Most remote place in Scotland

[Adam Lea]

Does anyone know what the most remote place in mainland Scotland is,
defined by distance to the nearest public road as the crow flies?

[Phil Cook]

Post by Adam Lea
Does anyone know what the most remote place in mainland Scotland is,
defined by distance to the nearest public road as the crow flies?

You are likely to find the answer to this in the back issues of The
Angry Corrie at http://bubl.ac.uk/org/tacit/tac/index.html

However, a cursory search fails to turn up anything obvious.

A Mhaighdean is reckoned to be one of the remotest hills as the Munro
bagger walks but a road approaches relatively close on the far shore of
Loch Maree from the summit.

[Tim W]

Post by Adam Lea
Does anyone know what the most remote place in mainland Scotland is,
defined by distance to the nearest public road as the crow flies?

It will be on St Kilda for sure. But you meant on the mainland I expect.

tim W

[Tim W]

Post by Tim W

Post by Adam Lea
Does anyone know what the most remote place in mainland Scotland is,
defined by distance to the nearest public road as the crow flies?

It will be on St Kilda for sure. But you meant on the mainland I expect.
tim W

Doh! that would be why you wrote 'mainland'. Excuse me for being a
stupid clever dick

Tim w

[Phil Cook]

Post by Tim W

Post by Tim W

Post by Adam Lea
Does anyone know what the most remote place in mainland Scotland is,
defined by distance to the nearest public road as the crow flies?

It will be on St Kilda for sure. But you meant on the mainland I expect.
tim W

Doh! that would be why you wrote 'mainland'. Excuse me for being a
stupid clever dick

Having a shuftie at my maps I think it is somewhere between the River
Feshie and Tarf Water in the region of Beinn Bhreac and Carn an Fhidhleir.

[Graham Seed]

Post by Phil Cook

Post by Tim W

Post by Tim W

Post by Adam Lea
Does anyone know what the most remote place in mainland Scotland is,
defined by distance to the nearest public road as the crow flies?

It will be on St Kilda for sure. But you meant on the mainland I expect.
tim W

Doh! that would be why you wrote 'mainland'. Excuse me for being a
stupid clever dick

Having a shuftie at my maps I think it is somewhere between the River
Feshie and Tarf Water in the region of Beinn Bhreac and Carn an Fhidhleir.

Yes, must be somewhere around there. The 1:250000 road map shows minor
public roads with a hard line and other roads/tracks with a pecked outline
(most of the time), so I make it a point equidistant from the roads near
Bridge of Tilt, Auchlean and Linn of Dee which is around 16km and somewhere
on the col between An Sgarsoch and Carn an Fhidhleir.

Somewhere near Camusrory in Knoydart would have come close but the road at
Inverie is 'public'.

Anyone beat 16km?

Graham

[Phil Cook]

Post by Graham Seed

Post by Phil Cook

Post by Adam Lea
Does anyone know what the most remote place in mainland Scotland is,
defined by distance to the nearest public road as the crow flies?

Having a shuftie at my maps I think it is somewhere between the River
Feshie and Tarf Water in the region of Beinn Bhreac and Carn an Fhidhleir.

Yes, must be somewhere around there. The 1:250000 road map shows minor
public roads with a hard line and other roads/tracks with a pecked outline
(most of the time), so I make it a point equidistant from the roads near
Bridge of Tilt, Auchlean and Linn of Dee which is around 16km and somewhere
on the col between An Sgarsoch and Carn an Fhidhleir.

The public road at Bridge of Tilt goes as far as Baile na Bruaich in
Glen Fender so the furtherst point from a public road is at NN 918833
which is 15.7 km from those three points.

You can probably cycle to within 2.5 km of there along the estate road
past the ruined Geldie Lodge.

[Graham Seed]

Post by Graham Seed

Post by Phil Cook

Post by Adam Lea
Does anyone know what the most remote place in mainland Scotland is,
defined by distance to the nearest public road as the crow flies?

Having a shuftie at my maps I think it is somewhere between the River
Feshie and Tarf Water in the region of Beinn Bhreac and Carn an Fhidhleir.

Yes, must be somewhere around there. The 1:250000 road map shows minor
public roads with a hard line and other roads/tracks with a pecked outline
(most of the time), so I make it a point equidistant from the roads near
Bridge of Tilt, Auchlean and Linn of Dee which is around 16km and somewhere
on the col between An Sgarsoch and Carn an Fhidhleir.

The public road at Bridge of Tilt goes as far as Baile na Bruaich in Glen
Fender so the furtherst point from a public road is at NN 918833 which is
15.7 km from those three points.
You can probably cycle to within 2.5 km of there along the estate road
past the ruined Geldie Lodge.
--

Not that I'm a cyclist, but I've been checking out the private roads with
Google and the road/path which goes via Gaick (most remote lodge?) over to
Pitlochrie seems a great tick.

Pete?

Graham

[Peter Clinch]

Post by Adam Lea
Does anyone know what the most remote place in mainland Scotland is,
defined by distance to the nearest public road as the crow flies?

Strikes me as an odd way to define it, because you've got places
relatively close to roads straight across a loch or sound which are
nonetheless incredibly remote from a /driver/ who doesn't have a boat or
is a remarkably good swimmer!

But you also have places like Tarbet (Loch Nevis, not Lomond) which are
served by a passenger ferry, which are on the one hand a few miles from
anywhere else and not actually on a road, but there's a village(-ette)
there so it can't be /that/ remote.

I don't know the answer, but I'd personally redefine the criteria a bit.
As the crow with a broken wing hops from a road, habitation or landing
jetty, perhaps...

Pete.

[Adam Lea]

Post by Peter Clinch

Post by Adam Lea
Does anyone know what the most remote place in mainland Scotland is,
defined by distance to the nearest public road as the crow flies?

