Take the High Road
CLAN CONNECTIONS
PRETTY PERTH
CLAN COURIER
Sample Michelin-worthy menus at a castle and join a long-overdue clan reunion
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GATHERING ALL GRANTS
The Clan Grant International Gathering 2025 will take place from 3-10 August –the first in 15 years – in Strathspey and organisers are encouraging as many UK and overseas visitors to attend as possible. Usually taking place every five to 10 years, the last international Grant gathering was cancelled due to the pandemic, so expect this week-long event to be a big celebration of clan culture, with anyone with an interest in Scottish heritage welcome.
The week will conclude with the Abernethy Highland Games on 9 August, where the clan will march in traditional dress at the opening ceremony, led by the Parade Marshal and followed by the band of massed pipes and drums.
For more information, email Chairman Fiona Grant at fiona@monymusk.com
NEW ERA FOR BRITANNIA
One of Scotland’s most popular attractions, the Royal Yacht Britannia, is opening a new visitor centre and shop this spring.
As part of the new, improved visitor experience, never-before-seen images and films will tell the story of the Royal Family’s former yacht, from its construction at John Brown’s Shipyard to its evolution into the five-star attraction it is today. To further enhance the experience, unique gifts and royal souvenirs will be available to buy, so you can take home a treasured memento of your visit.
This year will also see three of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s old racing and sailing yachts, Bloodhound, Bluebottle and Coweslip, take to the water again, following extensive restoration works.
royalyachtbritannia.co.uk
Understated Ullapool
This attractive port on the North Coast 500 route is so much more than just a launchpad for the Outer Hebrides
Words by MARK ROWE
A PONY TALE
Our photojournalist travels to the Northern Isles to meet a breeder of one of Scotland’s most beloved animals: the Shetland pony
Words and photos JEREMY FLINT
SWIMMING AGAINST THE TIDE
Our
writer reports back from the west coast where locals are fighting to protect Scotland’s wild Atlantic salmon
Words by KIRSTEN HENTON
It’s an implausibly still, clear-blue-sky day on the shore of Loch Hourn, a sea loch that separates the peninsulas of Knoydart and Glenelg on Scotland’s west coast, across the Sound of Sleat from Skye.
“It looks beautiful in the sunshine,” says Mick Simpson, crofter, former mussel farmer and scallop diver, and a founding member of Friends of Loch Hourn (FoLH), “but it’s what’s happening underneath the surface that’s the problem.”
FoLH was established in 2020 in response to plans by Mowi Scotland, the UK’s largest supplier of farmed salmon, to expand its fish farm, which has resided at the mouth of the loch for the past three decades.
Today, the community group totals some 100 members – residents, landowners, fishermen and more – who, in their own words, want to raise “awareness of the ecological impact that this farm has had on the marine environment over the last 30 years”.
The group is doing this through conservation, promotion of sustainable planning policies, and by speaking up for the wellbeing of the loch and its various species, including wild Atlantic salmon
A wild Atlantic salmon leaping against Loch Hourn’s currents
