The Scottish Highlands is one of the world’s great travel destinations because of its scenery, history, culture and variety. Our Black Isle accommodation offers unique access to the area’s distinctive natural world. Neither black nor an island, the Black Isle is a peninsula, 25 miles long and 6 miles wide. It is bounded by the Cromarty, Moray and Beauly Firths. With the Black Isle as your base, you can tour the whole of the Highlands. On the one hand, visit the legendary attractions such as Loch Ness, Loch Maree, Eilean Donan, Dunrobin and Urquhart Castles. On the other hand, travel to the Western and Northern Isles by ferry from the mainland. The possibilities are endless!
The Black Isle Countryside
But let us look at Eilean Dubh – the Black Isle. The fertile soil encouraged settlement and agriculture millennia ago leaving the higher ground to forest. While much of the present look of the countryside is due to human endeavour, nature had the bigger say. Chanonry Point, now a well tended golf course, is the result of glacial debris and the steep cliffs along the southern side a continuation of the geological fault that caused the Great Glen.
This is but the backdrop to your stay – there is much more you must find for yourselves. The rich fishing history of Avoch, the religious development and power centered in Fortrose and Rosemarkie and the wealthy trading history of Cromarty.
Streams or burns run from the high ground to the shore, the best of these being the Rosemarkie Burn which runs through the Fairy Glen with its Dens or clay cliffs and the Eathie Burn which meets the sea at Eathie Beach, a source of Jurassic era fossils.
On the north side of the Isle much of the Cromarty Firth is given over to maritime purposes – the passage of some of the world’s biggest cruise liners moving by stacked oil rigs makes a true spectacle.
So come and explore the Black Isle, it’s mostly free and you can’t do it anywhere else.
Photo Credits
Avoch Harbour, Black Isle. © Rev Sandy Sutherland. Used here with permission.
Arabella Woods, Black Isle. © Rev Sandy Sutherland. Used here with permission.
