Glen Shiel to Quoich Dam — Tomdoun Estate Back Road via Loch Loyne

Before the Quoich Dam was raised in 1962, Glen Quoich was a populated valley with farms, a shooting lodge, and roads going through it. The reservoir swallowed most of that. What’s left is the estate track running west from the Tomdoun Hotel junction off the A87, tracing the north shore of Loch Loyne — itself a drowned loch whose old road still resurfaces in drought years — before climbing to Loch Quoich Dam and continuing to Kinloch Hourn. The dam wall crossing is exposed and narrow with no barrier. West of the dam the track deteriorates sharply: loose rock, eroded drainage channels, and sections that turn to thick mud after rain. Culverts wash out regularly.

Rate this Difficult. A proper high-clearance 4WD is needed west of the dam; stock SUVs with road tyres will struggle on the rocky eroded sections past Loch Quoich. The track is on private estate land — no formal permit system but drive considerately during stalking season (August to October) and check with Glenquoich Estate before proceeding. No fuel, no services beyond Invergarry. Cell service drops to nothing past Tomdoun. The reward is one of the most atmospheric drowned landscapes in Britain — ruins visible in low water, red deer in the hundreds, and the Knoydart hills stacked up on the western horizon.