Wild Wild Wester Ross

Wester Ross is probably best known for the Applecross peninsula and Bealach Na Bà road – usually the start or end point for travellers on the North Coast 500, depending which direction they’re travelling in. Or perhaps the Torridon mountains, which rise dramatically out of the rocky and remote country west of Kinlochewe. We recently ventured a little further north and spent a week exploring the wild and windswept headlands around Gairloch and Poolewe, which are just as beautiful, but a little less frequented than the hotspots further to the south. We had a jam packed week and managed to squeeze in a lot – mostly low level walks, as the weather was typically Scottish with a mix of sunshine and showers (mainly showers), but that’s just a good excuse to go back again in the future to get some mountain weather days.

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Rubha Reidh Lighthouse and Cliffs

We were staying in the tiny hamlet of Melvaig, a collection of houses scattered along the coast with breathtaking views over the sea. After a twelve hour journey up from North Yorkshire, we decided on our first day to walk down to the lighthouse at the end of the road – a welcome break from the car after the day before. There were countless entries in the visitor book in the cottage reciting long lists of wildlife spotted from the lighthouse: sea otters, minke whales, dolphins, seals, sea eagles, and even the occasional basking shark.

The route we followed was a linear walk from our Pocket Mountains guide to Wester Ross, although there’s a similar route on Walkhighlands. The walk basically follows a quiet minor road along the coast to its end at the lighthouse: you can make the walk longer or shorter depending on where you park, with a small parking area in Melvaig and consequent spaces for up to two cars along the road, with another slightly larger parking area by the lighthouse itself. The walk down to the lighthouse is very easy to navigate (you’re just following the road all the way), and is on a metalled surface with no prolonged steep ascents or descents.

We stopped on the rocks by the lighthouse to eat some lunch and admire the view – if you head around the corner past the jetty, there is a cracking vista of the Assynt peaks including Suilven, Quinag and Stac Pollaidh. We sadly didn’t spot any wildlife but we did enjoy soaking up the view. From here, you can either turn around and retrace your steps, or pick up the faint grassy path which runs along the cliffs to continue on towards the beach at Camas Mor. If you choose to continue, make sure to take the path well away from the cliff edge rather than being lured towards the edge by a sheep trod! It’s not long before the views get even better, with dramatic rock formations and stacks visible off the coast. At this point the path got a little narrower and rougher, and we still had to walk all the way back to the cottage, so we decided this was the point to turn around and retrace our steps – if you continue on a fair bit further, you can eventually make your way down to the beach.

Dog friendly rating – 3/5. Much of this walk is along a (very quiet) road with the continuation following the edge of a cliff, so leads will be required for most of the walk. It is however a very quiet walk with no stiles, and can be made as long or as short as you want to suit your dog’s age/level of fitness.

Beinn Eighe Mountain Trail

The mountains around Torridon and Kinlochewe were where we’d really wanted to explore this trip, but alas, the weather for most of the week was not the sort of weather you’d want to be hauling yourself up a mountain in. However, we did get a few mostly dry days, one of which we spent hiking the absolutely stunning Mountain Trail at Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve. Supposedly the only way marked mountain trail in Britain, the route offers a constantly evolving parade of mountain views which made it by far my favourite walk of the trip.

The route is roughly way marked with the odd cairn here and there, but we downloaded the four mile route and GPX file from Walkhighlands which made navigation much easier. I have to admit I was a little anxious about the amount of scrambling we might need to do after our scramble up Eagle Crag in the Lakes a few weeks ago: the Walkhighlands descriptions says ‘by any standards it’s a rough, steep ascent’. Further fuel was added to my anxiety fire by a walk report from a user who stated ‘walking on the quartzite when it’s wet is like walking on sheet ice’ – I was under no illusions that we’d be doing the walk totally in the dry! In the end though, my worries were totally unfounded, and the trail is easily manageable – there are a few places where hand grabbing or bum shuffling might be required, but any hiker familiar with the high fells of the Lake District and equipped with a sturdy pair of boots shouldn’t encounter any difficultly at all.

