Lochinver

Why base here

Lochinver sits at the head of the sea loch Loch Inver, on the Assynt coast, about 30 miles north-west of Ullapool by the Gazetteer for Scotland’s reckoning. The Gazetteer places it alongside Kinlochbervie among the busiest fishing ports on this coast, and the harbour is owned and run by Highland Council. The census of 2011 counted 651 people. The path up Suilven begins at the end of a public road out of the village, not a drive away.

That is the reason to sleep here rather than in Ullapool: Suilven is a full day, and a base in Lochinver spends none of it on the road. It is the wrong base for the rest of the list, because An Teallach is a long drive from here and belongs to Ullapool’s day list. Nobody ever built the railway either; a line from Culrain to Lochinver was proposed in the 1890s, as a rival to a Garve to Ullapool scheme, and neither found funding.

On foot versus by car

Suilven is the walkable one. Walkhighlands starts it at the end of the public road from Lochinver towards Glencanisp Lodge, grid reference NC 107219, which sits about 1.4km east of the village centre by grid reference, and gives the round trip as 20km, 947m of ascent and seven to nine hours. It lists no public transport to the start, and notes that late arrivals may have to walk up from the village.

The lower ground is also on foot. The White Shore, a beach of gneiss and quartzite pebbles, is a one-mile walk from the pier through the Culag Woods, whose paths the Duke of Sutherland laid out in 1847; the Culag Community Woodland Trust has managed them since 1995.

Stac Pollaidh needs a car. A routing check found 15 miles by the single-track lane south towards Achiltibuie, which Wikivoyage advises for light vehicles only, or 32 miles by the A837 and A835. An Teallach comes out at 59 miles and about an hour and a half each way by the same check, which is the reason to choose Ullapool for it.

Practicalities

Lairg, on the Far North Line, is 47 miles away by road. Rapsons Highland runs the 809 between Drumbeg, Lochinver and Ullapool, and Traveline Scotland’s timetable shows the run from Ullapool taking about an hour, with stops at Knockan Crag, Inchnadamph and Ardvreck Castle. Check Traveline Scotland for the days it runs before relying on it for a hill day.

The Gazetteer for Scotland lists a post office, petrol station, bank, health centre and the Assynt Visitor Centre in the village. The B869 north to Drumbeg is the slow way round and the A837 the quick one; Wikivoyage warns that the single-track coast road clogs in summer where caravans meet.