Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 37 on 20/03/2008.

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Caithness, Sutherland & Ross-Shire

Exploring the Northern Highlands
The region of Caithness and Sutherland and over to Ross & Cromarty is stunningly and exhilarating. Dominic Roskrow reports.

There is no feeling quite like it. It’s a mixture of trepidation laced with fear, of excitement and euphoria, and of uncontrollable, overwhelming pleasure. The adrenalin rush makes you feel like you’re hyperventilating but you’re too scared, too in awe, to move. It’s the greatest feeling on earth and it’s as natural as the chill air sweeping over your face.

This is what it is to stand on one of the many ridges of the Five Sisters of Kintail when spring sunshine is washing over the snow capped peaks of the North Highlands, the air is chilled and fresh and the sky is opal blue. It’s at moments like these, when you’re fully aware of your own mortality, humbled to the core of your modesty, and totally submerged in nature, that you feel most alive.

Kintail is just one of a number of truly spectacular destinations in the northern Highlands that make the effort of getting to the very extremes of Scotland so worthwhile.

It is a region in the north west of the country, overlooking the Kyle of Lochalsh and over to Skye, above a point where three brooding sea lochs meet.

The region provides excellent angling and sea fishing opportunities, but the unique selling point are its range of slopes and bens.

Here mountaineering and climbing, both in summer and winter, are rarely surpassed anywhere. For those of a steely constitution .....

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By Dominic Roskrow

Section : Regional Focus

Page number : 32