Tour 1

Tour 1 : Boat of Garten – Inverness – Garve – Gairloch – Inverewe – Ullapool – Boat of Garten

Leaving Boat of Garten you travel through Carrbridge with a quick squint at the picturesque Pack Horse Bridge on your left. Travelling north on the A9, Inverness soon beckons but we suggest you bypass it this time (another day perhaps) and remain on the A9, crossing over the Kessock Bridge to the Black Isle. At the Tore roundabout you leave the A9 for the A835. Crossing the River Conon at the head of the Cromarty Firth you soon head for Ullapool. After lovely Loch Garve and Garve itself you will find the turnoff to the A832, which takes you to the coast and Gairloch.

On route; Achnasheen with its Craft shop and quaint little post office (not to mention the only toilets for miles) is worth a brief stop. A few miles later you are at the head of Loch Maree (a photo here is a must). This entranced Queen Victoria as one of the most beautiful of lochs with Beinn Eighe on the one side and Slioch on the other. Coming quickly down to the West Coast you reach Gairloch – a classic fishing village with its Heritage Museum, bay and golden sands (but above all spectacular views). Your next port of call is for many the highlight of the tour – Inverewe Gardens – Osgood Mackenzie’s unexpected masterpiece with its amazing array of rhododendrons and tropical plants.

Wander in the gardens, having a relaxing lunch in the restaurant or just drink in the tranquility of the bay. The gardens are now managed by the National Trust for Scotland and are open every day, apart from Christmas and New Year.

From there it is onto Loch Ewe (some will remember it is as the gathering point for the North Atlantic convoys) and on to Gruinard Bay which, on a sunny day, reveals water of the most intense and brilliant blue, then on to Little Loch Broom and back onto the A835 for optional trip up to Ullapool – enjoy the busy atmosphere and the pretty black and white frontage of the houses. At Braemore Junction, where you turn left to go down to Ullapool, or right to return to Inverness, are the magnificent Falls of Mesach, in Corrieshalloch Gorge, easily accessible from a lay-by just before you reach the junction, or a larger car park shortly after turning left for Ullapool. The falls drop over 200 feet in a single fall, with a bridge over the top of the fall, and a viewing platform a little way down the gorge – not to be missed! Then its back down the A835 to Inverness and the A9 south to Boat of Garten.