Knoydart, a visit to the remote peninsula

You can’t drive to Knoydart, you can walk or you can get a boat in. As we drove up to Mallaig to catch our boat we were met with the news that it was too rough to send it across.

I’ve been twice before, both times walking in along the shores of Loch Hourn on the North of the peninsula, staying at the bothy in Barrisdale Bay and climbing the nearby Munros, but I’ve never been to the populated Southern edges of Knoydart.

Situated between Loch Nevis and Loch Hourn, the peninsula covers about 55,000 acres and is home to approximately 120 people, half of whom live in or near the village of Inverie and this is where we would land instead. The main passenger ferry was thankfully still running and we boarded with our fellow passengers, amazon deliveries and boxes of chips and set off across a rolling Loch Nevis, sheltered from the worst of the weather.

There we were met by one of our hosts and we set off to the Western edges and to our accommodation at Doune, accessed by their boat, your own boat or by the minibus and a 20 minute walk down to the bay. Doune is a gloriously remote place to escape to but has all the creature comforts anyone needs and the hospitality and food is second to none.

We were there to summit the hills but a combination of the weather, logistics and blood sugar levels meant that we didn’t quite make it to a top, instead we explored the coast, sampled the tea room and the community owned pub, The Old Forge (said to be Britain’s remotest) and dipped in the sea. I took some nice pictures as well.

Travelling back to Mallaig, on Dounes boat, we were blessed with spouting whales and diving gannets that made the trip back to the Borders that bit more bearable. If you can, visit Knoydart. It’s up there as one of Scotland’s most spectacular spots.