Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Where to go
FACT FILE
Covering over 15,000 square
miles, the Highlands and
Islands house less than
360,000 inhabitants - a
population density of
10 people per square mile,
compared to Scotland's
average of 166.
In late 2013, the laird of the
Alladale estate vowed to bring
wolves , and possibly a dozen
bears , to a 50,000-acre
enclosure. If reintroduced,
such apex predators could
help control deer numbers,
so protect woodland, the
argument goes.
The coastline of the
Highlands and Islands region
is nearly 7000 miles long, and
Scotland has approximately
790 islands , 130 of which
are inhabited.
Almost half of the 130,000
tonnes of salmon farmed
in the region annually is
exported, mainly to Europe.
George Orwell holed up
on Jura to write his dystopian
futuristic novel, 1984 . He
called it “an extremely
ungetatable place” - perhaps
why art-rock band KLF chose
the island as the location to
burn £1 million as an artistic
statement in 1994.
Never mind Nessie, midges
are the real monsters of
the Highlands. The tiny
blood-suckers bite hardest
from mid-May to August in
calm cloudy conditions, and
especially at dawn and dusk.
There's even a Midge Forecast:
W midgeforecast.co.uk.
There's a golden rule to Highlands and Islands
travel - don't try to rush. It makes no difference
whether you go by public or private transport,
getting around here is time-consuming: distances
on land are greater than elsewhere in Britain
(and there are no motorways), while visiting the
islands demands coordination with ferry or plane
timetables - and that's assuming the weather
doesn't affect your plans. Relax the pace, however,
and the journeys themselves - the spectacular
train trips, the flights that scud over tiny islands,
the sailings on inter-island ferries or the winding
drives along scenic roads - are often as memorable
as the destinations themselves. This is slow travel
at its best.
The most accessible parts of the region are not far
from Glasgow and Edinburgh : you can be by the
banks of Loch Lomond in half an hour, or
Highland Perthshire in a little over an hour. As a
result, Loch Lomond, and the hills and wooded
glens of the Trossachs tend to be busier than other
parts of the Highlands, and while the tourist
infrastructure here is hardly theme-park standard,
to escape the day-trippers you need to head further
north into Perthshire and the Grampian hills of
Angus and Deeside where the Highland scenery
is at its richest. South of Inverness the mighty
Cairngorm massif hints at the raw wilderness
Scotland still provides. To reach the lonely north
and western Highlands, you'll have to cross the
Great Glen , an ancient geological fissure that cuts
across the country from Ben Nevis to Loch Ness ,
a moody stretch of water where tourists still hope
to glimpse its resident monster. Yet the area with
arguably the most memorable scenery of all is the jagged west coast, stretching from
Argyll north to Wester Ross and the hills of Assynt . Here you'll find a beautiful
coastline that feels ever wilder, ever more remote, the further north you go, not least
around spectacular dome-shaped mountains such as Suilven. The north coast of
Sutherland is less visited but lonelier still, with beautiful beaches and an exhilarating
sense of being at the edge of the world.
OPPOSITE FROM TOP PIPERS IN TRADITIONAL DRESS; SKYE
 
 
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