There can be few greater contrasts to downtown Hong Kong than the Scottish Highlands. For red taxis read fishing boats; crofters' cottages replace highrises; and 98 per cent humidity, black rainstorms and air pollution are unheard of.
Nowhere is the contrast more sharply drawn than the Knoydart Peninsula, an area remote even by Scottish standards. The region, 90 minutes' drive northwest of Fort William, nestles between Loch Nevis and Loch Hourn (meaning the lochs of heaven and hell) and is traditionally known as the Rough Bounds. It covers 220 sqkm, has a population of about 200 and has been called the last true wilderness in Britain.
As befits such a place, access to Knoydart is not straightforward. The most common approach is from
Fort William to Mallaig along the Road to the Isles. Another is on the romantic West Highland steam train, which crosses the 35-metre-high Glenfinnan Viaduct.
It also passes the monument at the spot where Bonnie Prince Charlie unfurled his standard and began his anti-English rebellion in 1745. Finally it heads to the sea by skirting Loch Morar (supposedly home to a monster that's been upstaged by its cousin in Loch Ness), which at 309 metres is Britain's deepest lake. From the fishing town of Mallaig, mail boat MV Westerner sails into Loch Nevis and on to Knoydart's main settlement, the village of Inverie, a thin line of whitewashed stone buildings clinging to the water's edge.
We enter the Rough Bounds from the road at Kinlochhourn, shoulder our packs and begin the rough, 20km hike alongside Loch Hourn to the hamlet of Barisdale, views of the rugged Knoydart improving with every step. An otter swims in the clear, cold waters of the loch and in the distance dolphins leap on their way out to the Sound of Sleat.
Like much of the Highlands, Knoydart has a history of tragedy and displacement. In the mid-19th century, the MacDonnell clan forcibly cleared the area of crofters and turned the mountains and glens over to sheep and deer. This forced emigration has left a legacy of solitude, beauty and unspoiled nature that has been faithfully preserved and enhanced by the Knoydart Foundation and John Muir Trust. While conserving the wilderness, they have not neglected the stone buildings and rugged appeal of the two small villages on the peninsula.