Lochinver

In Assynt

Set in the heart of Scotland’s first and only European Geopark, this popular and picturesque west coast village in the Parish of Assynt, with a long and rich cultural history, is a beautiful and unspoilt, yet highly active village. Nestling below the well known mountains of Quinag, Canisp and Suilven, with the Rivers Inver and Culag flowing in at each end of the bay, Lochinver is home to a busy modern harbour, the second busiest in Scotland with its visiting European and Icelandic fishing vessels, as well as its small local fleet of prawn (langoustine) fishing boats.

This Sutherland village is a mecca for tourists with its scenery, many shops, accommodations and eating out establishments drawing people to the west where they are assured a warm and genuine welcome coupled with locally sourced food.

Entering through the main street which runs the length of the village, you find a striking War memorial on the shore side, and further along the commanding Church of Scotland which was, by local endeavour, dismantled in Nairn and brought by sea to its current home, and rebuilt, stone by stone, around 1904. At the harbour end is another equally imposing building in the Culag Hotel with its high turrets, built originally in 1873 as a shooting lodge, on the site of a herring station, from which Lochinver grew.

Crossing the bay, the views of the Main Street and harbour with the panorama of the surrounding mountains is easily equalled to some of the best views in Scotland.

The surrounding areas have the beautiful and popular white shell sand beaches of Achmelvich and Clachtoll, famous the world over for their colour, their vastness and their purity. Clachtoll is where the Reverend Norman Macleod was born on 29th September 1780, and died in Waipu, New Zealand on 14th March 1866. He led his people over 14,000 miles of ocean first to Nova Scotia, then Australia and finally to New Zealand. See www.waipumuseum.com

On to Stoer beach with its Broch, leading to Stoer peninsula with Stoer Head Lighthouse protruding out into the Minch, the route to the famous 200-foot rocky pinnacle of The Old Man of Stoer, a magnet to walkers, climbers and bird watchers alike.

Take the drive north encompassing the village of Drumbeg through gloriously wild scenery and on by the coast to Kylesku and its famous and scenic Bridge, built to replace the small car ferry in the year 1984, opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, which led to new opportunities for better roads as you drive from west to north through some of the most spectacular scenery in the British Isles.

The area is steeped in history, with the ruins of the ancient local Macleod Clan stronghold Ardvreck Castle, as well as the ruins of the Mackenzie Clan stronghold Calda House situated within sight of each other on the shores of Loch Assynt.

Then there is the ancient Church and Cemetery at Inchnadamph, the centre of Assynt, and a little further on, the paths to the prehistoric Bone Caves.

With numerous signs of old settlements and Cairns and Mills, the many well-marked walks always hold your interest. The area is covered in Lochs, indeed said to have more water than land, and so popular with anglers. It abounds with wild life of all kinds, from the occasional dolphin through to the very plentiful red deer, and numerous species of bird life.