Qualla: Loch Broom

Loch Broom: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Superbass, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Gaelic name *Loch a' Bhraoin* translates as the loch of rain showers, which is the local way of admitting that the weather here has opinions. From the Minch at its mouth to the Falls of Measach at its head, Loch Broom is a long blade of water that runs inland through Wester Ross beneath a ring of mountains called, with appropriate Highland gravity, The Anvil. Cormorants drape themselves on the rocks. The wind funnels up the trough and rattles the windows of Ullapool. And every once in a while, when the cloud lifts, the loch shows you why a town and a ferry route and a half-dozen working lives have settled on its eastern shore.

Read more: Loch Broom on Qualla

Image: Superbass | CC BY-SA 4.0

Loch Broom: From the Minch to the Mountain Rivers

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ben Brooksbank, CC BY-SA 2.0. Loch Broom opens to the Minch at a width of four miles and runs roughly seven miles southeast, narrowing to a single mile across as it changes direction toward the head. It contains the Summer Isles near its mouth, with Isle Martin closest to the mainland and Loch Kanaird branchi...

Read more: Loch Broom on Qualla

Image: Ben Brooksbank | CC BY-SA 2.0

Loch Broom: Little Loch Broom and the Anvil

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Anne Burgess, CC BY-SA 2.0. A peninsula called Scoraig divides Loch Broom from its sister loch to the west, Little Loch Broom - in Gaelic *the little loch*, in geography about a mile across and similarly orientated southeast. The village of Dundonnell sits at its mouth, linked by the A832 coast road to Camu...

Read more: Loch Broom on Qualla

Image: Anne Burgess | CC BY-SA 2.0

Loch Broom: The Mountains That Watch the Loch

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit George Brown, CC BY-SA 2.0. Each end of the loch is held down by its own peak. The entrance to Loch Broom is overlooked by Ben More Coigach, at 2,438 feet, on the Coigach peninsula - the long sandstone ridge with a commanding view of Isle Martin and Loch Kanaird below. The peninsula separating the two lochs...

Read more: Loch Broom on Qualla

Image: George Brown | CC BY-SA 2.0

Loch Broom: Wildlife and Working Water

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Roger Gilbertson, CC BY-SA 2.0. Loch Broom is an important wildlife habitat. Cormorants haul out on the rocks that jut from the water, drying their wings in the brief breaks between showers. The Summer Isles offshore hold seabird colonies, otters work the shoreline, and grey seals slip between the islets. Ullap...

Read more: Loch Broom on Qualla

Image: Roger Gilbertson | CC BY-SA 2.0