Falls of Foyers

From the car park, cross the B852 to follow the path leading to a viewpoint overlooking the Lower Falls of Foyers. When the river is in full spate, it is one of the most magnificent scenes in the Highlands, plunging 90 feet down a solid cliff face into a deep, black cauldron. The Gaelic name is 'Eass na Smudh' ('waterfall of smoke') due to billowing spray.

The steep woodland slopes are rich in plant diversity and home to feral goats. Climbing the rugged glen to a small footbridge, the path turns left along the cliff edge overlooking a dramatic wooded ravine. A pine-needle path leads down to Lower Foyers, famous as the first British producer of aluminium (Britain's first hydroelectric scheme was installed here in 1896, which reduced the waterfall's volume). Former lairds include Lord Lovat, the clan chief beheaded in London for his part in the 1745 Jacobite rebellion.

The route enters Farigaig Forest (commercial timber alongside preserved ancient SSSI semi-natural woodland carpeted with sphagnum moss and lichens). Through gaps in the trees you look down along the length of Loch Ness (over 21 miles long and 700 feet deep), before reaching Foyers Bridge where the river spills down a boulder-strewn ravine.

Hawthorn, gorse, broom, and rowan trees cling to the rock before a short climb leads back up the road to the start.

Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.