UKH

Hi,

Some friends and I are going to Scotland for two weeks in early June, and I was wondering in which areas it is easiest to hike without being bothered by the crowds? When I say hike I'm probably just talking 4-5 hours. Does the Isle of Mull tend to be packed? What about the area west of Fort Williams? We're thinking of following the Western coast (more or less) from South to North then back down. I suppose ideally we'd want to enjoy both the mountains and the coasts. Any tips appreciated!

Also, is wild camping legal in Scotland? Is it hard to find a good spot that's not too mushy?

Cheers

In reply to Adrien:

Other than Ben Nevis and Glen Coe you won't be bothered by crowds anywhere really. West of FW in Argour is superb and combines sea-lochs and mountains well. The hills north of the west highland line towards Mallaig are also great. Camping away from houses is legal and there are loads of good spots. Personally I don't much like bothies (free very basic shelters scattered around the hills) but others seem to enjoy them.

In reply to Adrien:

Once you are away from the honeypots of the likes of Glencoe, Ft William, Aviemore, etc. hardly anywhere in Scotland could be described as "packed"! It is quite easy to walk all day and not see anyone at all. The standard routes up the Munros as described in the SMT guide can be popular so on Mull that would be the path up Ben More.

As for wild camping - if you are away from habitation then it's not going to be a problem. You used to be able to camp near the Clachaig Inn for example but that got stopped years ago.

In reply to Adrien:

Definitely look at Ardgour. No munros there to pull in the crowds!

In reply to Adrien:

For a small taste of the walking on offer you could start with our UKH Route Cards: http://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/find.php

They tend to be all-day routes, more than 5 hours certainly, though many can easily be shortened. And there are a few smaller ones in there too. The selection is far from comprehensive - you can walk pretty much anywhere, just open a map and go.

As others have said, wild camping is legal if done away from houses and if you do so responsibly (no litter, no fires, bury poo, move on after a couple of nights max...). There is a lifetime's worth of good spots to camp, of varying degrees of mushiness.

Also, to re-affirm what others have said, crowded hills are the exception in the highlands rather than the norm. Away form Glen Coe/Fort William this becomes increasingly the case. The midges are more likely to bother you than the crowds. Bring head nets - utterly essential for wild camping in summer.

Every bit of the coast form Ardgour (already mentioned by others) northwards to Cape Wrath is worth visiting, as are the islands (Mull is generally less crowded than Skye) You really can't go wrong wherever you end up. but a few area highlights would include:

Ardgour/Ardnamurchan
Mull
Skye
Rum and Eigg
Knoydart
Loch hourn (if you care to spend the time getting there)
Glen Shiel
Applecross
Torridon
Gairloch to Ullapool
Assynt
Cape Wrath-Durness-Tongue

It's a shame you only have two weeks

In reply to Adrien:

I would have a look at the mountain bothy association website. Midges are going to be kicking in and tics are becoming a serious problem all over these days. These free basic shelters are all over the country, some very busy others rarely visited.
If you want no people and remote I would suggest getting yourself out to the Shiant isles where there is a bothy to stay in. I think its once a week a ferry goes out with passengers usually for bird watching but other than that day you got the place to your self. You have to get to the western isles for that trip.
There is also the very remote isles leading down from Barra to Mingulay and Bernaray. You need to charter Donalds boat in Castlebay at quite an expense.

In reply to Adrien:

I'd second what FMCK says about the midges and the use of bothies. Midges are a plague upon the earth and can destroy any camping idylls you might have.

As for finding ground for camping, its generally OK in the West and NW but ground can be covered in heather / ferns etc. Higher up it gets better but don't assume that flat ground on a map equates to suitable ground for camping!

Another thumbs up for Ardgour and the area noth of Glenfinnan.

Thanks a lot to you all for the advice! Glad to hear it should be easy to avoid the crowds. Thanks for the reminder about the midges as I'd forgotten about the little devils (it will actually my first encounter with them, not really looking forward to it to be honest), and above all thanks for mentioning the bothies, this looks like a great compromise between camping and YH.

Dan Bailey, cheers for the UKH website, that should be a good starting point (even though I feel like many routes will be too long for us, this is more of a leisure trip than a proper trek, but we'll adapt them). I'll probably buy a few OS maps as well.

Of all the places you've mentioned, are there any that feature landscapes reminiscent of the sheer walls of the Norweigan fjords? I have a penchant for really dramatic vistas with mountains plunging into the sea (or a lake).

Damn, just seeing names of places gets me psyched. Should be a cool trip despite being a tad short (I need to find friends with more holidays).

In reply to Adrien:

Good approximations of 'norwegian' scenery would include Loch Hourn, Loch Coruisk on Skye, and Torridon

In reply to Adrien:

Galloways - Pretty much empty most of the time. Been on 2/3 day hikes and not seen a soul.

In reply to Adrien:
Isle of Rhum and walk round the coast to Dibidil bothy. That feels really remote and is served by cal mac ferries small isles route. mountains are impressive due to them being on such a small island and amazing coast line to walk round. Good path as well.

In reply to Padraig:

Yeah, but the terrian can be God damned awfull. By now I 've walked all over Scotland and I think Galloway has most nearly broken my spirit with miles of deep tussocky grass, heart breaking stuff.

Go stay in Coire Fionnaraich bothy: easily reached from the road and access to some great, awesome (yes, properly awesome) mountains (An Ruadh-Stac, Maol Chean-dearg, Fuar Tholl, Sgorr Ruadh and Beinn Liath Mhor) and within your time scales.

Loch Etive is a fine fjord with very high steep hills around the head.

In reply to Fat Bumbly2:

As is Loch Shiel: the noth end can easily be accessed via the A830. Again I walked these on stunning days (east and west side on different days but both sunny & cool) and saw no-one.