Activities
Low-level. Even if you aren't one for the high tops, there are many low-level walks with convenient road access and parking offering splendid views and chances to see our natural environment. You can walk into the low hills or explore the coastline, from the huge sandy beach at Achnahaird to the high cliffs at Reiff.
Higher level. The Coigach peninsula has its own mountains giving easy to moderate climbing, wonderful views and a chance to walk off last night's drams. As most things here, our mountains have Gaelic names and they include: Stac Pollaidh (Stack Polly, 613m); Ben More Coigach (743m); Sgurr an Fhidhleir (The Fiddler, 703m) Cul Beag (769m); Cul Mor (849m). Not far away are other well-known peaks including An Teallach, Suilven, Canisp, Quinag and Beinn Dearg.
Rock climbing. As well as rock climbing on the mountains, the sea cliffs at Reiff offer excellent opportunities for novice and experienced climbers alike. Mostly single-pitch climbs Reiff's sandstone cliffs are well recognised among the rock climbing fraternity and attract more and more climbers each year. The climbs feature on several web sites - check your usual search engine.
Maps (OS Landranger Sheet 15) and some equipment are available locally, with a more extensive choice in Ullapool (40km, 25 miles).
The roads around Achiltibuie are quiet and generally easy for cycling and there is plenty of hill and shore for the more adventurous mountain-bikers. If you're confronted by a hill, just keep going - the view from the top will make it all worthwhile. If you don't want to take a bike, hire one locally.
Rivers, Burns and Lochs. The waters around Achiltibuie hold wild brown trout, sea trout, salmon, ferrox trout and arctic char and angling permits are readily available. Most anglers choose to fish with the fly, and many waters are fly-only, with lochs fished by the traditional methods from boat or shore. The main waters are the rivers Garvie and Polly and lochs Oscaig, Badagyle, Lurrgain and Sionascaig, but there is a myriad of smaller lochs, many holding excellent fish and wonderful memories. Achiltibuie Angling Club (01854 622[Chris Macleod]) can provide details.
Sea angling. From boat, shore or pier, Achiltibuie and the Summer Isles offers great scope for magical fishing trips. All the best species are here, from easy-to-catch mackerel to record-breaking skate. The sheltered waters around the Summer Isles and the Coigach peninsula provide a huge range of conditions and habitats.
The varied coastline of the Coigach peninsula and the Summer Isles offers diving considered to be amongst the best anywhere in the country because of its clear water and rich marine life. There is a sub-aqua club in Ullapool [contact?] that can provide more information.
Achiltibuie and the Summer Isles is a place of boats. You can bring yours and join the fun. Canoes and dinghies can be launched from gentle sandy beaches, or with larger boats from the concrete launching slip at Old Dornie, the local fishing harbour. Once at sea, it's all yours. Quiet waters, islands to explore, fish to be caught.
Achiltibuie and the Summer Isles offer wonderful opportunities to see wildlife in their natural habitats. Inverpolly, designated a National Nature Reserve, lies within the Coigach peninsula.
Birds: if you're into lists then Achiltibuie won't disappoint, but the idea of 'twitching' sounds too energetic - better perhaps to just relax and let the birds do the work. Without being too comprehensive, and concentrating on those of perhaps most interest, you may see, at different times of the year: Golden Eagle, Buzzard, Peregrine falcon, Hen Harrier, Merlin, Greylag Goose, Barnacle Goose, Whooper Swan, Raven, Hooded Crow, Ptarmigan, Red Grouse, Ring Ouzel, Great Skua, Arctic Skua, Gannet, Fulmar, Kittiwake, Common and Arctic Tern, Cormorant, Shag, Common Guillemot, Black Guillemot, Razorbill, Puffin, Storm Petrel, Black-throated Diver, Red-throated Diver, Great Northern Diver, Merganser, Goosander, Dipper, Sandpiper, Greenshank, Golden Polver, Turnstone, Eider, Goldeneye, Long-tailed Duck, Common Scoter, Whimbrel, Wheatear, Stonechat, Whinchat, Scottish Crossbill, Snow Bunting, Meadow Pipit, Rock Pipit, Twite, Siskin, Rock Dove. The ones that might make us locals look up from our work include the White-tailed Sea Eagle, Osprey and Corncrake. Handa Island, the RSPB reserve famed for its sea bird colonies lies not far to the north, and well worth a visit, particularly in the May/June nesting season.
Animals: without mentioning every small furry thing, and depending on when you come, where you look and how well trained your eye, you might see: Red Deer, Pine Marten, Stoat, Weasel, Badger, Fox and Adder. At sea you will almost certainly see Grey Seal, frequently you will see Harbour Porpoise and you might see Otter, Dolphin (mostly Common, Bottlenose and White-sided) and Whales (mostly Minke, also Killer (Orca) and Pilot Whales, but many other species are possible).
The Summer Isles is a group of about 20 islands, rocks and skerries that sit off the Coigach peninsula. You can walk to the closest, Isle Ristol, with its long white sandy beach, on the lower tides; the furthest, Eilean a Chleirich (Priest Island), lies some 6 miles from shore. Home to seals, otters and seabirds, the islands also offer fresh grazing for local crofters to summer their sheep. The largest, Tanera Mhor is some 800 acres (300 ha) and is the only one of the islands permanently inhabited. Tanera Mhor was the centre of a thriving herring fishing industry in the 18th century, and many centuries before that its sheltered harbour was home to Vikings. It was the Vikings who named the island Tanera, a name later given the Gaelic addition of Mhor ('big') to distinguish it from its neighbour Tanera Beag ('small' Tanera). A trip to the Summer Isles is a popular excursion for visitors to Achiltibuie, and a local cruise boat takes passengers on a magnificent trip around them, landing on both Tanera Mhor and Tanera Beag, during the summer months. Self-catering cottages are also available on Tanera Mhor. The islands are great too if you have a canoe or wind surfer - within easy reach, incredible rock formations, caves and beaches.
Achiltibuie and the Summer Isles offers enough to let you have a great holiday - all the natural attractions plus galleries, restaurants, pubs, shops and the unique Hydroponicum - see details on other pages on the site. A week goes by all too quickly and many who have come before for a week, come back for two. Two weeks lets you explore a little further afield. Within easy reach by car are the fishing ports of Ullapool to the south and Lochinver to the north. As well as providing more shops, restaurants and an award-winning museum, Ullapool is the main ferry port for the Outer Hebrides, and a return trip to Stornoway can be made within the day. The Assynt Bone Caves lie to the north on the Lochinver road, not far from Britain's highest waterfall and on the way to Handa Island. Spectacular mountains, lochs and seascapes meet you with every turn in the road.