📌 Inchnadamph, Highland
★★
Ardvreck Castle guards the east end of Loch Assynt, perfectly complementing a beautiful but bleak landscape of lochs, bogs and bare mountains. This 15th (or 16th) century ruin is a fragment of its original self, but its highly visible location makes it a popular photo stop for passing tourists, particularly as it lies on the North Coast 500 driving route. Heading along the short access path reveals that the castle is nearly cut off from the mainland by two advancing claws of the loch, on a promontory only connected by a thin strip of sand. The surviving part of the building is more substantial than appears from the roadside; with care, you can hop inside the shell of the southeast tower, peer into the basement vaults, and look out of the first floor windows – probably getting in the way of everyone else’s photos at the same time. Ardvreck Castle was abandoned in the 1700s in favour of nearby Calda House, also now a ruin and within easy walking distance to the south east. And to the north, the waterfall on the other side of the road is worth a quick detour after rainfall.
🌍 Location
📌 By Loch Assynt, off the A837 1 mi north of Inchnadamph
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NC 240236
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 58.166381,-4.993927
🚌 Extremely infrequent bus stops on A837
🚗 Main car park is at 🧭 NC 243236 / 🛰️ 58.165855,-4.988737 with several nearby alternatives
📝 Key info
⌚ Always open
🎫 Free
💬 From the main car park it’s a 5-min walk to Ardvreck Castle on a decent path. The sandy approach to the castle can flood if the loch level is unusually high. Calda House is an even shorter walk in the other direction on a slightly rougher path. Other car parks have rough link paths.
