Kinlochewe
Encyclopedia
Kinlochewe is a village in Wester Ross
in the Northwest Highlands
of Scotland
. It is in the parish of Gairloch
, the community of Torridon and Kinlochewe and the Highland
Council area. It lies near the head of Loch Maree
in its magnificent valley, and serves as a junction between the main Ullapool
road north, and that which heads west to the coast at Loch Torridon
. Loch Maree was at one time also known as Loch Ewe, hence the village's apparently confused name.
Kinlochewe has a couple of shops, a hotel and bunkhouse, mountain chalets, several bed and breakfasts, a post office (with internet café
), and one of very few petrol filling stations for many miles in any direction.
Buses connect the village with Gairloch
, Lochcarron
and the railhead at Achnasheen
, with a small number running through to Inverness
.
The village contains two churches, Kinlochewe Free Church, built in 1873, and the Church of Scotland
.
To the north of the village, by the car park, is a First World War (1914–18) memorial. Two sergeants from the Seaforth Highlanders
are remembered. Both were awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal
, and both later died of their wounds. Others from Canada
and New Zealand
are also remembered.
National Nature Reserve
, centred around the mountain of that name, which includes some surviving areas of natural forest, the majority of which was cut down from the 16th century onwards for iron smelting which was the major industry in the area. A short but steep woodland trail runs through pine forest on the lower slopes of the reserve, giving fine views over Loch Maree
and the mountain of Slioch
on the other side of the loch. A longer, rougher mountain trail climbs further up the slopes of Beinn Eighe
.
The area is well known for its spectacular mountain
scenery, especially the Torridon Hills
which includes such peaks as Beinn Eighe
and Liathach
. Although many peaks in the North-west highlands exhibit Torridon geology
, the Torridon hills are generally considered only to be those in the Torridon Forest to the north of Glen Torridon. Specifically, these are:
The Torridon Hills exhibit some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the British Isles
, surpassed in grandeur probably only by the Cuillins of Skye
.
The landscape around the village is dominated by the Torridonian sandstone, a Precambrian
and very old rock formation. Each of the Torridon Hills sits very much apart from each other, and they are often likened to castles. They have steep terraced sides, and broken summit crests, riven into many pinnacle
s. There are many steep gullies running down the terraced sides. The summit ridge
s provide excellent scrambling
, and are popular with hill walkers and mountaineers. However, like many ridge routes, there are few escape points, so once committed, the scrambler or hillwalker must complete the entire ridge before descent.
in the south-east, was widened and improved for easier access.
and Scotland, Kinlochewe experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters.
The weather station holds the rather dubious accolade of averaging the lowest annual level of sunshine for any low level site in the British Isles, at just over 890 hours a year. Admittedly some of this may be due to the relief of the surrounding area rather than cloud cover obscuring the sun, but nonetheless, the western highlands are typically the cloudiest part of the country, in general not receiving much more than 1100 hours a year. Rainfall, at over 2250mm a year is high, particularly for such a low level site. Temperature extremes since 1960 have ranged from -14.4 C in February 1960, to 31.1 °C (88 °F) during July 2006. The lowest temperature to be recorded in recent years was -11.0 C during December 2010.
Wester Ross
is a western area of Ross and Cromarty in Scotland, notably containing the villages on the west coast such as:* Lochcarron* Applecross* Shieldaig* Torridon* Kinlochewe * * * Aultbea* Laide* Ullapool* Achiltibuie...
in the Northwest Highlands
Northwest Highlands
The Northwest Highlands are the northern third of Scotland that is separated from the Grampian Mountains by the Great Glen . The region comprises , Assynt, Caithness and Sutherland. The Caledonian Canal, which extends from Loch Linnhe in the west, via Loch Ness to the Moray Firth in the north...
of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It is in the parish of Gairloch
Gairloch
Gairloch is a village, civil parish and community on the shores of Loch Gairloch on the northwest coast of Scotland. A popular tourist destination in the summer months, Gairloch has a golf course, a small museum, several hotels, a community centre, a leisure centre with sports facilities, a local...
, the community of Torridon and Kinlochewe and the Highland
Highland (council area)
Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole. It shares borders with the council areas of Moray, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross, and Argyll and Bute. Their councils, and those of Angus and...
