Loch Affric – A Day's Walk Round the Loch Beneath the Munros

The walk

The walk round Loch Affric is a loop of about 11 miles (18 km) from the River Affric car park, where the public road up Glen Affric ends. It climbs about 330 metres and takes four to six hours on foot, plus time for lunch. The south shore has a good forest road; the north side is a rougher hill path, wet in places, that fords a string of burns. It can be walked either way round: anticlockwise puts the rough ground first, while legs are fresh, and leaves the forest road for the way home.

On the hill path, fenced ground holds young Scots pines growing back. Wolves once kept the deer in check; now fences and fewer deer let the trees grow. In autumn and winter the deer move lower for shelter and food, when they are easiest to see. Golden eagles and mountain hares live in the glen, and otters are common along its water.

Near the bridge over the Allt Coire Leachavie, a path climbs to Màm Sodhail, which with Càrn Eige beside it is the highest ground north of the Great Glen. Further west, small Loch Coulavie sits a little above the big loch, under An Tudair Beag.

At the head of the loch the path crosses the River Affric by Athnamulloch, with the hills of Kintail showing to the west. People lived here until the 1950s, and cattle from Strathglass grazed the ground for twenty years after. Its old house is now a base for Trees for Life's volunteers, who plant trees to spread the forest west towards the coast.

The way back is the Affric Kintail Way, the signposted trail from Loch Ness to Kintail. It takes in old drove roads, on which cattle from the west were walked over the passes to market in Inverness. Ruined houses along the loch, plainest once the bracken has died down, show how many more people the glen once held.

Nothing in the glen sells food, so bring a packed lunch and water. Wear strong boots, and carry warm waterproofs and OS Explorer map 414: the glen is remote, its weather changes quickly and there is little phone signal. In winter, set off as soon as it is light.