Holidays in Scotland

Rannoch Moor Guide

Rannoch Moor is a wondrous upland peat moor that stretches between Loch Rannoch to Glencoe. At its western tip it is framed by Glencoe Massif and Buchaille Etive More

Rannoch Moor is a large expanse of around 50 square miles (130 square kilometres) of boggy moorland to the west of Loch Rannoch, in Perthshire and Kinross and Lochaber, Highland, partly northern Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Rannoch Moor is designated a National Heritage site as one of Britain's last truly unspoilt wildernesses

Rannoch Moor is notable for its wildlife, famous as the only British location for the Rannoch Rush, which is named after the moor. It was also frequently visited by Horace Donisthorpe, who collected many unusual species of ants on the moor and surrounding hilly ground. Today it is still one of the few remaining habitats for Formica exsecta, the "narrow-headed ant", although recent surveys have failed to produce any sign of Formica pratensis, which Donisthorpe recorded in the area in the early part of the 20th century.

The thick peat deposits pose major difficulties to builders of roads and railways and houses which has protected it over the years from the encroachments of humans. Likewise the soil offers poor sustenance for grasses so there is little farming activity.

When the West Highland Line was built across Rannoch Moor, its builders had to float the tracks on a mattress of tree roots, brushwood and thousands of tons of earth and ashes. The trains stop at Rannoch Station, surely one of the most isolated and beautiful stations anywhere in the world.

Rannoch Moor is surely what a world might look like without humans. A world at its most raw and magnificent.

The A82 road crosses through Rannoch Moor on its way to Glen Coe and Fort William.