Walking - The Knoydart Peninsula Traveller Reviews

One week hiking on the Knoydart peninsula and the surrounding islands

Simply booking procedures and knowledgeable and friendly staff

This was the best walking holiday I ever had and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. The Wilderness Lodge at Knoydart is an uncommonly wonderful place and it felt like a real privilege to spend time there. There was a very special joy in beginning the day by watching wild red deer grazing at the window in the half-light. All of the team at the lodge were delightful - relaxed, friendly and keen to help us enjoy ourselves in every way possible. Liz is an exceptionally creative chef and truthfully, we were often as excited to learn what would be on the menu when returning from our walks in the evening as we were to embark on them in the morning! I got the impression that she is constantly innovating and experimenting with fresh homegrown and local produce. At every meal, we had new and delectable taste experiences from what one of our group called the "amazingly hot jams" at breakfast to the warm root vegetable dishes, succulent roasts, colorful, supremely fresh seafood, delicately-accented salads and fabulous, even baroque, deserts which were especially good after an energetic day. I need a gluten-free diet and have never been so well fed on holidays or enjoyed my food so much. For example, in addition to the wonderful roast meat and homemade artisan cheese sandwich fillings (among others), I had twelve different kinds of nutritious and delicious, healthy treats cooked from scratch in my lunch in just six days! Thanks, Liz and team 😊 As for our guide, I have done a number of walking holidays in Scotland and Ireland now with various different companies and enjoyed them all immensely but Al was easily the best guide I ever walked with. He has a lovely gentle manner and was attentive to every individual in our group, often anticipating our concerns or questions before we actually brought them to him. He is highly knowledgeable about the Knoydart region, never sentimental but clearly passionate and a real pleasure to listen to. As a teacher, I very much appreciated his informed and accessible introductions to the animals, land and history we encountered as well as the various management and conservation practices in this relatively unspoiled and precious part of the world. I found it especially enjoyable to have a guide who had not just learned off a few facts but was willing to answer my questions and happy and interested to engage in detailed conversations about what we saw. His account of the volcanos and different geological processes that led to the diverse rock formations and geology of the mountains made our modest climbs and the views underfoot all the more meaningful and exciting. He has a great sense of humour too and we had brilliant fun sharing our various travel and adventure stories. I was massively impressed by his and Andy's negotiation of the weather to ensure we had so many pleasant boat trips and clear views in the Sound of Sleat. Being on open ground or sea is always good for the soul but there was no masochism on this trip (!) - these two seemed to work wonders with the rain clouds and drive them away from our island destinations! Then there was the young minke whale and the basking shark who appeared within minutes of each other on the warmest evening...what can I say? So many things to be grateful for but not enough time to ennumerate them all so I will just need to end by sending deep appreciation and enthusiastic thanks to everyone on the Wilderness Scotland team for such an enjoyable vacation. I have lots of beautiful photographs and memories to share with family and friends and will most certainly vacation with you again.

Best holiday ever!

Hiked the Knoydart peninsula of the Scottish Highlands as well as hiked the Cullen area of Skye, and islands of Rum and Eigg.

Wilderness Scotland has a great variety of trips, at different difficulties and dates. Very knowledgeable, helpful and safety conscious guided!

Good walking, good accommodation ,good company, good weather. Plenty of wild life to see, could,nt be bettered .

Everything was arranged according to plan.

Visit to Knoydart, Eigg, Rum, Skye, wild remote Scotland, stunning scenery beyond wirds

Personal attention and good service

A fabulous wilderness walking holiday based on Knoydart.

Always there to help and advise you

Lead walking in places I would not otherwise have been able to access

Competent, thoughtful good manner with the group

A remote walking experience, in stunning terrain. Well organised, well led and well catered.

No question is too small for them to deal with

One week in August at Doune Knoydart, which is one of the most spectacular locations I've ever experienced. The opportunities we had to see wildlife in a natural habitat was unprecedented. Along with the beautiful walks and exquisite food, we saw a pod of about 100 dolphins alongside our boat, otters and seals, birds, a wild mountain goat, and to top it all we had stags come down to graze right outside the door of our lodge in the evening and morning. They were quite shy but on the last night they just didn't seem bothered and just wanted to keep eating. I've never been in a situation where I've seen so much wildlife up close in such a stunning location. Doune exceeded my expectations with the quality of the food and we were treated like kings with local, freshly produced, organic, mouthwatering food. The walks were challenging but the whole group enjoyed them and although the weather (wind and rain) made them tough, we got through them.

Wilderness Scotland makes everything run like clockwork and always replied to my email queries efficiently and promptly.

I really enjoyed the "home base" aspect of the trip. We headquartered at Doune Lodge and were fed three (excellent) squares a day as we got to walk and climb to some of the best vistas I've ever experienced. This is a trip I would happily repeat.

Wilderness Scotland. Well organized and professional. The tour was above and beyond what I'd expected and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.