The sentinel mountains of Assynt

I love the mountains of the North West Highlands Geopark, particularly the great sentinels gathered around Lochinver. Canisp, Suilven, Cùl Mòr, Cùl Beag, Stac Pollaidh and Quinag each possess a shape and personality of their own, yet for much of the North Coast 500 journey around Assynt, they remain hidden behind the broken landscape of rock, peat and water from which they rise. Occasionally, one appears through a gap in the trees or beyond a ravine, only to vanish again as the road turns.

North of Lochinver, on the road towards Clachtoll, the landscape briefly opens and several of the mountains stand together in a great processional line. It is one of the finest roadside views in Assynt, but even here the perspective is incomplete because the mountains overlap, disguise one another and change shape as you move. Suilven can appear as a long serrated ridge, a pointed spear or an immense stone pillar, depending upon where you stand.

The best view is from the sea. Boat trips from Lochinver take us onto the waters of the Minch in search of seals, dolphins, seabirds and, when fortune is with us, a white-tailed eagle. Wildlife can never be guaranteed, but the mountains are more dependable. As the boat moves beyond Loch Inver, the land unfolds and the sentinels reveal themselves. These are not simply beautiful mountains because, before electronic navigation, their unmistakable outlines helped generations of sailors and fishermen recognise the coast from many miles away.

Suilven provides the finest illusion of them all. Its Old Norse name means ‘Pillar Mountain’, and from Lochinver its western end rises like a great column of stone, but approach from another direction and that pillar stretches into a long, narrow ridge.

There is one little-travelled road from which the pillar reveals itself particularly well. It is not an obvious viewpoint and precious few visitors ever find it. If you want to know where it is, you may just have to come with North Coast Explorer.

To learn more, book one of our North Coast Explorer private tours.