Glowering skies, torrential downpours and windstorms are a fact of life in the Highlands and have ruined many a promising holiday. But when the sun does shine the Highlands are a wonderland. This is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. The Highlands are one of the few areas of western Europe that could arguably be described as a wilderness. The mountains, the climate and the infertile soil make this an inhospitable place.
Roads are few and far between.
It can be as much as twenty miles to the nearest habitation. Citizens of the western USA or the Australian interior would probably laugh out loud at such figures, but here in overcrowded Britain they are astonishing. This is not a comfortable, homely mountain area such as the English Lake District. The scale is far grander. Recreational use of the Highlands is not long established.