Most remote / depopulated areas in the UK

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DVH 30 Oct 2017
Hey guys

If you're looking to get lost on a several day tent/bothy hike and you want to go to the most remote wild place you can imagine. Where do you think of? The less people around, the better!
 wintertree 30 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:

The area around the watershed between the Tees and the Wear is very remote for England.

It’s a barren wasteland of giant peat hags and hogs in many places.

I’ve done many day long wake up there why I haven’t seen a soul. You need to pick your day though if you want to enjoy it...
 John R 30 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:
North west Sutherland.
 Doug 30 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:

If you have some GIS skills you might find https://data.gov.uk/dataset/scotlands-wildness-remoteness useful
 OwenM 30 Oct 2017
In reply to Doug:

The area between Glen Sheil and Glen Carron, Fisherfield, going north from Ullapool up to Cape Wrath, take your pick.
pasbury 30 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:

The western half of Caithness looks pretty quiet.
 Coel Hellier 30 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:

Least chance of meeting someone and hard to get to? Maybe North-West coast of Jura (though it's not really big enough for a multi-day hike).
 ballsac 30 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:

anywhere in the great green desert between Llandovery and Machynlleth.

i walked the area for 6 days in October a couple of years ago - i saw about 3 people. i even stayed in a hostel without seeing anyone at all...
 Flinticus 30 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:

Monadliaths.
 lone 30 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:
Northern Elenydd is remote, area around Teifi Pools for some miles is wonderfully remote.

I was there yesterday sat on Dibyn Du over looking Llyn Gynon, not a sound to be heard and not a person in sight.

You could walk this area, to the North and to the East of Teifi and be alone for 3 days. The bothy at the pools would be populated so I'd go for a tent and stay a few miles of it.

The area from Llandovery to Llanidloes is called it the Welsh Desert.

Jason
Post edited at 16:44
 inboard 30 Oct 2017
In reply to Coel Hellier:
Although the ground is so rough it would be fairly slow walking on jura, so could be spun out for a few days...
 Denzil 30 Oct 2017
In reply to Coel Hellier:

> Least chance of meeting someone and hard to get to? Maybe North-West coast of Jura (though it's not really big enough for a multi-day hike).

Bus up the east coast, then walk to the northern tip of the island and down the west coast to Tarbert. Will take you a week, and chances are you’ll meet no-one. Spent 5 days on the west coast of the southern half of the island 2 weeks back - only saw people at Glenbattrick. Did some of the northern half many years back, and again only saw anyone when I got down towards Tarbert.
Gone for good 30 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:

Go to Knoydart. It's remote and loads of great walking. Scattered but very small population on the coastline but not much inland other than hills and more hills.
 Phil1919 30 Oct 2017
In reply to Gone for good:

Lots of places in Scotland where you won't meet enough people to bother you.
 Andy Johnson 30 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:

Sutherland is pretty empty, even more so at this time of year.

A couple of years ago I started a walk from Forsinard station, intending to walk west to Kearvaig bothy near Cape Wrath. I had to give up after two days due to a (pre-existing) ankle injury, but I saw nobody for those two days, and few signs of human activity. The solitude combined with the weird flat landscape with solitary hills poking up over the horizon, seemed to emphasise the solitude. It was wonderful. Not big mountain country, but a great experience. The bothy at Strathy was good.
 Tim Sparrow 30 Oct 2017
In reply to lone:
You could fall in a bog around Dibyn Du and never be found. Ever.
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Removed User 30 Oct 2017
In reply to pasbury:

> The western half of Caithness looks pretty quiet.

Yes, If you walked along the border between Caithness and Sutherland it would feel pretty remote but you'd not be too far from a road.

Walking West from Forsinard would be pretty wild, going up over the Ben Griams and on towards Ben Loyal.

But Foinaven can feel pretty remote as well.
 lone 30 Oct 2017
In reply to Tim Sparrow:

Yes, that did cross my mind when I thought whether to try for Banc y Llyn or not
In reply to DVH:

The Galloway Hills. Set off from Glen Trool and ascend The Merrick then follow the Awful Hand range northwards before circling back south along the Mullwarchar/Dungeon Hill/Craignaw range. Midweek it's unlikely you'll see anyone aside from maybe on the Merrick and the scenery is quite spectacular. Take walking poles and waterproof boots - it's very boggy and tussocky. There are some good camping spots on the shores of Lochs Enoch and Neldricken.
Removed User 30 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:

As said before Sutherland is the emptiest bit of Britain, or Europe for that matter.

Another option might be to leave the road at Strathcarron, walk to Bearnais bothy, over Lurg Mor and along the South bank of loch Monar to StrathFarrar, over the StrathFarrar Munros to Luip maldrig bothy and finally round the South side of Orrin reservoir to Muir of Ord.

