Places on the West Coast

Snow-dusted Highland mountain rising above a loch with a sweeping rocky shoreline beneath broken clouds.

Kinlochbervie is worth the detour

Most travellers reach Rhiconich and continue north with the crowd. Those who turn towards Kinlochbervie find a remarkable road, a working fishing harbour and some of the finest beaches in north west Scotland. Sandwood Bay may be the famous one, but it is far from the only reason to leave the main route.

Whitewashed and stone houses with terraced gardens on a rocky shoreline beside a Highland loch Fanagmore.

The Tarbet peninsula (or the 'Highland Balkans'!)

Tarbet, Fanagmore and Foindle sit side by side on one rugged corner of Sutherland. Their roads arrived in pieces, their arguments lasted generations, and locals still remember the peninsula by a name borrowed from one of Europe’s most divided regions.

Aerial view of Kylesku Bridge curving across dark blue water, with wooded slopes and rocky mountains behind it.

Kylesku is worth more than a photograph

Say it in two syllables, KYLE-skew, then give yourself time for lunch on the rocks beside the slipway.

Ullapool’s rooftops and green fields beside Loch Broom, with hazy mountains beneath layered clouds.

The best seat in Ullapool costs nothing

From the promenade you might see a tall ship, a super yacht or a bank of mist rolling down Loch Broom.

River Ewe winding past a white cottage and bare trees beneath a blue sky with scattered white clouds.

Poolewe: the 'Highland Gateway' which almost was

Visitors pour into Poolewe for Inverewe Garden, unaware that this quiet village once connected mainland Scotland with the Outer Hebrides. Mail, passengers and cattle landed here before that valuable traffic moved north and helped Ullapool become the bustling place Poolewe might have been.

Sunlit white cottages at Applecross with dark clouds gathering over the hills beyond.

Applecross, from lunch at the inn to the quieter shore

After lunch at the inn, follow the shore south to a little inlet with room to enjoy the view.