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A walk · Uig

Uig Wood – Three Short Trails and the Rha Waterfall

Uig WoodStartThe Rha waterfallWhere you turn

Uig Wood was once the grounds of Uig Lodge, a house lost in a storm in 1877.

The Woodland Trust has owned it since 1988 and has brought back native broadleaves where young conifers stood. It lies in three parts round the village: a fringe of old trees along the shore of the bay, and two steep ravines cut by the rivers Conon and Rha. Three short waymarked trails, one in each part, show all of it.

Time
About an hour for all three waymarked trails: Shore Wood Wander 30 minutes, Conon Glen Walk 10 minutes, Rha Glen Ramble 20 minutes. Easy along the shore; steps and a narrow path in the Rha Glen.
The path
The shore path is flat, firm gravel for 600 metres with a short ramp to a kissing gate. The Conon Glen path is narrow, uneven and muddy in places. The Rha Glen has two flights of steps and a narrow gravel path with a handrail above a steep drop.
Where to start
Uig Community Hall car park, signposted Community Hall off the A87 about 100 metres past the A855 junction on the way to the pier: the car park is 200 metres down the lane, on the right after the hall. Leave the spaces at the post office for its customers.
Set off
By bus from Portree, get off at the stop opposite the A87 and A855 junction.
When to go
All year in daylight.
Dogs
Welcome. There are narrow kissing gates on the shore and Conon Glen paths.
Children
The shore path suits any age. Hold hands in the Rha Glen.
Toilets
None in the wood. The nearest public toilets, fully accessible, are at Uig Pier, about 1 km away.
Before you set out
Keep to the path in the Rha Glen.

The walk

Three short waymarked trails explore Uig Wood, a native wood of elm, ash, alder and hazel at the head of Uig Bay. Together they take about an hour. Start with the Shore Wood Wander, half an hour on a flat gravel path from the Community Hall, under wind-bent trees with the bay beside you.

The Conon Glen Walk is ten minutes beside the river to an old weir. Keep the Rha Glen Ramble for last. The path runs along the edge of a ravine, then steps lead down to the foot of a waterfall that drops in two leaps into a dark pool.

Allow 20 minutes. That last path is narrow, with a steep drop on one side and a handrail, so keep children and dogs close. The wood is part of Scotland’s rainforest, and well over a hundred kinds of lichen grow on its trees.

If it rains

The trees give some shelter and each trail is short enough to walk between showers. The shore path is flat, firm gravel in any weather.

Before you go

  1. Book accommodation nearby

    If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.

    The nearest of ours is The Cowshed Boutique Bunkhouse. Sleeps 1.

    Then Monkstadt 1745 in Linicro, 3 miles away.

Find out more

For further reading, before you go.