Lochinver is a small fishing village at the head of Loch Inver, in the Assynt district of Sutherland in the far northwest of Scotland. Although it amounts to little more than a cluster of houses, a harbour, and a few shops, it functions as the main settlement across a huge, thinly peopled stretch of coast. Every approach is spectacular — the roads wind between savage quartzite peaks rising straight from moorland, with views over the sea to the Summer Isles.
The local pies from the Lochinver Larder bakery have an improbable fame, drawing visitors who would otherwise have no reason to make the long drive. The harbour sees fishing boats working out of it year-round, and the village is the best base for climbing in the Assynt area. Three miles north is Achmelvich, a magnificent white-sand beach entirely out of keeping with the surrounding grey landscape.
The mountain of Suilven dominates the view to the east — a quartzite ridge rising sharply from a boggy plateau, its isolated profile unlike any other hill in Scotland. The approach from Inverkirkaig, five kilometres south of Lochinver, follows the River Kirkaig past a bookshop and waterfall before reaching the mountain's foot.