Gairloch Caravan and Camping Site

There are heaps of options in and around Gairloch for watery activities: wander around the cove to Gairloch Harbour to book a pleasure cruise on a glass-bottomed boat, have a sailing lesson, take a wildlife cruise to spot whales, porpoises, seals and dolphins, or take the tackle to nearby Fionn Loch or Loch Rollie to land some local brown trout (you’ll need a permit to fish in the area, which you can pick up at the Gairloch Garage). Sea fishing is available too from boats hired at the harbour. Staying on land, Gairloch and the Highlands are where boots are made for walking: there are all-abilities routes at the Beinn Eighe Nature Reserve and a waymarked walk through the Flowerdale Glen to Flowerdale Falls, with more strenuous leg-stretching available on walks designed to last from a couple of hours to a full day. Wester Ross also has acres of crags to clamber up, with an indoor climbing wall (and lessons) at the Gairloch Leisure Centre. If the very idea of all-day walks or climbing crags is making you feel a bit faint, there’s a pony trekking centre at Gairloch too, pitch and putt in Strath, and a beachside golf club open seven days a week in season. Poolewe, six miles north of Gairloch, has an indoor swimming pool. For rainy days, the Gairloch Heritage Museum has regular events and exhibitions, and there are sub-tropical gardens at Inverewe and a visitor centre at Rua Reidh Lighthouse; the Loch Ewe area is also the place to go for traditional music, with a ceilidh held weekly during peak season. The town of Ullapool has regular music festivals, a theatre, arts centre and award-winning museum, or if you want to see the bright lights head further afield for a day trip and evening to the Highlands capital Inverness, the location of Macbeth’s castle.