Strikes me as an odd way to define it, because you've got places
relatively close to roads straight across a loch or sound which are
nonetheless incredibly remote from a /driver/ who doesn't have a boat or
is a remarkably good swimmer!
But you also have places like Tarbet (Loch Nevis, not Lomond) which are
served by a passenger ferry, which are on the one hand a few miles from
anywhere else and not actually on a road, but there's a village(-ette)
there so it can't be /that/ remote.
I don't know the answer, but I'd personally redefine the criteria a bit.
As the crow with a broken wing hops from a road, habitation or landing
jetty, perhaps...
Pete.

I am thinking in geographical terms, not accessibility, just for
curiosity. I sometimes recall when I was stood on the summit of Beinn
Dearg* (the Forest of Atholl one) and for pretty much the whole panorama
I couldn't see any sign of human habitation, it was like rolling
moorland from horizon to horizon. That area between the A9 and A93 is a
vast roadless area and I was wondering if there are other regions that
are a long way from a public road.

I am happy to extend the criteria to distance from any transportation
link if you wish.

Ben Alder is another good example of somewhere that requires a long walk
in from a public road.

*About the only place I've been in Scotland where I have felt really
small and vulnerable.

[Bob Douglas]

Ben Alder is another good example of somewhere that requires a long walk in
from a public road.

This certainly crossed my mind when I first saw your question.

Whilst it is certainly a long walk in by the conventional routes, I had a
quick look at the distance from roads, and was unconvinced that it would
"win the prize".

It certainly seems remote, when you are there, however. I had a session many
years ago in October/November (hind stalking season) at Ben Alder Cottage,
collecting the local Munros.

Having driven up to Dalwhinnie overnight, and borrowed the key to the estate
road, on parking we were met by the factor who said he had stalking parties
out on just about every (alternative) route we had planned (using any one of
the three bothies on the estate).

What looked like being a bit of a disappointment was redeemed by the kind
offer of a lift down Loch Ericht by boat with one of the stalking parties,
and he also extended the journey and dropped us off right at Ben Alder
Cottage. We also arranged the day and time for our return, so he could avoid
the outward walking route for stalking.

I must admit, my opinion of the estate was sky high at that point, improved
further by a share of the whisky flask when we arrived at Ben Alder Cottage.

We had little time to prepare for the boat trip (as they were ready to go)
so effectively threw the whole contents of the car boot into two rucksacks
and took everything - something we regretted when we had to carry much of it
back out, but boy, did we eat better than we had expected, having thrown
quite a lot of heavier, standby food (and some beer) in!

It was topped by a most enjoyable excursion up Ben Alder in crisp new snow
and a complete (mist) white-out, where we were successful in finding the
summit trig point without any difficulty (what's the chance of that on a
plateau like Ben Alder? - my colleague putting it down to superb navigation
skills until I pointed out the potential error walking "blind" on a compass
bearing!

Happy days!

[Phil Cook]

Post by Bob Douglas

Ben Alder is another good example of somewhere that requires a long walk in
from a public road.

Or a shorter walk from a bothy you can cycle to.

Post by Bob Douglas
This certainly crossed my mind when I first saw your question.
Whilst it is certainly a long walk in by the conventional routes, I had a
quick look at the distance from roads, and was unconvinced that it would
"win the prize".

It's close, 14 km from the A9 in the Drumochter and the B road along
Loch Rannoch. The A86 by Loch Laggan is about a kilometre closer and the
railway between Rannoch and Corrour about a kilometre further away.

[Adam Lea]

Post by Phil Cook

Ben Alder is another good example of somewhere that requires a long walk in
from a public road.

Or a shorter walk from a bothy you can cycle to.

If you have a mountain bike, that automatically makes the remote places
much more accessible, thanks to the network of estate roads along many
of the otherwise roadless glens.

Beinn Dearg (Atholl) was a bit like that, hire bike in Blair Atholl,
cycle to bothy, walk to summit, walk back, cycle back to Blair Atholl. I
think I managed the whole thing in under six hours.

Similarly, the Southern Cairngorms are much easier to access with a
mountain bike.

[Phil Cook]

Post by Adam Lea

Post by Phil Cook

Ben Alder is another good example of somewhere that requires a long walk in
from a public road.

Or a shorter walk from a bothy you can cycle to.

If you have a mountain bike, that automatically makes the remote places
much more accessible, thanks to the network of estate roads along many
of the otherwise roadless glens.

The Southern Fannichs were a bit troublesome when I did them. The road
had just been graded and was in places impossible to ride on, the gravel
being made of 3 cm pebbles!

Post by Adam Lea
Beinn Dearg (Atholl) was a bit like that, hire bike in Blair Atholl,
cycle to bothy, walk to summit, walk back, cycle back to Blair Atholl. I
think I managed the whole thing in under six hours.
Similarly, the Southern Cairngorms are much easier to access with a
mountain bike.

Beinn Bhudhie up Glen Fyne is easier with *any* bike. The road is tarmac
all the way to Glenfyne Lodge. I ended up doing the tarmac trudge
because I hadn't planned on going to that hill when I did and my bike
was 600km away at home.

[g***@gmail.com]

Pretty sure it is between An Sgarsoch and Cairn an Fidleir NN914837 approx 10 miles from the public roads (yellow on the OS) above Blair Atholl, at Glenfeshie and Bridge of Dee, which agrees closely with an earlier post NN918833.
That is not to say it's the hardest place to get to..

[Graham Seed]

Post by Adam Lea
Does anyone know what the most remote place in mainland Scotland is,
defined by distance to the nearest public road as the crow flies?

One answer, but I think we've done better on this forum.

http://mapzone.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/mapzone/didyouknow/whatis/q_12_54.html

Graham