Northern Scotland is not just mountains (and castles and adult beverages). We also visited Rannoch Moor. A
moor is an area dominated by grasses or shrubs, usually wet, and characterized by highly acidic soil.
Rannoch Moor is of the shrubland variety typically seen in Scotland and it is notable for it's size and for being very very wet. It is basically forty five square miles of bog.
We drove to Rannoch Station on the western edge of the moor. This tiny railway station would be the most isolated rail stop in the U.K., if not for Carnock Station. Carnock is ten miles further north and has no road access at all.
It's hard to describe how isolated this place feels. It's ten miles on a road that is barely a car wide and that comes after the long, narrow, road along the shore of Loch Rannoch. Rannoch Moor is described as one of Europe's last great wildernesses and a sign at the parking area warns that the moor is not be trifled with.
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| On the shore of Loch Laidon. One of several large bodies of water that are in or along the boundaries of Rannoch Moor. |
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| Loch Laidon. We walked a couple of miles from Rannoch Station along a forest road that contours above the shore of Loch Laidon. The path is marked with a sign that says, Public Footpath to Glen Coe, 13 miles. This is not a heavily used trail. |
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| Loch Rannoch. You drive alongside the Loch for ten miles before heading out on the six mile long, single lane, road to Rannoch Moor. You pass one farm along the way. |
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| A hill along the road to Rannoch Moor. It was an overcast day but the sub broke through a few times. The River Gaur is just visible in the foreground. You can't get it from this photo but the River Gaur is not a stream, brook or creek. It is a river carrying a large volume of water. |
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| Ronnoch Moor. |
