From loch-side to mountaintop, climbers, canoeists and ridge walkers revel in pinch-yourself adventures at Beinn Eighe.
Take a hike into the wildest part of Wester Ross, up to the cardiogram-ragged spurs and summits of Beinn Eighe, and it’s easy to see why the area is such a magnet for outdoor lovers and nature enthusiasts. You can gaze at Loch Maree and its islands scattered like jewels; spy throaty stags bellowing in ancient pine forest; and plan canoe and kayak adventures on neighbouring Loch Torridon, below the ridge of the Liathach massif. Best accessed from Kinlochewe, an hour’s drive from Inverness, Britain’s oldest National Nature Reserve offers the sort of rugged peaks and scree-covered slopes travellers dream of.
The nature reserve experiences four dramatically different seasons, making it okay to visit all year-round. In winter, the snow-fuzzed peaks mirror frozen rivers and streams, while spring sees the reserve burst into life with the arrival of blooms and birds of prey. Summer draws visitors—and hordes of biting insects—to the shores of Loch Maree, while autumn’s rutting stags make it the ultimate for wildlife photographers.