NEW EDITION MAY 2019
Walks East Sutherland
Authors: Peter & Rosemary Koch-Osborne
Re walked by Richard Hallewell & Becky Coope
It has been some time since we looked again at the book for East Sutherland. This has long been something of a forgotten area, overshadowed by the attractions of West Sutherland and Wester Ross to the west, and of Inverness and Loch Ness to the south, but its big empty spaces – and the fringe of villages and towns along the northern and eastern seaboard – are well worth a visit, and have become more visited recently as a result of the popularity of the North Coast 500 route.
Mention of the area will make most people think of the flow country – a vast expanse of banket bog dotted with innumerable lochans. That landscape can be enjoyed from the short walks at Forsinard which lead to the impressive new wooden viewing tower, but the area has many more attractions. The major addition to this edition, for example, are the new signposted walks in Migdale: a splendid area of mature, mixed woodland in a sheltered glen, managed by the Scottish Woodland Trust. In addition, there are empty beach walks on the north coast (at Bettyhill and Invernaver (bottom left), for example, or along Armadale Bay, by the start of the new route to the deserted township of Poulouriscaig), and fine shore walks down the eastern coast (around Dornoch, linking Brora and Golspie, or by the side of the tidal Loch Fleet). Inland, there are circuits through the rolling, empty moorland (pick a fine day for these; the charm of the area will be lost in the rain!)
As usual, there were plenty of small alterations to be made. The guide has now been thoroughly updated, and we hope it will provide a useful introduction to an area which is often unjustly overlooked.
For more details or to buy a copy, click here.