Loch Shieldaig, off Gair Loch, Wester Ross

This beautiful, picturesque but tiny loch is situated along the road to Red Point. It is actually a small branch of Gair Loch but is shielded from the main water by Eilean Shieldaig a small rocky island in the centre of the loch.

Loch Shieldaig and Eilean Shieldaig

At the head of the loch lies an impressive Victorian red sandstone building which was originally a hunting lodge but is now better known as the Shieldaig Lodge Hotel. In the winter the loch is quiet; a few dinghies bob on their moorings, and a sailing boat sits on the beach in front of the hotel, but summer time is different and then the little loch is alive with boats.

The difference in height between high and low water here is 6 meters. At high tide the water reaches the edges of the road walls and there is not much evidence of any shoreline, but when it retreats it reveals beaches of black and grey boulders covered in ochre coloured seaweeds. Herons fish from the shores whilst cormorants try their luck from the centre of the loch.

Cross the road by the hotel and you will find a stream flowing down the rocky slope, under a bridge and into the loch. Trees covered in rich green cloaks of moss and lichens edge the tumbling waterway. These are some of my favourite features of this part of Scotland; bare winter trees in their green mantles products of the pure highland atmosphere.

The hills behind Loch Shiledaig hide the magically named fairy lochs which are notable for their beauty as well as being the crash site of a WWII American Liberator bomber. A memorial to the crew and some wreckage are a permanent reminder of what happened here on 13th June 1945. There are some good circular walks from Loch Shieldaig to the Fairy Lochs.

A rainbow over the Fairy Lochs

Loch Shieldaig Facts

OS Explorer Map 434