Achiltibuie is a community straggling along the west coast of Ross and Cromarty, north of Ullapool in the Scottish Highlands. As well as Achiltibuie itself, the name (which in Gaelic means “field of the yellow-haired boy”) applies to all the coast between Achduart and Reiff, taking in the hamlets of Polglass, Polbain and Altandhu.
. . . Achiltibuie . . .
Follow A835 north from Ullapool or south from Ledmore (the junction with A837) to the turn-off at Drumrunie; then take the narrow single-track lane west. There’s no through road along the coast from Ullapool, though the historic “postman’s path” came this way via Ardmair and you can hike the ten miles. You can also drive south from Lochinver along a twisty, hilly, narrow but scenic and well-tarmacked lane.
KSM Bus 811 runs from Ullapool to Achiltibuie, twice M-F and once on Saturday, taking 80 mins.
See Ullapool for buses to Inverness and ferries to Stornoway on Lewis.
You’ll need a car or bike, or be a hard-core hiker.
- 1 Inverpolly Nature Reserve
is the area centred around Loch Sionasgaig and Knockan Crag, a National Nature Reserve and SSSI. It’s part of the North West Highlands Geopark and contains the Moine Thrust, which puzzled 19th C geologists because much older rocks lay over relatively younger. It’s a product of plate tectonics, which had shifted the older rocks 40 miles west. - Boat trips run to 1 The Summer Isles, a mile offshore, from 1 Bardentarbet Pier by Polglass. Trips also run from Ullapool.
. . . Achiltibuie . . .