Black Rock Gorge – A Woodland Walk to a Deep Sandstone Cleft
A few hours.
The route
Above the village of Evanton, a quiet path climbs through community woods beside a river.
Then the ground simply opens up beneath a little footbridge, into a slot of rock so deep the water is a pale thread far below. Black Rock Gorge is a short woodland walk, and lunch afterwards is at the Storehouse, a farm shop and restaurant on the shore of the Cromarty Firth.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is Newhall Mains in Balblair, 6 miles away.
The day
Black Rock Gorge
It's a morning in the woods above Evanton, on the north shore of the Cromarty Firth. A riverside path to a gorge you look straight down into from a footbridge, then a long lunch looking out over the water.
About two and a half hoursAbout 2.5 miles on foot
Black Rock Gorge
An attraction
Park in Evanton's free village car park in the centre, beside the Cornerstone Cafe and the Co-op. Walk up the street between them and on into Evanton Wood, a community woodland, where the path follows the Allt Graad upstream under the trees. It's about half an hour's walk up to the gorge. Two little footbridges cross it a few dozen metres apart. From them you look straight down into a cleft of red sandstone up to 36 metres deep, its walls hung with moss and ferns, and the river far below in the dark. It was a setting in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The drops are sheer, so keep to the bridges and the paths, hold on to children and keep dogs on a lead near the edge. The paths are wide but can be muddy, so wear good shoes; a pushchair would struggle. Come back the way you came, which is quickest.
4 min by car
The Storehouse
Lunch
Lunch is 4 minutes' drive on, at the Storehouse at Foulis Ferry, a restaurant and farm shop on the shore of the Cromarty Firth. It's self-service, with a menu that changes daily with local produce, for breakfast, lunch or coffee and cake, and there are seats outside on warmer days. It's open Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm, and shut on Sundays. If it's full, the Cornerstone Cafe by the Evanton car park is said to open Tuesday to Friday, 10am to 3pm.
If it rains
The path is under trees and the gorge roars after rain. The paths get muddy and the footbridges wet, so go carefully, and take a long lunch at the Storehouse, which is all under a roof.
Where to stay