Arisaig and Morar travel guide

At the western end of the Morar Peninsula is the little village of Arisaig, scattered around the head of a sheltered bay with An Sgurr’s knobbly peak peering above the narrow mouth. The village has sleeping and eating options, as well as a post office, general store (with ATM) and doctor’s surgery and is a useful service centre for the many self-catering cottages and caravans that line this stretch of coastline. There are some nice beaches around, and the road west from the village out to the Rhue Peninsula is great for seal spotting. You can also take a cruise from Arisaig to the islands of Rùm, Eigg and Muck .

WArisaig was the birthplace of Long John Silver, who worked on the construction of the nearby lighthouse at Barrahead, one of many designed by the father of Robert Louis Stevenson who met Silver and was so impressed that he immortalized him in his classic Treasure Island.

The main A830 bypasses Arisaig on its way to Mallaig, while a wiggly single-track road hugs the coast and heads north, past the golf course and on past beautiful Camusdarach beach (which featured in the film Local Hero) before joining the main road by the tiny village of Morar. A single-track road leads up behind the village of Morar to dark, mysterious Loch Morar, the deepest inland loch in the country and home of Morag, Scotland’s other, lesser-known, but more attractive (according to the locals) monster. Two locals reported seeing her in August 1969 and a scientific investigation two years later uncovered a remarkable number of eye-witness accounts. You could always try to elicit further information from the locals over a wee dram in the bar of the Morar Hotel. The road runs along the north shore of the loch for 3 miles until it reaches the pretty little hamlets of Bracora and Bracorina. Here the road stops, but a footpath continues all the way to Tarbet on the shores of Loch Nevis, from where it’s possible to catch a boat back to Mallaig . It takes about three hours to walk to Tarbet – where there’s now a bothy – and you’ll need to get there by 1530 for the boat.