Britain’s most scenic drives: The Road to the Isles, Scotland

On a quest to discover the country's most glorious roads, Annunciata Elwes drives along Scotland's Road to the Isles.

Aerial view from drone of Silver Sands of Morar on the River Morar and Morar Bay at Morar west of Scotland, UK
(Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)
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Not only does the Road to the Isles sound like something from a fairy tale, it looks like it, too.

Picturesque Scottish beach - The Silver Sands of Morar on the North West coast close to Fort William

If a dragon appeared in a bruised Highland sky, clouds aflame in the setting sun, and swooped low to glide over a smooth mountain loch, perhaps admiring its reflection, it would seem both fitting and proper.

The Jacobite steam train from Fort William to Mallaig in Scotland crosses the Glenfinnan viaduct?

This 46-mile historic route between Fort William and the fishing port of Mallaig in Lochaber (the A830 on modern maps) seems to have it all: rocky mountains, inaccessible lochs, the sandy beaches of Morar, atmospheric ruins, vistas of the Isles of Rum, Muck, Eigg and Canna and a mythological beast’s-eye view of the Glenfinnan Viaduct and Loch Shiel.

The 'Silver Sands of Morar' is the Scottish Highlands is on the North West Coast between Fort William and Mallaig

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The Caterham 360R.
(Image credit: Zach Lower (@ZachLower) via Caterham)

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Annunciata Elwes
Annunciata Elwes

Annunciata is director of contemporary art gallery TIN MAN ART and an award-winning journalist specialising in art, culture and property. Previously, she was Country Life’s News & Property Editor. Before that, she worked at The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, researched for a historical biographer and co-founded a literary, art and music festival in Oxfordshire. Lancashire-born, she lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and a mischievous pug.