Best spot in the UK
- Thread starter connorav
- Start date
Would depend on what you were looking for. For nice little hikes and an overnighter the Wye valley is a a favourite of mine just at the minute. Not very wild but very tranquil and picturesque with some lovely woodlands. Can't beat the west coast of Scotland for me tho, around Ardnamurchan....mmmmmmmm
I think much depends on what you want.
For me the three main attractions are:
wildness
solitude
natural beauty
opportunities for self sufficiency (water, fishing, foraging).
Knoydart is wild and beautiful, with the sea all around you. It is not wilderness exactly - there is some estate management - but it is certainly wild country. But if you go in the summer you will not be alone.
Rannoch moor is good for solitude, and the bleak moorland has it's charms.
Glen Affric and Rothiemurchas are proper boreal forest but again you will not be alone unless you get off the beaten track.
One problem is the map doesn't really tell you everything. There's a loch on the way to Knoydart that is remote and looks like a good place. When I got there I found it is a hydro-electric loch with a severe draw-down scar and the whole place looks almost industrial.
Coniferous forest on the map could be natural Caledonian forest remnant with beautiful walking through mature Scots pines, but it's more likely to be intensively managed Sitka monoculture that is too dense to walk through and devoid of anything but Sitka.
According to the John Muir Trust, the wildest land is in the north west of Scotland. There are several places there that I would chose.
A good bet is to walk or paddle at least a mile away from the nearest vehicle access. That puts off 95% of people. If you avoid honeypots like Munros then you avoid the other 5%.
For me the three main attractions are:
wildness
solitude
natural beauty
opportunities for self sufficiency (water, fishing, foraging).
Knoydart is wild and beautiful, with the sea all around you. It is not wilderness exactly - there is some estate management - but it is certainly wild country. But if you go in the summer you will not be alone.
Rannoch moor is good for solitude, and the bleak moorland has it's charms.
Glen Affric and Rothiemurchas are proper boreal forest but again you will not be alone unless you get off the beaten track.
One problem is the map doesn't really tell you everything. There's a loch on the way to Knoydart that is remote and looks like a good place. When I got there I found it is a hydro-electric loch with a severe draw-down scar and the whole place looks almost industrial.
Coniferous forest on the map could be natural Caledonian forest remnant with beautiful walking through mature Scots pines, but it's more likely to be intensively managed Sitka monoculture that is too dense to walk through and devoid of anything but Sitka.
According to the John Muir Trust, the wildest land is in the north west of Scotland. There are several places there that I would chose.
A good bet is to walk or paddle at least a mile away from the nearest vehicle access. That puts off 95% of people. If you avoid honeypots like Munros then you avoid the other 5%.
