Loch Glac na Goibhre

The water here is so dark it's almost black, ringed by steep moorland that rises straight up from the shore. Loch Glac na Goibhre sits deep in the Sutherland landscape, and it's the kind of place you don't stumble on by accident - you have to want to be there. The loch itself is unremarkable on paper: a freshwater body in the Scottish Highlands, no facilities, no visitor centre, nothing that would make it leap out of a guidebook. But that's precisely why it works. You get genuine remoteness without the crowds that plague the bigger lochs further south.

Walkers will find this rewarding. The surrounding terrain offers proper hill country without needing to be a mountaineer, and the water itself stays remarkably still on calm days - good for photography if you're after moody Highland shots. The drive from Sutherland town takes you through some of the emptiest country in Britain, which some will find meditative and others frankly tedious. Families might struggle unless the kids are keen hikers; there's no playground infrastructure, no tearoom, no way to burn off energy except rambling.

Accessibility depends entirely on what track or path you use to reach it - information on this is frustratingly thin. Go in summer when days are long and midges less aggressive. If you're based at Clachtoll Beach Campsite nearby, this makes a solid half-day excursion as a break from coastal walks. It won't change your life, but it will give you some quiet.