That would take you across Scotland and you could get the train back to Strathcarron to get your car. You'd not see a great number of people either.
Removed User 30 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:

You could also have a wander around the Pairc in Lewis. You'd definitely not meet anyone there (I'm assuming the windfarm isn't going ahead).
 RX-78 30 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:

Not in the UK but just back from Sardinia, the interior is apparently one of the least populated places in Europe. Was driving at night and there was not a light to be seen from any house etc.
In reply to DVH: My school is supposed to be the second most remote school in England though I'm not sure by what measure but your welcome to bivi in our playing field. I don't know what the most remote is. Not much help really.

 TobyA 30 Oct 2017
In reply to Removed User:

> As said before Sutherland is the emptiest bit of Britain, or Europe for that matter.

Whilst I can easily see the first bit, I doubt the latter. "Bit" is a rather un-technical term here,
there is no one in my back garden currently, but presumably there are a few in Sutherland, hence my garden is "emptier". But I suspect there are regions/counties/etc. of Norway and Finland that have lower population densities than even Sutherland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_and_population_of_European_countries
 cloy 31 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:

About three years ago, in October, our club Bremex Mountaineering and Climbing Club, went wild camping in the northern Howgills, the range of hills on the north west side of the Yorkshire Dales/to the east of the Lake District that you see on the right hand side when you're driving north on the M6. We parked at the village of Tebay (near Juntion 38 on the M6) on the Friday evening and camped about 2km south of there the first night. There was some traffic noise from the M6 there, but the next night, when we were in the heart of the Howgills, we could have been in a remote part of the Scottish Highlands with no sounds other than streams, sheep and the occasional aircraft, and no visible lights. We saw only one other group of people the whole weekend - a party of four, who I think might have been army cadets.

The Howgills as a whole are relatively unknown and most people who visit them go to the southern half, approaching from the Sedbergh side, with Cautley Spout being the most popular feature. That's why the northern Howgills are so unfrequented. They are great for wild camping and practising navigation because there are hardly any walls and the only features are streams and the general hilly topography.
 Andy Johnson 31 Oct 2017
In reply to cloy:

Agree with you on the Howgills being relatively unknown and pretty wild. Annoyingly, every time I've gone there they've been covered in thick mist.

Also in the north of England there's the Forest of Bowland, which is tends to get overlooked and has some big open spaces. I'm not sure what the local attitude to wild camping is, though, and there are no bothies. In the Lakes, the area between Silecroft, Broughton in Furness, and Eskdale doesn't get many visitors and there are few roads. One of my favourite parts of the Lake District.

But in the UK, to get away from people, I head for Scotland.
 paul-1970 31 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:
The area most remote from a roadside in the UK is at the headwaters of the River Feshie and the watershed area from the River Geldie. Nearest roads are at Achlean in Glen Feshie and Linn of Dee many miles and hours walk away. Unfortunately for solitude-lovers, this area is also crossed by well-used tracks crossing from Glen Tilt to Glen Dee, Glen Feshie and the Lairig Ghru; the Tarf bothy is also not too far away.

About ten years ago I backpacked from Tarbert in Harris through to Timsgarry in Lewis. I stopped at the old abandoned hamlet of Kinloch Reasort on the way and sheltered in the lee of one of the derelict buildings. Presently, across the river, in one of the buildings still looking robust, I saw a figure leave the house, cross the river and walk up toward me before sitting down to chat. I could see he was an estate worker or gamekeeper, so after a while I asked him if he was checking me out to see if I was carrying illicit fishing rods or poaching gear. "Oh no," he replied, "I just haven't seen anyone for nearly a week, so wanted a chat."

The other obvious answer to the question is St Kilda. Though again, finding solitude even here will be difficult, at least during the summer. Perhaps less so on Boreray or Soay.
Post edited at 10:51
 nufkin 31 Oct 2017
In reply to Removed User:

> Another option might be to leave the road at Strathcarron, walk to Bearnais bothy, over Lurg Mor and along the South bank of loch Monar to StrathFarrar, over the StrathFarrar Munros to Luip maldrig bothy and finally round the South side of Orrin reservoir to Muir of Ord.

I did a circuit of Loch Monar a few years ago; I don't think we passed anyone out walking the entire four or five days we were out. There was a gamekeeper in the distance one day, and a couple of cars passed along the road near the dam, but otherwise we seemed to have the entire place to ourselves. Lovely
In reply to nufkin:

Loch Monar: that's a good call. Very isolated, and great hills too: https://www.ukhillwalking.com/articles/page.php?id=3687

Same area, just one glen to the south, you've got the Mullardoch hills. I guess some bits of that round are more easily accessible from Affric, and thus relatively popular. But it's a big area with some very wild bits too, especially around the head of the loch, An Socach and Mullach na Dheiragain: https://www.ukhillwalking.com/articles/page.php?id=9639