Dog friendly rating – 4/5. Fit dogs will absolutely love this adventure through some of the most scenic Scottish countryside (although they might not appreciate the views as much as their owners). For much of this walk we encountered no livestock, so we were able to have Coal off the lead most of the way around, but keep your eyes peeled for sheep and deer as you make your way around the trail. The main concern to watch out for is the return along the top of a gorge at the end of the walk – best to be careful here and put leads on. Our dogs loved the woods at the start and end of this walk – there’s said to have been a forest here for at least eight thousand years, and the mix of leaves, water and heather was a doggy feast for the senses. There’s a few different places along the route where dogs can stop for a drink too.

Mellon Udrigle

No trip to the Scottish Highlands is complete without a trip (or two or three) to the beach: we visited a few on this trip, but Mellon Udrigle stood out as the most charming (despite the drizzle which was seeping through our clothes during our visit and which somewhat obscured the view). Despite the weather, we could still appreciate the mountain backdrop and turquoise waters of this beautiful little beach. Walkhighlands has a four kilometre circular route from here, but we decided just to have a stroll up and down the beach to let the dogs burn off some steam – it doesn’t all have to be hiking from start to finish. This was definitely one of the more popular stops of the trip, with the car park nearly full when we arrived (we nabbed the last space, phew!). Most people were having a gentle walk like us, but there were a few brave souls out kayaking in the bay.

Dog friendly rating – 4/5. This beach is dog friendly all year round – just watch out for sheep who may be grazing on the shoreline (although they were well away during our trip here, when we stopped at Red Point beach there were cows on the beach itself – safe to say I made a beeline for the opposite end of the beach!). Both of our dogs had a dip in the water – I thought Merry was setting off to Skye at one point – and were happily exhausted by the time we put them back in the car. The weather was definitely starting to turn by this point and I was very glad of the drying robes (or dressing gowns as I like to think of them) that we’d been gifted by Ruff and Tumble – you can use our code Coal15 to save when ordering from their website (it even works on sale items!).

Gairloch and Flowerdale

We always like to try and visit places close to where we’re staying rather than spending a week doing a lot of long drives. We therefore combined two of the walks from our Pocket Mountains guide which both started in Gairloch to make a circular walk of around five miles, instead of two separate shorter walks – half of the route is detailed on Walkhighlands, and this is easily extended to take in the beach and sea front of Gairloch, where you can also get on a wildlife cruise should you wish to (there are a number of companies offering wildlife tours, including a glass bottomed boat).

The walk down to the waterfalls in Flowerdale is generally well way marked and uses good tracks, although once past the upper falls it does become slippery and uneven in places, before dropping back down to good forest tracks. Flowerdale is so called due to the abundance of wild flowers found here in spring – sadly, visiting in September, we missed this display. Once in Gairloch, the way to the beach is sign posted, and (as long as you can see through the threatening rain cloud) there are good views down over the town. At the end of of our walk we stopped off at Links Cafe at the golf club for fish and chips – the food was good and they were also extremely dog friendly, even to sandy, soggy dogs who had just been running on the beach!

Dog friendly rating – 4/5. The forested sections are fantastic for letting dogs have a run off lead and offer the opportunity to get in the river in places, but caution is needed along edges near the falls and around a rifle range which you pass on your return. A brief walk along the road in Gairloch rewards you with an easy amble along the beach, which is dog friendly year road.

Inverewe Gardens

Being totally honest, I am not a massive fan of visiting gardens, being mildly traumatised still after the rip off that was the Eden Project during our trip to Cornwall. However I do concede that there is the odd hidden gem here and there, such as the Lost Gardens of Heligan and the National Botanic Garden of Wales. Inverewe falls into this category without a doubt: I’d never even heard of it, but flicking through the visitor book when we arrived at the cottage, it was recommended more than any other place. Run by the National Trust for Scotland, Inverewe Gardens are a wonderful experience, and I have to admit to being completely bedazzled by the stunning variety of plants growing here on the craggy north west coast of Scotland – it was mind boggling.

You have to pay to get in to Inverewe, but National Trust members can use their membership cards to get free entry to National Trust for Scotland sites (woohoo). There is so much to see here and we spent about two and a half hours meandering around the site, making sure we got a look at everything – as well as your bog standard arboretum and rock gardens, there is a jetty (where you can pre-book wildlife cruises) and high viewing point where, we were told on arrival, three sea eagles had been spotted the day before. Sadly, they weren’t there when we got up there, but we did still admire the view over the coast and spotted several herons (not quite the same, but never mind). Despite the car park being fairly busy when we arrived, at no point did Inverewe feel crowded or busy – we mostly had whichever area we were in to ourselves.