Council area. It lies near the head of Loch Maree
Loch Maree
Loch Maree is a loch in Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. At long and with a maximum width of , it is the fourth largest freshwater loch in Scotland; it is the largest north of Loch Ness. Its surface area is ....
in its magnificent valley, and serves as a junction between the main Ullapool
Ullapool
Ullapool is a small town of around 1,300 inhabitants in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest settlement for many miles around, and is a major tourist destination of Scotland. The North Atlantic Drift passes by Ullapool, bringing moderate temperatures...
road north, and that which heads west to the coast at Loch Torridon
Loch Torridon
Loch Torridon is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland in the Northwest Highlands. The loch was created by glacial processes and is in total around 15 miles long. It has two sections: Upper Loch Torridon to landward, east of Rubha na h-Airde Ghlaise, at which point it joins Loch Sheildaig;...
. Loch Maree was at one time also known as Loch Ewe, hence the village's apparently confused name.
Kinlochewe has a couple of shops, a hotel and bunkhouse, mountain chalets, several bed and breakfasts, a post office (with internet café
Internet cafe
An Internet café or cybercafé is a place which provides internet access to the public, usually for a fee. These businesses usually provide snacks and drinks, hence the café in the name...
), and one of very few petrol filling stations for many miles in any direction.
Buses connect the village with Gairloch
Gairloch
Gairloch is a village, civil parish and community on the shores of Loch Gairloch on the northwest coast of Scotland. A popular tourist destination in the summer months, Gairloch has a golf course, a small museum, several hotels, a community centre, a leisure centre with sports facilities, a local...
, Lochcarron
Lochcarron
Lochcarron is a village, community and civil parish in the Wester Ross area of Highland, Scotland. It has a population of 923.-Local Information:...
and the railhead at Achnasheen
Achnasheen
Achnasheen is a small village in Ross-shire in the Highland council area of Scotland. Despite the size of the village, Achnasheen is also the name of a postal district which covers several much larger communities. This dates from the time when the village railway station was an important stop on...
, with a small number running through to Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
.
The village contains two churches, Kinlochewe Free Church, built in 1873, and the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
.
To the north of the village, by the car park, is a First World War (1914–18) memorial. Two sergeants from the Seaforth Highlanders
Seaforth Highlanders
The Seaforth Highlanders was a historic regiment of the British Army associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The Seaforth Highlanders have varied in size from two battalions to seventeen battalions during the Great War...
are remembered. Both were awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal
Distinguished Conduct Medal
The Distinguished Conduct Medal was an extremely high level award for bravery. It was a second level military decoration awarded to other ranks of the British Army and formerly also to non-commissioned personnel of other Commonwealth countries.The medal was instituted in 1854, during the Crimean...
, and both later died of their wounds. Others from Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
are also remembered.
Mountains
The village is at the south-east corner of the Beinn EigheBeinn Eighe
Beinn Eighe is a complex mountain massif in the Torridon area of the Highlands of Scotland. It forms a long ridge with many spurs and summits, two of which are classified as Munros. The name Beinn Eighe comes from the Scottish Gaelic meaning File Mountain...
National Nature Reserve
National Nature Reserves in Scotland
National Nature Reserves in Scotland are established by Scottish Natural Heritage. Until 2004 there were 73 National Nature Reserves in Scotland, as per the list below...
, centred around the mountain of that name, which includes some surviving areas of natural forest, the majority of which was cut down from the 16th century onwards for iron smelting which was the major industry in the area. A short but steep woodland trail runs through pine forest on the lower slopes of the reserve, giving fine views over Loch Maree
Loch Maree
Loch Maree is a loch in Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. At long and with a maximum width of , it is the fourth largest freshwater loch in Scotland; it is the largest north of Loch Ness. Its surface area is ....
and the mountain of Slioch
Slioch
Slioch is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands situated in Wester Ross, eight kilometres north of the village of Kinlochewe. Slioch reaches a height of 981 metres and towers above the south east end of Loch Maree to give one of the best known and most photographed sights in the Highlands...
on the other side of the loch. A longer, rougher mountain trail climbs further up the slopes of Beinn Eighe
Beinn Eighe
Beinn Eighe is a complex mountain massif in the Torridon area of the Highlands of Scotland. It forms a long ridge with many spurs and summits, two of which are classified as Munros. The name Beinn Eighe comes from the Scottish Gaelic meaning File Mountain...
.
