We will start and finish each day either at your accommodation or at a designated easy to find rendezvous spot.  We will supply you with maps and directions.  Please call the office on +44 (0)845 612 5567 for advice on the easiest way to reach Inverness from where you live.

Sample Itinerary

Day 1

The beauties of Strath Glass cast their magic today. We’ll start by taking you on a smooth open canoe trip in the Aigas gorge.  This is suitable for everybody and is a great way to see local wildlife.  Having worked up an appetite, we’ll head up the glen towards Glen Affric to enjoy a picnic lunch in stunning surroundings.  Glen Affric has a variety of easy walks where you can get right inside the silence of the glen.  There are birds and flowers to see as well as some dazzling dragon flies in season.  This really is a special place.  We journey back down the glen to the village of Cannich where we detour up Glen Cannich.  This is another spectacular glen with herds of majestic red deer roaming the mountain sides.  After this we make our way back to Inverness.

Day 2

Today we will head south from Inverness to the Strathspey area, which encompasses part of the Cairngorms National Park.  Passing through Aviemore, we take to narrow roads and make our way to the Inchriach Alpine Nursery.  We can have a look round this unique collection of plants, but the main attraction is a small tea room that has large windows which look directly out onto bird feeders, just inches from the glass.  Here you will see a variety of birds completely at home with their human neighbours.  After a cuppa and a slice of cake, we’ll set off again along picturesque roads heading for the Kincraig Wildlife Park near Kingussie.  This is run by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and features many animals and birds that can be found in Scotland today and some from Scotland’s past.  We’ll have lunch here as well as visiting the park’s inhabitants.  On leaving the Wildlife Park, we’ll head north again towards the Loch Garten Osprey Centre.  Here you will learn about one of Scotland’s rarest birds of prey and we may even be lucky enough to glimpse a sight of one of these magnificent raptors.  We will finish the day with an evening visit to the badger and pine martin hide in Aviemore.

Day 3

Off to the West Coast of Scotland today.  We leave the sea at Inverness on the east coast and travel west motoring through some very dramatic scenery in Glen Shiel before arriving at the sea again at Loch Duich.  Here we cut over a high pass to Glenelg before taking a small ferry over to the Isle of Skye.  We then visit the Kylerhea Otter Haven. We’ll have lunch at the Kylerhea Inn before heading over another steep pass to Broadford.  The mainland beckons as we skirt the shore and cross the bridge to Kyle of Lochalsh.  We soon pass Eilean Donan Castle and head up to a wonderful view point on Carr Brae.  Here golden eagles are often seen circling high above.

Day 4

We’ll take lunch with us on a wonderful trip circumnavigating Loch Ness and all it has to offer.  We leave Inverness behind as we take a winding road towards Loch Ruthven, an R.S.P.B. reserve.  This is a beautiful loch surrounded by birch woods and sedges and is famed for its breeding Slavonian Grebes.  There is a hide about 600m from the car park from which ospreys and occasionally peregrine falcons can be seen.  From here we once again take to the scenic back roads towards Foyers.  Here is a famous waterfall poetically described by Burns and commented on by Dr Johnston and Bothwell.  We then follow the old military road built around the time of the Jacobite rebellions by General Wade to Fort Augustus.  Here is a lovely village situated at the south end of Loch Ness which boasts a Benedictine Monastery and a flight of locks on the Caledonian Canal.  You can enjoy an ice cream while watching the boats negotiating the locks.  A leisurely drive up the side of Loch Ness follows with everybody’s eyes looking for “Nessie”, the Loch Ness Monster.  We will stop at Drumnadrochit to see a life size model of her floating in a miniature loch.

Day 5

A day to yourself today.  We’ll provide you with a map and itinerary and set you off in the direction of the Black Isle, a pleasant peninsula near Inverness.  We’ll direct to the Munlochy Bay Bird reserve before guiding you towards the old fishing village of Avoch. Here you’ll board a dolphin cruise out into the Moray Firth.  Back on dry land, you’ll lunch at a café in the cathedral town of Fortrose before visiting Chanonry Point for another chance to see the dolphins.  The route will then take in small picturesque roads to Cromarty, the birthplace of Hugh Miller, the eminent 19th century geologist.  Further on you can stop at the Udale Bay bird reserve and then return to Inverness.

Prices:

Adult

Under 18s

£670

£590

(includes transport)