Applecross

The Bealach na Bà climbs to 626 metres through hairpins that would look at home in the Alps — then drops you into a sheltered bay where palms grow and langoustines are served at tables looking across to Skye. Applecross is a place defined by its approach: the journey is the point.

Applecross sits on the Wester Ross coast, held apart from the world by the Bealach na Bà — the Pass of the Cattle, one of the highest and steepest roads in Britain, single-track, unsuitable for caravans and closed by snow in hard weather, which is half its legend. Over the top, the village occupies a sheltered bay whose microclimate is mild enough for subtropical planting — a startling contrast after the exposed pass. Langoustines come out of the bay and onto shoreline tables, eaten as the sun sinks behind the Cuillin of Skye, and a walled garden up the lane still grows what the big house once demanded. The coastal road north — the gentler way in or out — hugs single-track cliffs above the sea, stringing together crofting townships that cling to the shoreline.