Loch Lomond, Fort William, Glencoe. These are the Highland honeypots — but if
you crave quieter places, away from the kilt shops and the haggis emporiums,
you need to talk to the locals. We asked a painter, a rock star, a duke and
other colourful locals to name their favourite escapes.
JOHN LOWRIE MORRISON
One of Scotland’s foremost contemporary artists, “JoLoMo” has a studio
at Tayvallich, on Loch Sween
“Nine miles north of us is the Crinan Canal, my favourite place to paint.
Cross the swingbridge at Bellanoch and you can drive north across Crinan
Moss, which is scattered with burial cairns and monoliths left by the Beaker
people 5,000 years ago. Some of the cairns are 100ft across, and you can
creep right inside, like a miniature version of the pyramids. Best of all is
Temple Wood, a bluebell wood with a huge circle of 30 or 40 standing stones.
It’s older than Stonehenge, and I think it’s more beautiful.”
Details: the best starting point for exploring the Beaker
monuments is Kilmartin House Museum (01546 510278, www.kilmartin.org).
JIM KERR
Jim is the front man of the 1980s rock gods Simple Minds, currently
enjoying a resurgence with their new album, Black & White 050505, and a
world tour
“Growing up in Glasgow, I didn’t want to climb mountains, I wanted to go to
New York to see Talking Heads. But in 1986, when the band got really big, we
bought a house right beside Loch Earn. It was our escape from the madness.
For me, it was an epiphany: suddenly, I was surrounded by this amazing
muscular landscape. I’d be out every morning, walking the hills.
“Loch Earn is not far east of Loch Lomond, but it feels worlds away — it’s
dark and peaty and sort of mystical. My son James used to ask me if there
was a monster in it, like Loch Ness, and I’d say yes — these lochs were so
deep that they all link together. I think I half believed it myself.”
Details: take a panoramic walk from Lochearnhead (OS Explorer
map 365). The Four Seasons Hotel in St Fillans (01764 685333; doubles from
£88, B&B) serves especially good fish and game.
THE DUKE OF ARGYLL
The chief of the Clan Campbell divides his time between running the
family pile, Inveraray Castle, promoting Scotch whiskies Chivas Regal and
The Glenlivet, and captaining Scotland’s world-cup-winning elephant polo
team
“Loch Fyne is synonymous with seafood, but the place the locals eat is rather
off the beaten track — a 50-minute drive from Inveraray along the quieter
southern side of the loch.
“It’s called Inver Cottage, and when I’m at home, I swear by it for Sunday
lunch. It’s smart inside, a couple of notches up from a gastropub, with rugs
and polished wood — but informal. They do Argyll beef and venison, plus the
most wonderful shellfish hauled straight out of the loch — things like
langoustines, or scallops in garlic.
“The restaurant is in a converted croft that was originally built for the Fyne
ferryman by the Clan MacLachlan. Their ruined castle is just round the bay,
very ivy-grown and romantic, and you can ramble across to it, watching for
seals and dolphins.”
Details: Inver Cottage is in Strathlachlan (01369 860537, www.invercottage.co.uk;
scallops £14.50).
ERICA KERR
As boss of the Diana Drummond skincare company, Erica makes organic
beauty products using hand-harvested Hebridean seaweed
“The undiscovered Highlands are right outside my gate. We live in Glen Orchy,
only 20 miles north of Loch Lomond and just off the West Highland Way — but
almost nobody comes here.
“Turn off the A85 at Inverlochy and you can drive a single-track road right
through the glen. It’s a wild space, hemmed in by snow-topped hills. In the
summer, you should stop at Easan Dubha, the Black Falls, and watch for
salmon leaping upriver to spawn. I’m told that the Orchy is also the most
thrilling river in Britain for white-water rafting.
“My favourite outing is to Ben Udlaidh, to a corrie that you reach on the
footpath from Glen Orchy Farm. It is popular with ice-climbers, and when
it’s breezy, a most curious thing happens. The burns flowing over the
clifftop are blown upwards by the wind, so instead of waterfalls you get
fountains — plumes of water against the sky. Absolutely incredible.”
Details: Splash (01887 829706, www.rafting.co.uk)
offers rafting on the Orchy between October and March; £70 per day. For
supper, Erica recommends the Real Food Cafe in Tyndrum — spectacularly fresh
haddock and chips.
BEPPO BUCHANAN-SMITH
As proprietor of the very swish Isle of Eriska Hotel, just off the
Argyll coast, Beppo has hosted Sean Connery, Judi Dench and most of the cast
of the Harry Potter films
“I’ve been visiting Kerrera since I was a boy, when my grandmother used to
live near Oban, just across the sound from the island. It was a delightful
crossing: you used to wave a white flag and the little motor ferry chugged
across to fetch you.
“The island is minutes offshore, but has a really remote feel — hardly any
cars, few buildings — and you can walk right over the top to find the ruins
of Gylen Castle, which looks out across the wild Atlantic. Grandma used to
say that on a clear day, you could see New York.
“What I love, apart from the memories, is that you get this proper chunk of
wilderness all to yourself, yet it’s so untaxing and close at hand.”
Details: the Kerrera ferry (01631 563665) costs £4 return,
£1.50 for children. The only digs on the island are at the Kerrera Bunkhouse
(01631 570223, www.kerrerabunkhouse.co.uk;
£10pp). For the six-mile circular trail to Gylen Castle, take OS Explorer
map 359.
FERGUS WOOD
Scotland’s best-known shepherd, Fergus is leader of both the
Kinlochard Ceilidh Band and the Quack Commandos duck formation team, which
performs at the Scottish Wool Centre in Aberfoyle
“I hesitate to recommend this, but we live in a gorgeously secretive part of
the Highlands, on the shores of Loch Ard. Queen Victoria described it as the
jewel of the Trossachs, and I think it’s the most tranquil loch in Scotland.
“Ben Lomond shelters it from the westerly wind, so on a sunny day, the
reflections are just unbelievable. There always seems to be an artist
painting the scene and, even after 28 years, it still knocks me sideways.
“When we do have a weekend away, it’s usually to the Western Isles Hotel, on
the island of Mull. It’s up the hill from Tobermory harbour, famous for its
crescent of brightly painted houses. The hotel is a bit old-fashioned,
probably, but unpretentious, and a magic place for a meal. It has a terrace
on a kind of turret, perched above the Sound of Mull and Tobermory Bay —
mind-blowing views, and a real feeling of enchantment.”
Details: the Western Isles Hotel (01688 302012, www.mullhotel.com;
doubles from £106, dinner £33).
