bay, in the Outer Hebrides offers stunning island isolation with ‘white sand beaches, turquoise waters and machair grasses ablaze with colourful wildflowers’, or try the vertiginous Quiraing, on the Isle of Skye, and bed down under a rocky peak resembling a medieval keep, known as The Prison.
Should the weather turn nasty, the Highlands’ scattering of bothies offer more shelter. Corrour bothy is a cosy oneroom outpost at the wildest heart of the Cairngorms, below the famous Devil’s Point, while few spots can rival the views from Camasunary bothy on a small beach on Skye’s Strathaird peninsula, backed by the dramatic Cuillins.
LUXURY HIDEAWAYS AND COSY LODGES
GOING wild in the country need not imply nights under wet canvas or on the hard stone floor of a bothy. Beyond the glut of glamping yurts and wigwams, some offering wi-fi, there are out-of-the-way places that combine comfort with quirkiness.
The ultra-modern glass-and-wood Black Shed is an architect-designed self-catering lodge with stunning views across Loch Dunvegan on Skye’s north-western tip.
Tioram Cottage, overlooking ruined Castle Tioram from the shores of the Hebridean island of Eilean Shona, is steeped in history. JM Barrie leased the island in the 1920s and was inspired by its magical moss-covered glades to write a screenplay of Peter Pan there.
For a real flight of fancy, Gearrannan Blackhouse Village on Lewis’s rugged Atlantic coast gives a flavour of life in a traditional croft setting – with mod-cons added.
The former signal box at Corrour Station, on the edge of Rannoch Moor, offers quirky B&B rooms for trainspotters while Garden Cottage overlooking the former walled garden of Torrisdale Castle, in Argyll, boasts a woodburner and a hot tub.
The foodie haven of the Summer Isles Hotel is tucked 12 miles down a single track road in the ruggedly beautiful north-west Highlands, but its reputation as an ‘oasis of civilisation’ and luxury suggests it is worth every mile.
WATERFALLS, LOCHS AND WILD SWIMMING
WITH so much water washing around the Highlands and Island, the Wild Guide says, why not take the plunge?
Take a bracing early morning dip in a deep river pool, paddle beneath a cascading waterfall or drift across a still, freshwater loch fringed with ancient pine. Many of the best are west of the Great Glen, or close to it.
The churning 100ft Plodda Falls in Glen Affric, south west of Inverness, offer exhilaration, while magnificently desolate Loch Coruisk on Skye is often described as Britain’s wildest place, surrounded by the towering crags of the Cuillins.
Tranquil Glen Coe Lochan, a few miles from Glencoe Village, is bordered by giant sequoia and Douglas fir planted by Lord Strathcona in the 1890s for his homesick Canadian wife. North of Fort William, the twisting, crashing River Roy often widens to create incredible plunge pools and deep bowls perfect for swimming. In hot weather, they say the water temperature can be almost pleasant.
More unusual are the old steep-sided slate quarries on the beautiful car-free Inner Hebridean island of Easdale, now filled with Mediterranean-blue sea water like
old-fashioned lidos offering a more sheltered swim. The cathedral-like Spar Cave on the shore at Elgol, Skye, rewards the adventurous who brave the marble-like entrance staircase to reach the crystal clear Mermaid Pool, although torches and tide tables are a must.
As Britain’s deepest loch, 12-mile long Loch Morar, near Mallaig, offers a special kick to thrillseekers, who can only imagine what lurks beneath.
SECRET BEACHES
ALONG Scotland’s craggy coastline and tucked away on its myriad islands lie some of its hidden jewels, miles of pristine shimmering sands, totally unspoilt, often deserted.
The guide has its favourites, including Fidden beach on Mull, which on a sunny day could be mistaken for the Caribbean with its azure-green clear waters and truly breathtaking sunsets over Iona.
Achmelvich is among the northwest Highland’s most enticing beaches, a paradise of patches of white sands, nestled among the rocky bays of Assynt’s coastline.
Crabhadail and Huisinis beaches on Harris are a picture of seclusion, gazing over to the uninhabited isle of Scarp, while the birch-lined singing sands of Camas an Lighe, near Kentra in Ardnamurchan, were used for commando training in the Second World War.
Gruinard Bay, in Ross and Cromarty, with its limpid, aquamarine waters and rugged mountainous backdrop looks out dreamily over notorious Gruinard Bay, which was declared off-limits until recently after Second World War biological warfare tests with the deadly anthrax bacterium.
For some of Scotland’s highest dunes, head to Faraid Beach, near Durness, Sutherland, while Portmahomack Beach beside the Cromarty village offers hours of rock pool fun for children at low tide.
LOST RUINS AND ANCIENT CAVES
THE rugged inaccessibility of our mountains and glens that once provided natural protection against invading armies have also preserved many of the physical remains of Scottish history, from ruined fortresses and Pictish brochs to abandoned fishing and crofting communities.
The Wild Guide points travellers off the beaten track to lesserknown gems such as Smirisary Township, a once-thriving crofting community on the Ardnamurchan peninsular. Accessible only by foot, some of its charming cottages have been restored as holiday homes.
The shifting sands at Forvie nature reserve, north of Aberdeen, reveal the lost ruins of a church, all that remains of a buried village.
The 330 surviving Whaligoe stone steps, near Wick in Caithness, were used by fishwives to carry the catch up the 200ft cliffs surrounding Whaligoe Haven.
Caves, too, provide a rich legend. Fingal’s Cave on Staffa is universally famous, but how many have heard of Bones Cave? Named after the staggering number of animal bones discovered in a limestone cave near Inchnadamph, Assynt, over a century ago; northern lynx, Arctic fox, brown bear and even polar bear have been excavated.
Mackinnon’s Cave, on Mull, is reputedly the deepest in the Hebrides at 450ft and steeped in myth. Legend tells of a piper who entered a piping competition with the cave fairies and entered with his dog. Only the dog emerged, hours later, terrified and without a hair on his body. Bring a torch.
SLOW FOOD
DRAMATIC Highland landscapes may provide a feast for the eyes, but aside from explorers who hope to survive on sea lichen and hedgerow herbs, the guide notes a growing ‘slow food’ movement supplying locally-sourced home-cooked produce often with a novel twist.
Croft 36 on Harris, in the Outer Hebrides, has a self-service shop with an ‘honesty box’ but also delivers meals, like wild rabbit in a wine sauce and seafood thermidor, to holiday homes and campsites.
The Creel Seafood Bar, beside Fionnphort ferry terminal on Mull, blurs the lines between fast and slow food with delicious locallycaught fried seafood.
Tiny Café Canna’s daily specials are lapped up by mainlanders who regularly journey 30 miles to the island just to eat there.
Jann’s Cakes, in Dunvegan, Skye, only has two tables but customers happily take away the organic baking to munch on a nearby beach. Barra Airport café is about as far as you can get from typical airport fodder with great home cooking to be enjoyed overlooking the famous beach runway.
Those who are happy to rough it by night but still want to push the culinary boat out might consider award-winning Inver restaurant on Loch Fyne, Argyllshire, with its contemporary take on forgotten Scottish dishes and foraged ingredients. With wild camping on the doorstep and fine local food on a plate, it seems the perfect mix.