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This part of Scotland is like nowhere on Earth (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto) It’s easy to get lost on the ‘Road to the Isles’ — not because of complicated directions, but because its resplendent and volcanic beauty lures you down paths less travelled. The A830, Scotland’s most spectacular of roadways, stretches westward for 42 miles from the foot of Ben Nevis – just north of the Highland town of Fort William – and comes to a stop in the quaint harbour village of Mallaig. Fort William is barely out of your rearview mirror before you’re cast out of the modern world and briefly transported back thousands, if not billions of years. It is liberating to watch our world, and all of its noise and light pollution, slip out of sight. If you take a trip beyond the scenery of Loch Lomond, the might of Glencoe, and the essential Green Welly Stop of Tyndrum, ensure you’re not the designated driver. The passenger on this journey is the lucky one; to be driven along the A830 (and the A82, for that matter) is to rediscover the wonder of sight all over again. It’s as though your eyes have to witness such things to achieve their full potential. Discovering natural beauty I was first driven up this road in August 2006. Camusdarach beach on a sunny morning in 2014 (Picture: Rob Oliver) I was 12 years old, fidgeting in the back of my parents’ Fiat Brava, legs twitching irritably after seven long hours on the road from our home in south Manchester. We were heading for a week-long stay in a tent at the Camusdarach Campsite. I was as painfully and gleefully ignorant of the world around me as any other 12-year-old boy. My interests were football and video games, and my ideal holiday destination was a Haven Park. Or, if we could afford it that year, a Spanish all-inclusive resort with restaurants that served me Punky ice creams. The concept of natural beauty was, at that point in my life, beyond my comprehension. But see, that’s the thing about the Road to the Isles and its surrounding areas. It really does change your life. Metro's Local Guides An Irishwoman’s guide to Ireland’s most underrated county An Italian’s guide to Italy’s under-the-radar region that tourists often skip A local’s guide to a perfect weekend in the Yorkshire Dales A local’s guide to the UK’s ‘Silk City’ A local’s guide to Bulgaria’s most underrated destination — the ‘Bordeaux of Eastern Europe’ After a certain point on the A830, you’ll realise you haven’t looked anywhere but up and away for several minutes. The mountains of the Western Highlands only rise and expand the deeper you drive into them, and the land beyond Fort William is the clearest evidence yet of why the Romans were never able to tame Scotland. You spend almost the entire time surrounded on all sides, and above, by towers of bulbous, impenetrable, and truly ancient rock. Looking out over the slopes of Ben Nevis (Picture: Getty Images) The hills between Glenfinnan and Lochailort are not to be climbed or conquered; they are only to be seen and admired. It’s the kind of place you go to be reminded that, before civilisation and industry, the British Isles truly were wild and intimidating. It’s millions of years of geological history at once, and you don’t have to pay a penny to experience the best of it. Aside from the price of petrol, or some decent hiking boots if you’re that way inclined, you can keep your cash in your pocket and still reap huge rewards. Awe-inspiring nature Top of the list has to be Camusdarach Beach, which was so lovingly and prominently featured in the 1983 West Highlands tribute film Local Hero. It provides a calming contrast to the millennia of volcanic activity that surrounds it. Visible from its cool silver sands are the Hebrides islands of Rum, Eigg, and Muck, all several miles offshore. Last light on Ben Nevis (Picture: Getty Images) That’s the thing about the very edges of the West Highlands coast: you go from being surrounded on all sides by seemingly impassible rock formations to suddenly having the entire North Atlantic Ocean stretch out in front of you. And you can feel all of this – the seductive pull of absolute quiet, the creeping comprehension of your place in the world and its history – just by visiting. There’s a certain point on the A830 that takes you past the exact spot where, in 1746, Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora McDonald faced the unforgiving waters, fled the Scottish mainland near Arisaig, and went into hiding on the Isle of Skye after the Young Pretender’s defeat at the Battle of Culloden. @theweepiedpiper The Road to the Isles performed looking over Loch Tummel, part of the route that the tune is named after 🏴 Use the link in my bio to enquire today 🔗 #bagpipes #bagpiper #pipes #scotland #scottish #scotlandfyp #fyp #glasgow #edinburgh #scotlandtiktok #loch #wedding #bridetobe2025 #bridetobe2026 #bridetobe2027 #weddinginspo ♬ original sound – The Wee Pied Piper Before you reach Arisaig, there’s the world-famous Glenfinnan Viaduct (famous, of course, for appearing in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) and its surrounding valley, carved out by glaciers over centuries to become Loch Shiel. It’s just there, waiting to be witnessed, touched, and breathed in. Sure, there’s a gift shop and a visitor centre if you want a coffee and shortbread, but no gates bar you from the valley and no security guards tell you to stop skimming stones on the water. With that said, if you do fancy re-enacting Harry and Ron’s Ford Anglia hijinks and don’t mind spending £69pp to do it, by all means catch the Jacobite Steam Train that runs between Mallaig and Fort William. The road less travelled July and August can be busy. On some days, you’d wonder if the West Highlands and the Road to the Isles were victims of overtourism. During the school holiday season, you’d worry that you’d accidentally packed the hustle and bustle of town life in your suitcase. But if it hasn’t become clear by now, visiting the West Highlands and the little towns dotted along the A830 doesn’t have to be about visiting the main tourist attractions. You can deliberately avoid them and still feel as though you’ve somehow changed as a person, just by visiting the area. Walk in any direction, at any time of year, and you will find something that will either permanently alter your outlook or give you a precious memory. Loch Shiel in Glenfinnan (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto) In the autumn of 2021, as Covid lockdown conditions lifted, Camusdarach was the only place my family wanted to go. On this occasion, we picked a clear day to visit Rhu Point (or Rhumach). At Rhu Point, the single-track road from Arisaig just… ends. The path carries on. My dad and I just kept walking. And walking. Through farmland, past groups of cows in open fields, through the back garden of the only house for miles, over small hills and fences and little rock formations, until we reached Rhu Point Beach. The beach was home to a group of sheep. There we were, standing on a sandy beach, and sharing that beach with sheep. You can count on one hand the places in the world that can give you that specific combination. They don’t charge you to get to Rhu Point Beach because, well, how could anyone put a price on it? No caption necessary (Picture: Rob Oliver) Timing is everything My first trip to the West Highlands in 2006 turned into almost a dozen in the two decades since, and I’ve made sure to visit at different times of the year. My advice would be to go out of season (between October and April). And if you’re lucky enough to spend Christmas along the A830, as I did in 2023, you can go days without seeing another person if you so wish. Glenfinnan viaduct (Picture: Getty Images/Westend61) If July and August are all you can manage, but you still want the peace and quiet of the off-season period, stay a little further down the coast on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. A long extinct volcano, Arndamurchan is rugged, wild, remote, and only comfortably accessible by the Corran ferry. You can still reach Ardamurchan exclusively by road, and part of your route would put you on the A830, but you’d be adding another 90 minutes onto your journey. They call Ardnamurchan – and its most remote crofting hamlet of Portuairk – the ‘Real Wild West’. That’s because it’s the most westerly point of Great Britain’s mainland. Strictly Come Dancing’s winner from 2022, Hamza Yassin, called Ardanmurchan his home after going there for a short break. My addiction to the Road to the Isles and its surrounding areas resulted in learning my GCSE results while on a ferry ride to Tobermory in 2010, my wife undertaking a vital job interview in 2019 while virtually sat in the sand dunes of Camusdarach Beach, and waking up on Christmas morning in 2023 to the sight of snow falling on Arisaig harbour. My wife almost immediately after that job interview in 2019 (Picture: Rob Oliver) While I’ve returned on enough occasions to last a lifetime, I’d need an extra pair of hands to count the number of times my parents have returned by themselves to Camusdarach, Mallaig, and nearby villages Arisaig and Morar. As I type this, mum and dad are currently in the middle of a two-week stay there, having first journeyed up in 1986 (back when only a single-track road ran between Glenfinnan and Mallaig). I don’t remember the last time my mum referred to Camusdarach Beach by its proper name. She just calls it ‘My Beach’ (or ‘Ben’s Beach’, after its owner in Local Hero) and has done so as far back as my memory goes. There’s a corner of Scotland that’s waiting to be just yours as well.
