Qualla: Loch Naver

Loch Naver: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Des Colhoun, CC BY-SA 2.0. The loch is ten kilometres long and rarely more than half a kilometre wide, a long thin slot of water in the heart of Sutherland. To the east, the River Naver flows out and runs down Strathnaver to the north coast. To the west, the River Mudale brings water in from Loch Loyal. Today the strath is quiet. Sheep graze where townships once stood. That quietness is not natural, and the loch knows it.

Read more: Loch Naver on Qualla

Image: Des Colhoun | CC BY-SA 2.0

Loch Naver: A Beautiful, Long Body of Water

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Richard Webb, CC BY-SA 2.0. Loch Naver stretches east to west, narrow and clean, with hills closing in on either side. It is fed primarily by the River Mudale at its western end and the River Vagastie from the south, with smaller burns - Grummore Burn, Allt Gruama Beag, Allt a' Choire Bhuidhe, Kilbreck Burn...

Read more: Loch Naver on Qualla

Image: Richard Webb | CC BY-SA 2.0

Loch Naver: The Townships That Are Not There

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Graeme Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0. Walk the shore of Loch Naver and you will see, on the hillsides above, the outlines of old turf walls and stone footings - the foundations of houses that have not been lived in for two hundred years. Strathnaver was the most densely populated glen in inland Sutherland in the earl...

Read more: Loch Naver on Qualla

Image: Graeme Smith | CC BY-SA 2.0

Loch Naver: Strathnaver Museum and the Long Memory

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit pete simpson, CC BY-SA 2.0. At Bettyhill, where the River Naver reaches the sea, the Strathnaver Museum tells this history in plain language. The collection includes the Farr Stone, a Pictish cross-slab from the eighth century, alongside artefacts from the cleared townships - hand tools, fragments of crocke...

Read more: Loch Naver on Qualla

Image: pete simpson | CC BY-SA 2.0

Loch Naver: Fishing and Quiet

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Paul Hermans, CC BY-SA 3.0. Today Loch Naver is best known to outsiders as one of the finest brown trout lochs in northern Scotland. Anglers come for the spring and autumn fishing, staying at the Altnaharra Hotel at the western end of the loch or at lodges in Syre further down the strath. The River Naver it...

Read more: Loch Naver on Qualla

Image: Paul Hermans | CC BY-SA 3.0

Loch Naver: The Hills Around

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Richard Webb, CC BY-SA 2.0. Ben Klibreck rises just south of the loch's eastern end, its long whaleback dominating the skyline. To the north, the Naver's straighter ground gives way to the rougher country around Loch Loyal and Ben Loyal. The road from Altnaharra over to Tongue is one of the great driving ro...

Read more: Loch Naver on Qualla

Image: Richard Webb | CC BY-SA 2.0