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SCMP Reporter

THE next time you pick your way laboriously through the crowded streets of Central, peering through the toxic murk we call fresh air, spare a thought for Torridon - a remote sea loch in the western Highlands of Scotland.

  Travelling to the Highlands from a city like Hong Kong, where space commands an unearthly premium, is a timely reminder that there is a real world out there - one in which humans appear as tiny dots on a massive canvas.

   Torridon is tucked away on the west coast of Scotland, about midway between the Caledonian Canal, which dissects the country - and Ullapool, which provides a gateway to the Outer Hebrides.

  As such it provides a perfect base for exploring this rugged countryside.

  It comes as a surprise to find the Loch Torridon Hotel, nestled away on the coast road between the hamlets of Torridon and Shieldaig.

  The hotel is cradled at the foot of Ben Damph, one of a triumvirate of mountains that burst from the sea and glower over you. Beinn Alligin, Beinn Eighe tower over the far side of the loch.

   Although these mountains are quite small by world standards - about the 1,000-metre mark - it is the Scottish cli mate and the hostility of the terrain that lend the backdrop its majesty.

 In this setting, the hotel provides a luxurious retreat for hikers to warm themselves out in front of roaring log fires or over one of the hotel bar's more than 200 fine malt whiskies.

   The hotel belongs to the Small Luxury Hotels of the World chain - a marketing alliance that used to include Macau's Bela Vista, which provides an idea of the standard of accommodation.

  Unlike the Bela Vista, however, Loch Torridon Hotel offers rooms at a rate that seems cheap by Hong Kong standards. They are available from GBP85 (HK$1,055) a night, while suites start at GBP250. A hearty Scottish breakfast is included.

  The food is excellent and the kitchen uses the finest Scottish ingredients crafted into a modern, international cuisine - haggis wonton was a particular surprise.

   The hotel sits in 23.5 hectares of mature woods and manicured parkland. A herd of Highland cattle - over which a huge shaggy red bull called Duncan lord - adds to the setting, while free-range hens strut around the grounds and, on occasion, into the hotel lobby.

  The area is a haven for wildlife with eagles and the beautiful and extremely rare pine martins. Red deer are a common sight on the heather-clad hillsides.

  In the loch, seals can be seen lolling around the kelp-strewn rocks and the hotel staff swear there is a pod of killer whales that cruises the deeper waters in the autumn.

   Whale-watching trips take off from Ullapool in calmer weather.

   There is something breathtakingly tragic about the Highlands. The feeling of a land at once loved and abandoned. The overbearing sense of emptiness is all around you.

   The lairds, to whom the Highland clansmen once entrusted their lives and futures, betrayed their people. The great Highland clearances are an all too forgotten stain on Scotland's history, as the aristocracy put sheep where people had once been, turning the great mountainous glens into giant sheep pens, leaving only the echo of their long and bitter history.

 The Highlands, needless to say, are for those who enjoy their own company, or the company of ghosts. In the evening, guests at the hotel have the choice of three pubs: the hotel's own snug; a climbers bar next door - with all the atmosphere, alas, of a McDonald's-cum-church disco; or the hotel in Applecross - a 20-kilometre drive along the coast. Be warned: the hotel closes during the winter months.

 KLM is offering flights to Glasgow via Amsterdam for $8,920 in the high season (from August onwards).



Walking with ghosts at Torridon in the enchanting Scottish Highlands