Retreats & Expeditions
The North Highlands are best enjoyed at a leisurely pace. Take your time around the North Coast 500 and really get to know the local area; head off the beaten path to discover new adventures in the wilds of Scotland, spend a few days in various locations around the route, and immerse yourself in the beautiful scenery. The NC500 really is Scotland at its finest! A few days spent walking and exploring all that nature has to offer will help you escape the stresses of daily life and invoke a sense of wellness that we hope you’ll be able to take home with you! Nothing feeds the soul quite like journeying through breath-taking landscapes, travelling leisurely, and really connecting with the great outdoors.
If you’re looking to harness the healing powers of nature, why not take inspiration from some of our suggestions below:
Yoga
Hartfield House Hostel is a great base for an escape into nature. Ideally placed for a whole host of outdoor activity including road and mountain biking, wild swimming, climbing, trail running, and hiking. They also organise retreats throughout the year for activities such as Yoga.
While ACE Adventures & Hideaways by Bliss By Robin, brings you a unique yoga retreat, combining yoga, meditation, nature and adventurous activities to enhance your personal well being and confidence. (12th-17th August 2019).
Photos: ACE Adventures & Hideaways by Bliss by Robin, Alladale Wilderness Reserve
Bushcraft course at ACE Adventures
If yoga isn’t really your cup of tea, ACE Adventures’ bushcraft course could be just what you’re looking for! On this two-day residential course, held on specific dates each year, you’ll learn how to build a shelter and cook on a campfire, as well as other essential skills to help you survive in the woods (Bushcraft weekend course is on 22nd and 23rd July).
A spot of fishing
Whether you just have a few days to spare, or a full week, join TroutQuest on a guided North Coast 500 fly fishing excursion. Offering guided fly fishing for salmon and wild brown trout in lochs and rivers throughout Ross-shire and beyond, TroutQuest also specialises in custom-designed fly fishing courses for beginners – perfect for those looking for an introduction to the sport. Along the east coast, book your fishing permit on the River Alness with Novar Fishing.
Over on the north-west coast, Scourie Hotel also offers fly fishing on more than 300 local lochs and lochans, split into 46 hotel-controlled beats. The names of all hotel residents wishing to fish are put onto the fishing roster. Likewise, Forss House Hotel in Caithness ticks all the boxes for a memorable experience. The River Forss winds its way around the hotel, with salmon fishing season running from late March until mid-October each year. You’ll find a range of sea pools and beats to suit the novice right through to the expert, all within a short walk from the hotel.
While over on the north west coast, take advantage of the world class salmon and trout fishing available – Assynt is a goldmine for anglers! Free to hotel guests, join Inver Lodge Hotel for a spot of salmon fishing on the River Kirkaig and River Inver. A Ghillie can also be arranged to accompany and advise, depending on availability.
There is also an abundance of trout fishing in the area, with 300 lochs to choose from: ranging from small, remote mountain corries to large roadside lochs. Inver Lodge Hotel has boats on three local lochs: Loch Awe, School Loch and Glen Loch. Permits are also available to purchase from the community owned Glencanisp Lodge Bed and Breakfast or Mackay’s Hardware shop in Lochinver.
Photo: TroutQuest, Inver Lodge Hotel, Forss House Hotel, Glencanisp Lodge view from garden
Deer stalking
Try your hand at something a little different, with deer stalking. Organised through the Assynt Foundation’s Glencanisp Lodge, the mountains of Suilven, Canisp, Cul Mor and Cul Beag form the backdrop to your adventure, led by experienced and knowledgeable deer stalkers. This annual cull is part of the estate’s land management program, which is carefully balanced to benefit them, and the environment. Stalking packages can also be arranged on local estates to suit individual needs through Inver Lodge Hotel – some estates offer traditional stalking with ponies, while others use Argocat off terrain vehicles.
Ben Damph Estate can also organise deer stalking and rough shooting experiences by arrangement, with the magnificent Wester Ross scenery making for a memorable day on the hills. Alternatively, you could try Shieldaig Lodge’s Mcnag experience.
Photo: Ben Damph Estate
Get creative
Painters especially, come to the Highlands on retreat because of the amazing and ever changing light, and inspiring landscape!
Our inspirational landscape and way of life fuels creativity; it is no wonder that we have so many galleries with eager craftspeople and gifted artists dotted around the route, even in the most remote corner of the North Highlands. You can view the paintings and buy the products, but the only way to properly experience the wealth of arts and crafts along the North Coast 500 is to fully immerse yourself in them!
Although there are less than 300 locals in 62,000 hectares of the Applecross Peninsula, they have a vibrant and creative community of artists, musicians, artisans and craftspeople. Catherine Stewart, founder of Eagle Rock has partnered up with the local craftspeople in the area to bring you a bespoke and tailored arts and crafts retreat, including workshops in rural crafts to natural plant dying, spinning, weaving, basket weaving, hand-printing and dry stone walling. Set your imagination alight in Eagle Rock’s studio space – perfect for painters with its open panoramic views, warm and north lit space.
