Scotland Off the Beaten Track

Highland | Invershin | Nature site & waterfall | ★★★

When travelling through the Highlands we're quite often left with the impression that tourist infrastructure hasn't quite kept up with the recent boom in visitor numbers. This is certainly not the case at the Falls of Shin, where a shiny new car park, cafe, playground and interpretation area opened in 2017 to complement a powerful waterfall. After browsing the information panels (shaped like an enormous salmon when viewed from above), you'll of course want to follow the short path down to the viewing platform for the falls. These are large in volume but small in vertical - more a set of rapids, with flow controlled by a dam at Lairg, a few miles upstream. The main draw instead relates to fish: between May and October, the Falls of Shin are one of the most accessible locations from which to watch salmon leaping as they return to their breeding grounds to spawn. Sightings are most likely in late summer, and particularl…

Highland | Invershin | Half day walk | ★★★

Once upon a time, Carbisdale Castle was built for the Duchess of Sutherland, overlooking the Kyle of Sutherland opposite Invershin. Unpopular with the rest of the Sutherland family, her share of her spouse's (the 3rd Duke's) will was contested by the duke's son following his death. After the family finally agreed to the duchess being awarded a financial settlement along with a new castle built anywhere outwith Sutherland, surely this ugly chapter had drawn to a close? Not so - the duchess had her new residence constructed at Carbisdale, Ross-shire in 1907... directly overlooking the Sutherland border, which is just a few hundred metres away. Castle Spite - as it colloquially became known - was carefully designed to enrage her estranged in-laws: the castle's main tower only has three clock faces on its four walls, with the side facing Sutherland left blank so as not to give even the time of day to Sutherland. After World War II…

Highland | Strathpeffer | Half day walk | ★★★

Knock Farril is Strathpeffer's local hill, cutting the town off from the adjacent Black Isle region. This circuit explores most of the ridge, with an almost imperceptible ascent via the delightful Touchstone Maze: a complicated stone labyrinth aligned with solstices, festivals and Scotland's geology all in mind. The east end of the ridge is crowned with a vitrified hill fort and superlative views of the Cromarty Firth, but the west end is the true summit. Views are obscured by trees from the latter, but find the correct descent path and vegetation thins briefly to allow a vista up Strathconon towards the Northwest Highlands. The return route is in abrupt contrast to the straightforward preceding terrain, with a steep and narrow path threading through dense forestry back to the start.


📌 Walk: Views to amaze on Knockfarrel Ridge ★★★
Start / finish at Blackmuir Wood car park, off A834 half a mile southwest of Strathpeffer village cent…