This whole swathe between Glen Shiel and Glen Carron is a good bet for the OP. Huge hills, no through roads, very few people... You could spend a few days in there and speak to no one. Especially in winter
 ScraggyGoat 31 Oct 2017
In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

It depends if the OP wants to encounter a few people, or no people? The area from Shiel to Carron contains bothies, munros, the odd Corbett and is traversed by the Cape Wrath Trail, so outside of winter there is a good chance of meeting a few people. Obviously if you are used to the lakes, Wales, or classic Scottish areas of Glen Coe, Skye, Cairngorms etc it will seam immensely more remote and quiet.
In reply to ScraggyGoat:

Good question. For no people at all, my hunch is that you'd have to go to comparatively boring/boggy bits of Scotland. All the decent hills, and of course all the Munros, will have at least some people on them most of the time - though you may have a good chance of not crossing paths with them. If we're just going purely on emptiness then:

The Flow Country
Interior of North Lewis
Monadhliath
North of Wyvis/east of Seana Bhraigh
Possibly somewhere down in the Borders, where there may be the odd person but you won't see them for conifers

 ScraggyGoat 31 Oct 2017
In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:
If it's no people but interesting landscape, Eric probably wins with NW Jura but outside of Spring and summer, when you would see the odd power boat, yacht, rare bold sea kayak groups on the west coast plus maybe one or two people walking up the east coast to view the corryveckan. Bugger of terrain to traverse across on foot though.
Post edited at 12:59
 Alex Slipchuk 31 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:

St Kilda
 ScraggyGoat 31 Oct 2017
In reply to Alex Slipchuk:
Small island with a MOD contractor base, power station, missile tracking antenna array. Three seasons of the year a classic yacht destination, two seasons of the year mobbed tripper boats in good weather, and hosts NTS work parties in summer.

Yes awesome place (I've paddled round it and wandered around after the tripper boats have left), yes remote, but not depopulated. Ok it doesn't have permanent residents as such. The OP could go there out of season if he could persuade either Sea Trek or the MV Cuma to take him.....the return date would be uncertain and it would be an adventure.
Post edited at 13:43
 Trangia 31 Oct 2017
In reply to DVH:

Plus 1 for Knoydart, but don't tell everyone..........
 Iain Thow 31 Oct 2017
In reply to ScraggyGoat:

Had five trips to northern Jura and only met people twice, both on the way to Corryvreckan (plus some people offshore on a yacht once). The other area that springs to mind is Parc in NE Lewis. Spent 4 days there one May and saw nobodyeven in the distance, at which time Knoydart and Fisherfield would have been heaving (well, -ish). Both brill wild places.
 Doug 31 Oct 2017
In reply to ScraggyGoat:

Even in the popular areas, once away from the usual paths can be quiet. I once camped for a week at Lochan Nan Cat on Ben Lawers (botanical fieldwork when a student) and didn't see anyone close enough to talk to other than when the reserve warden paid a visit to check I was OK.
Removed User 31 Oct 2017
In reply to TobyA:

While I was on holiday in Sutherland many years ago I remember reading something about Sutherland having the lowest population density of any region in the EU. Considering that most of the population live along the coast that makes the area inland pretty sparsely populated. I was a bit surprised to read that but read it I did.

The word "bit" was used to shorten that explanation.
 Doug 31 Oct 2017
In reply to Removed User & Toby
Until Finland & Sweden joined the EU in 1995, Highland Scotland was the least populated area in the EU. Its still pretty empty, as shown by this map
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/mapToolClosed.do?tab=map&init=1&pl...

But the more detailed data (by NUTS 3 in EU speak - roughly county level) shows the the least populated part of Scotland is Lochaber, Skye, etc with 7 people per sqkm, with several parts of Finald, Island, Sweden & Norway with lower densities, with the lowest figure at 1.2 in Iceland. Interesting that parts of Guyane (France) rank with the empty parts of Norway, Finland, etc
see http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.do

Removed User 31 Oct 2017
In reply to Doug:

Cheers Doug! Yes that sounds about right. I'd have been on holiday up there around '94/'95.
 Dauphin 02 Nov 2017
In reply to ScraggyGoat:



Bugger of terrain to traverse across on foot though.

Try in flip flops ( feet all fubarred from new boots) remembering on the way into bothy that Jura has one of the highest Adder populations in Scotland - seconds before almost treading on one.

Top day out.

D
 ScraggyGoat 02 Nov 2017
In reply to Dauphin:

'Almost standing on one...', only one ? it must have been an unusually quiet adder day on Jura then....
 Arbu 21 Nov 2017
In reply to DVH:

Why, what have you done?
 Sean Kelly 21 Nov 2017
In reply to DVH:

Two area not mentioned are Ben Alder area and the Letterewe Forrest. The latter for me is certainly remote and reputedly has the most distant Munro from a road.
 Billhook 21 Nov 2017
In reply to ballsac:

I stayed in a hostel like that once. Couldn't find the light switch anywhere!
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