Places to Visit in the North of Scotland

I've lived in Scotland my whole life but I've actually not really been to that many places within the whole of Scotland. This year, I decided to change that and took a little 4-day road trip up North. While there I did lots of different things and saw different sights so I thought I would share some of my favourite moments and places to visit here on my blog.

Loch Insh Outdoor Centre

Something that I really wanted to try was canoeing. My friend and I stopped at Loch Insh Outdoor centre on our way up North and spontaneously decided to hire a two-person canoe. I sat up front and we paddled about on the loch. It was such a lovely day and there wasn't that many other people about by the time we arrived late afternoon which made it perfect. We didn't need to book in advance, we just turned up and saw what was on offer. It was really great fun and we didn't need to have any prior experience or anything beforehand. The outdoor centre offers different activities too including paddle boarding,  wind surfing, raft building and much more. There is also activities you can do on land such as archery and tubing. I think what made it even more exciting was the fact that it was totally unplanned. We were just making our way to our first hotel and decided to stop by because it was there on the way.

Strathy Bay Pods

One of the places I stayed in when on this road trip was in a pod at Strathy Bay. They are advertised as 'glamping pods' and I loved it all. They sit just up the hill from the beach so in the evening, my friends and I made our way down to the beach to spend some time. You get a great view of the beach from the pods too and the pods themselves are fantastic. The owners of it all were also so lovely and left ice creams for us in the fridge as well as chocolate brownies as a little welcome gift. I'd love to go back again. There was also some nice little country roads to go walking and there were highland cows nearby which I loved.

Forsinard Flows Nature Reserve

The main reason for the whole trip was to visit one of my friends who is currently working at the nature reserve in Forsinard. It seems like it's in the middle of nowhere right up near the top of Scotland but it is such a cool place and nowhere like I had ever been or seen before. Forsinard Flows is a nature reserve which covers a lot of the area surrounding Forsinard in the Highlands of Scotland. It is situated in the Flow Country which is a large expanse of peatland which makes up 5% of the world's blanket bog (which is pretty cool!). I went into the visitor centre and took a walk around the area. It was a really windy day that went from being dark and pouring with rain to being quite sunny - just your typical Scottish weather - when we went but we still had fun nonetheless.

Surfing at Dunnet Bay

One thing I was finally able to tick off my bucket list was finally trying surfing for the first time. We hired surfboards and wetsuits/shoes/hats from North Coast Water Sports and we were able to just give surfing a go. They also had the option of an actual The only slight downside of surfing here is that there are no official places to change in and out of your surfing gear so we used the public toilets as a changing room (although there are actually signs saying not to do this but I didn't see what other choice we had). Apart from that, I had a brilliant time trying to surf. I didn't manage to stand up on the board but I could get to my knees and ride out the waves that way. There were some pretty big waves and it was all great fun. We went in April so the sea was freezing! I'd definitely like to go back in the summer when it's a little warmer.

Have you ever been to the North of Scotland? Where are some places you could recommend checking out?

Bye for now, xo