Dog friendly rating – 4/5. Until as recently as a year ago, Inverewe didn’t allow dogs, and I am so glad they changed this rule and we were able to visit! I’ve just knocked off a point as there is a limit of one dog per person, so if you’ve got three dogs between two people, you wouldn’t be able to bring them. It’s totally understandable but may present issues for some owners as it takes a bit of looking on their website to find this rule! Happily this wasn’t a problem for us as we had one dog each. Dogs need to be on a short fixed lead rather than a flexi lead – I believe you may be able to swap your flexi lead at reception if you don’t have a short one. A final point worth noting is that the Inverewe Estate stretches beyond the gardens and actually has a few way marked trails – we didn’t have time to try these, but I expect these are a great option for dog owners looking for a longer stop.

Shieldaig Peninsula

Plan A for the day was to drive down to the area around Torridon and Kinlochewe to do the six mile circular walk around Loch Clair and Loch Coulin. However, when we got there the roadside parking area was full, and with no spaces near-ish to the start of the walk we made the executive decision to carry on down the road to Shieldaig to do the (shorter) peninsula walk and then have lunch somewhere after. This turned out to be an excellent decision and I’m sure I enjoyed it a lot more than I would’ve enjoyed the longer walk, given the on/off torrential showers which came on intermittently throughout the afternoon with very little warning!

We followed a roughly three mile route from our Pocket Mountains guide, which is also online on the Walkhighlands website. It’s generally an easy to navigate route with the occasional way marker, and offers lovely views of secluded coves and the surrounding mountains. The tracks and trails are generally good, but uneven in places (one very short rocky section has a chain you can use to pull yourself up and this is as bad as it gets) and there are a number of well placed benches where you can stop to admire the view – the peninsula is one of the best places to spot sea otters and sea eagles, with a number of nests on Shieldaig Island.

After a leisurely amble around the headland, we walked back down to Shieldaig to grab some lunch at the Shieldaig Bar and Coastal Kitchen. Dogs are welcome at the tables outside, and luckily the brollies over the tables are waterproof and kept the rain off us while we enjoyed our food! I had the Loch Torridon langoustines and have to say they were delicious, and I was regretting not getting the large plate. This is a perfect spot to sit outside and keep an eye out for passing sea eagles while you eat (although sadly they continued to avoid us).

Dog friendly rating – 4/5. This is a lovely dog walk for a morning or afternoon stroll, and there are plenty of places which would be perfect for watching the sun go down. There are no stiles along the walk but there are sheep around, so you’ll need to put your dog on a lead if they’re about (note that under Scottish law, you can be heavily fined for not having your dog on a lead in a field with livestock, even if your dog is by your side and not showing any interest in the animal). There are a few beaches that you could probably make your way down to if you don’t mind some rough walking, but we were content to stick to the main paths and have an easy walk.

Where we stayed

I spent a long time trawling the internet for somewhere that would accept two dogs, was nice enough to want to spend a week in and was within our budget. I eventually stumbled across Raasay Cottage (totally by accident and not sure I could do it again!) and it was a great base for the week. The cottage is in the hamlet of Melvaig, a twenty minute drive from Gairloch, and has a beach right behind the garden which you can access via a five minute walk. It has everything you could possibly need for a week away, but the cherry on top has to be the huge windows in the living room looking out over the sea – we were treated to a beautiful sunset on our first night and we were glued to the window thereafter.

Dog friendly rating – 5/5. Raasay cottage was extremely spacious, with laminate and tiled floors perfect for getting in with two dogs after a day outside in the Scottish weather. In particular, the dogs loved the huge garden, which was securely fenced so we were able to let them run around to their hearts content. I think they were both horrified to get home and be faced with our normal sized garden!

Well done if you’ve made it this far! This is just half of what we got up to in our week away, but I’ll save the rest for future blogs. If you’ve enjoyed reading this blog today, make sure to subscribe below so you don’t miss out on future posts: