Scotland: Hiking in the North Highlands

Independent departures from your Home City for Inverness, Scotland.

We will meet you in Inverness and travel to the Royal Marine Hotel in Brora where we’ll stay one night.

Overnight: Royal Marine Hotel

Meals: D

The first walk of the trip will be in Dunbeath Strath along Dunbeath Water. The path runs along a gorge through fine woodland of lichenencrusted downy birches, rowans, and hazels, before reaching open ground. We will see many interesting sites along the way, including an old mill built in 1850/1860, the site of a monastery, an Iron Age broch, a deserted settlement from around 1800 and various chambered cairns. We will visit the Dunbeath Heritage Museum after the walk. 

On the way back to Inverness we’ll visit Dunrobin Castle, one of Britain’s oldest continuously inhabited houses dating back to the early 1300s, home to the Duke of Sutherland. The castle now has 189 rooms. The museum on the castle grounds has an important collection of archaeological relics. Notable among these are the Pictish symbols stones and cross-slabs.

Approximate hiking distance: 4.5 miles; Height climbed: 425ft.

Overnight: The Ambassador Hotel, Inverness

Meals: B, L, D

We’ll leave Inverness for a visit to Culloden where we’ll tour the battle field. On 16 April 1746, the final Jacobite Rising came to a brutal head in one of the most harrowing battles in British history. Jacobite supporters, seeking to restore the Stuart monarchy to the British thrones, gathered to fight the Duke of Cumberland’s government troops. It was the last pitched battle on British soil and, in less than an hour, around 1,600 men were slain – 1,500 of them Jacobites.

We then step even further back in times and visit the Clava Cairns. The three large cairns comprise part of Bronze Age cemeteries and
were built about 4,000 years ago, around 2,000 BC. We finish the day with a short walk up , just outside Inverness. On top of it is a Pictish fort occupied around 600AD. According to legend St Columba came here to meet the Pictish King Brude.

Approximate hiking distance: 4 miles; Height climbed: 250 ft.

Overnight: The Ambassador Hotel, Inverness

Meals: B, L, D

In the Victorian era Strathpeffer was popular as a spa resort, owing to the discovery of sulphurous springs in the 18th century. The pumproom in the middle of the village dates from 1819 and the Pavilion dates from 1880.

Our hike will take us up a ridge above the village with great views down to Strathpeffer and on a bright day to the Morray Firth. Along the way there is the Touchstone Maze of 81 stones, arranged in 5 concentric circles. It is based on the design of prehistoric labyrinths.
The stones are examples of the different types of rock that make up Scotland. They are aligned with the solstices and important pagan
festivals. On top of the ridge we’ll visit a vitrified fort.

Approximate hiking distance: 4.25 miles; Height climbed: 835 ft.

Overnight: The Ambassador Hotel, Inverness

Meals: B, L, D

We’ll drive to Glenmore in the heart of the Cairngorm mountains at 1,000 feet where we have two hiking options. One is a hill circuit up
Meall a’ Bhuachaille. The 2,657 feet high summit is a superb viewpoint, benefiting by being set slightly apart from the main Cairngorms. Cairn Gorm and its northern corries look particularly magnificent. There is also an easier lower level option, a circuit to An Lochan Uaine (the Green Lochan) and the Ryvoan Bothy. Whichever option we choose, we’ll finish at the Scottish Reindeer Centre. If we were lucky, we might have seen them already on the hills during our hike.

Approximate hiking distance: 5.25 miles; Height climbed: 1,780 ft. or 6.25 miles; height climed: 470 ft. 

Overnight: The Ambassador Hotel, Inverness

Meals: B, L, D

We’ll travel north-west to Lochinver. Our journey will take us across the north Highlands and along the scenic west coast route with spectacular mountain and coastal scenery. Suilven, the showpiece of Assynt dominates the landscape north of Ullapool. This is a hill of many shapes. From the south it is a long, drawn-out sugarloaf, with an obvious depression in the middle, from the east it can look like the Matterhorn, rising from its bedrock plinth of Lewisian Gneiss to a narrowing spire. From the north it forms a huge rounded bastion of
quartzite capped sandstone. There will be short walks along the way and since we will be in the North West Highlands UNESCO Global Geopark some of the walks in Assynt are geology themed, starting with the Knockan Crag interpretative geology trail on our way north.

Approximate hiking distance: 4.5 miles; Height climbed: 770 ft.

Overnight: Inver Lodge Hotel, Lochinver

Meals: B, L, D

We start the day at the ruins of Ardvreck Castle on the shores of Loch Assynt, dating from the 16th century, followed by a walk in Little Assynt, which is owned and managed by the community of Assynt. A very pleasant hike with great views of the Assynt mountains, lots of wild flowers and many remains of old settlements including farmsteads, shieling huts, a corn mill and field systems.

Approximate hiking distance: 3 miles; Height climbed: 495 ft.

Overnight: Inver Lodge Hotel, Lochinver

Meals: B, L, D

Handa Island is a short boat ride from the mainland. More than 100,000 seabirds breed on the island, including puffins. Its last 64 human residents were forced to leave the island for Nova Scotia following the potato famine in 1847. The walk on the island takes us past the remains of the village and old burial ground. Back on the mainland, a short but rough coastal walk runs out onto Scourie Headland with superb sea views, particularly from the cairns near the point.

Approximate hiking distance: 6 miles; Height climbed: 610 ft.

Overnight: Inver Lodge Hotel, Lochinver

Meals: B, L, D

On your last day, do a rough walk to the Old Man of Stoer, a spectacular sea-stack. The return walk is across the moor and a low hill with fantastic views in clear weather up the Sutherland coast backed by the mountain Foinaven and inland the mountains of Assynt -- Quinag, Canisp, Suilven, Cul Mor, Cul Beag and Stac Pollaidh. On your way back, stop at Clachtoll for a short walk to the beach and the remains of Clachtoll Broch.

Approximate hiking distance: 6.5 miles; Height climbed: 1,300 ft.

Overnight: Inver Lodge Hotel, Lochinver

Meals: B, L, D

Drive back to Inverness and transfer to the airport for independent return flights.

Meals: B