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
scenery, especially the Torridon Hills
Torridon Hills
The Torridon Hills surround Torridon village in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The name is usually applied to the mountains to the north of Glen Torridon...
which includes such peaks as Beinn Eighe
Beinn Eighe
Beinn Eighe is a complex mountain massif in the Torridon area of the Highlands of Scotland. It forms a long ridge with many spurs and summits, two of which are classified as Munros. The name Beinn Eighe comes from the Scottish Gaelic meaning File Mountain...
and Liathach
Liathach
Liathach is one of the most famous of the Torridon Hills. It lies to the north of the A896 road, in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland, and has two peaks of Munro status: Spidean a' Choire Leith at the east of the main ridge, and Mullach an Rathain at the western end of the mountain...
. Although many peaks in the North-west highlands exhibit Torridon geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, the Torridon hills are generally considered only to be those in the Torridon Forest to the north of Glen Torridon. Specifically, these are:
- LiathachLiathachLiathach is one of the most famous of the Torridon Hills. It lies to the north of the A896 road, in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland, and has two peaks of Munro status: Spidean a' Choire Leith at the east of the main ridge, and Mullach an Rathain at the western end of the mountain...
- Beinn EigheBeinn EigheBeinn Eighe is a complex mountain massif in the Torridon area of the Highlands of Scotland. It forms a long ridge with many spurs and summits, two of which are classified as Munros. The name Beinn Eighe comes from the Scottish Gaelic meaning File Mountain...
- Beinn AlliginBeinn AlliginBeinn Alligin one of the classic mountains of the Torridon region of Scotland, lying to the north of Loch Torridon, in the Highlands. The name Beinn Alligin is from the Scottish Gaelic, meaning Jewelled Hill...
- Beinn DeargBeinn Dearg (Torridon)Beinn Dearg is the 4th highest of the Torridon mountains in the highlands of Scotland. Beinn Dearg offers all the typical features of a Torridon hill, with steeply terraced rocky sides dissected by near vertical gullies...
The Torridon Hills exhibit some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
, surpassed in grandeur probably only by the Cuillins of Skye
Skye
Skye or the Isle of Skye is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate out from a mountainous centre dominated by the Cuillin hills...
.
The landscape around the village is dominated by the Torridonian sandstone, a Precambrian
Precambrian
The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...
and very old rock formation. Each of the Torridon Hills sits very much apart from each other, and they are often likened to castles. They have steep terraced sides, and broken summit crests, riven into many pinnacle
Pinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural ornament originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire...
s. There are many steep gullies running down the terraced sides. The summit ridge
Ridge
A ridge is a geological feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for some distance. Ridges are usually termed hills or mountains as well, depending on size. There are several main types of ridges:...
s provide excellent scrambling
Scrambling
Scrambling is a method of ascending rocky faces and ridges. It is an ambiguous term that lies somewhere between hillwalking and rock climbing. It is often distinguished from hillwalking by defining a scramble as a route where hands must be used in the ascent...
, and are popular with hill walkers and mountaineers. However, like many ridge routes, there are few escape points, so once committed, the scrambler or hillwalker must complete the entire ridge before descent.
Roads
In 2005 and 2006, the narrow, winding A832 road that snakes into the valley and the village from Glen DochertyGlen Docherty
Glen Docherty is a glen in Wester Ross in Scotland, between Loch Maree and Kinlochewe to the west and Loch a'Chroisg and Achnasheen to the east....
in the south-east, was widened and improved for easier access.
Climate
As with the rest of the British IslesBritish Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
and Scotland, Kinlochewe experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters.
The weather station holds the rather dubious accolade of averaging the lowest annual level of sunshine for any low level site in the British Isles, at just over 890 hours a year. Admittedly some of this may be due to the relief of the surrounding area rather than cloud cover obscuring the sun, but nonetheless, the western highlands are typically the cloudiest part of the country, in general not receiving much more than 1100 hours a year. Rainfall, at over 2250mm a year is high, particularly for such a low level site. Temperature extremes since 1960 have ranged from -14.4 C in February 1960, to 31.1 °C (88 °F) during July 2006. The lowest temperature to be recorded in recent years was -11.0 C during December 2010.
External links
- The Undiscovered Scotland page for Kinlochewe gives good coverage of the village and its facilities.
- Scotland's National Nature Reserves website.
- Loch Maree NNR
- Beinn Eighe NNR