Walking, Wildlife & Environmental Tours
CELEBRATING OUR 21st YEAR!
Varied trails await us on this eight day tour among Scotland's Highlands and Islands. We'll visit two principal centers - the rugged slopes of the Isle of Skye, with its varied geology and scenery, and the beautiful Cairngorm mountains with their forested foothills and high moors.
Day 2: Our journey will take us north and west across to Skye, recently voted '4th best island in the world' by National Geographic magazine, where we will take in our first long hike around a coastal trail. We will be accompanied by the spirits of those who lived in the now vanished crofting communities through which we will pass. The jagged peaks of the Red and Black Cuillins form a fabulous backdrop to our coastal hike. Later we'll arrive at our hotel on the NE coast (two nights).
Day 3: A full morning of hiking through dramatic cliff and coastal scenery. Plummeting sea cliffs and imposing headlands sit beside white coral beaches and black sandy shores. In the afternoon our travels will also take us to a Celtic settlement and the distillery at Tallisker. Return to our hotel.
Day 4: We'll depart Skye, stopping to tour the great castle of Eilean Donan on the mainland. Our route to the Cairngorms takes us past the slopes of Loch Ness, then south from Inverness to the beautiful Aviemore valley. We'll stop for a short hike en route. Overnight in Aviemore (three nights), set on the banks of the River Spey.
Day 5: The Spey valley is part of the Cairngorm National Park, the largest National Park in Britain. This magnificent region offers a completely different view of Scotland, with heavily wooded slopes of oak and ancient pine forests rising to high rounded mountains. Four of Scotland's five highest peaks lie within the park, and it also protects Britain's largest area of arctic montane landscape. Today's hike will be through a section of the Rothiemurchus estate, where we will learn how a combination of private and state interests strive to nurture and protect this region.
Day 6: Weather permitting, we'll head into the mountains to the town of Braemar, the highest parish in the U.K. Here we'll enjoy a high level hike across moorland trails, with a good possibility of seeing Golden Eagles, Red Grouse and breeding shorebirds such as Lapwings, Oystercatchers and Curlew.
Day 7: We'll leave the Speyside area to head south to Edinburgh. En route we'll take a hike near Kingussie, and tour the Duke of Atholl's castle and gardens at Blair Atholl. We'll arrive into Edinburgh around 6 pm.
Day 8: Depart from Edinburgh airport for flights home or stay on to tour Edinburgh or other areas in Scotland