As well as offering exclusive retreats and expeditions for those who like to get out and about into the Sutherland hills, the Assynt Foundation is also the perfect getaway for creative types. The eco-friendly, newly-built Glencanisp Studio is available for photographers and artists to use for creative projects, whilst staying at Glencanisp Lodge.
Get creative
Challenge yourself!
Get the adrenaline pumping, learn something new and experience that sense of wellness that can only be achieved by challenging yourself!see Suilven by canoe with
If you’d like to get better acquainted with one of Scotland’s most famous mountains, follow in the footsteps of Sheila Hancock in the recent film EDIE and climb the iconic Suilven! Liquid Footprints and Hamlet Mountaineering both offer bespoke expeditions – combining canoeing, wild camping, dinner and hiking to the summit.
Looking for a little more luxury? Overnight at The Torridon Resort and book a place on one of their full adventure experience packages, including Munro bagging in the famous Torridon Mountains.
Alternatively, why not travel the entire width of Scotland with Liquid Footprint’s Great Glen Canoe trip?
Photo: Hamlet Mountaineering, Suilven
Uninhabited Islands
There is something romantic and exciting about visiting an uninhabited island. While there are plenty of quiet remote spots throughout the north Highlands, somehow the idea of being surrounded by water and being cut off or isolated even for a short time, is quite special. Escape into the wilds and explore a number of our beautiful and isolated islands off the North Coast 500!
North Coast Sea Tours offer a number of unique overnight camping trips for those wishing to adventure to places in Scotland few have. Travelling on their safe, fast and comfortable RIB allows you to get there in good time and they have plenty of dry storage for camping gear. Their skipper and crew will land you safely, and show you to some of the best wildlife spots these islands have to offer. Some of the trips they offer include stops to UNESCO site St Kilda, North Rona, Flannan, Eilean Nan Ron and Sula Sgeir. To find out more visit their website.
The Summer Isles are one of the most scenic archipelagos in Scotland. Just off the coast of Achiltibuie, outside Ullapool, you can join Kayak Summer Isles on an overnight trip, where you’ll access remote mountains via sea and loch, helping you to view this spectacular section of Scotland from a whole new vantage point. Head into the Inverpollaidh Lochs on a multi-day adventure, complete with wild camping experience, with Sea Kayak Plockton on one of their 3 or 5 day Isle of Skye expeditions, and explore the islands dramatic coastline and surrounding islands of Rona and Raasay.
Photos: North Coast Sea Tours (images 1&2), Kayak Summer Isles, Sea Kayak Plockton
Train to learn a new skill
Located by Forres, just a short drive from Inverness, ACE Adventures & Hideaways is the perfect retreat for those who have completed, or who are just about to begin, their North Coast 500 adventure. Why not book their International Rafting Federation (IRF) Guide Training, Assessment and Instructor Workshop? You’ll learn the basics of raft guiding with the most widely recognised white water rafting guide qualification in the world and return from holiday with a new qualification, having fun experience in the process!
Photo: ACE Adventures & Hideaways, White Water Rafting
Volunteer at Forsinard Flows
Forsinard Flows is the largest RSPB nature reserve in the UK – with plenty of opportunities for groups of friends and families to get together and join a residential volunteer course later this year. As a group, you’ll assist with the RSPB’s habitat restoration and monitoring programme within this beautiful part of the North Highlands. Dates run from mid August until late October and places are limited, so don’t delay in booking!
Photo: Neil Cowie, RSPB Scotland Forsinard Flows Nature Reserve (rspb-images.com)
Photography
The North Highlands offer some of the most spectacular locations in Scotland to photograph, with the light ever changing throughout the day and seasons. Capture the Northern Lights on a clear night in winter, or rise early for a stunning pink sunrise over the coastal waters. Breathe in the wild landscapes of Applecross with a photography retreat at Eagle Rock! The perfect base to take some time out, reconnect with what is most important to you, and allow the song of the wild highlands to wrap you in wonder!
Looking for some landscape photography instruction during your retreat? Join Karen Thornburn Photography for one of her single day landscape photography work shops. Karen covers various locations around the route, including the Black Isle (near Inverness),the west coast and Torridon region and Assynt area; offering individual and small group tuition in the field, with the aim of inspiring beginners and intermediate photographers to master their camera settings and improve their compositions.
Coming in 2020 – Glencanisp Lodge near Lochinver will be offering photography stalking tours, taking to the hills to capture: red deer, nesting golden eagles, red and black throated divers and pine martens are but a few of the multitude of native species thriving in the area.
Capture the NC500
Gourmet Getaway!
Eagle Rock in Applecross offer a variety of exciting retreats, including their popular Gourmet Getaway! Award winning chefs Kirby and Wynand host gourmet retreats for groups of 12, tailored to your tastes and budget! (Dates available: 2-7 Sept and 12-16 Sept)
Photo:Eagle Rock
Winter Skills Course
During the colder months, sign up to Liquid Footprints winter skills course, where you’ll learn how to move in snow and use an ice axe and crampons, as well as life-saving winter survival skills.
Photo: Liquid Footprints
