Skye and the West Highlands

Editor's note

Two nights on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, the largest lake in Britain by surface area, with around 60 islands. Kayak from Balmaha to Inchcailloch, the wooded island nature reserve just offshore, and further south to Inchmurrin, the largest freshwater island in the British Isles. Ben Lomond, 974m, is the southernmost Munro, climbed by about 30,000 people a year: go up the wide tourist path from Rowardennan, look down over the islands from the summit, and come down by the Ptarmigan ridge.

Editor's note

Two nights in Glen Coe, a glacial trench cut through the remains of a supervolcano. Stop at the Three Sisters viewpoint on the A82, walk into the Lost Valley, Coire Gabhail, between the Sisters, and look up at the Aonach Eagach wall on the north side. On 13 February 1692 government soldiers quartered on the MacDonalds killed an estimated 30 of their hosts; walk through the woods to Signal Rock, where the signal is said to have been given. The West Highland Way crosses Rannoch Moor to Kingshouse, then climbs the Devil's Staircase, its 550m high point, before dropping to Kinlochleven.

Editor's note

Three nights at Fort William. The Mountain Track from Achintee, built in 1883, climbs about 1,300m in 9km to the 40-hectare summit plateau of Ben Nevis, at 1,345m the highest mountain in the British Isles; the observatory ruins stand beside the war memorial cairn and the emergency shelter. At Banavie, watch boats work up Neptune's Staircase, eight locks that lift Telford's Caledonian Canal 64ft in 500 yards. The Jacobite steam train runs to Mallaig over the 21 arches of the Glenfinnan Viaduct, from 1 June to 23 October in 2026. At Glenfinnan, the monument on Loch Shiel marks where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard in 1745.

Editor's note

Two nights in Kintail. Beside the A87 in Glen Shiel, walk the battlefield where on 10 June 1719 government soldiers under Joseph Wightman broke a Jacobite force with Spanish troops, the last engagement on British soil involving foreign regular troops. Then walk up towards the Bealach an Lapain for the view along the Five Sisters ridge. Eilean Donan stands on a tidal island where lochs Duich, Long and Alsh meet; wrecked by Royal Navy frigates in 1719, it was rebuilt between 1912 and 1932. North over the hill, palms grow along the waterfront at Plockton on Loch Carron.

Editor's note

Two nights in the north of Skye. The Trotternish landslip is the longest in Great Britain: walk up through the Sanctuary of pinnacles to the Old Man of Storr, then into the Quiraing to find the Needle, 37m high, the Prison and the Table. On the shore at An Corran, Staffin, look for at least 18 dinosaur footprints left about 170 million years ago. In the west, tour Dunvegan Castle, seat of the MacLeod of MacLeod, and find the Fairy Flag, walk out to the Coral Beach at Claigan, and take the long stepped path down to the lighthouse at Neist Point, the western tip of Skye.

Editor's note

Two nights under the Cuillin. The Fairy Pools, a chain of aqua-blue pools and waterfalls on the Allt Coir' a' Mhadaidh, are about twenty minutes' walk from the Glen Brittle car park; swim if you can take the cold. The glen runs down to a beach under the ridge, and over the hill at Carbost is the Talisker distillery, founded in 1830. At Elgol, on Loch Scavaig, small boats run from the slip to Loch Coruisk, the freshwater loch held in the horseshoe of the mountains. South of the village is the cave where Charles Edward Stuart is said to have waited for a boat.

Editor's note

One night on Loch Ness, 37km long and 229.8m deep, holding more water than every lake in England and Wales together. At Fort Augustus, at its south-west end, the Caledonian Canal climbs through the middle of the village in a flight of five locks: watch a boat work up them, then walk the bank from the top lock. On the western shore, the exhibition at Drumnadrochit sets out the evidence and the explanations for the monster, and Urquhart Castle stands on the point below, where most sightings are reported. Take a boat trip on the loch.