The true map of the North Highland Way with horse riding routes.

The Highland Council map. The Core Paths are the only parts which are guaranteed to be accessible. The rest is under construction. Help us raise the money to fix it.

Time line

Where it all started… at Dunnet Head.

2014 – The specification

Final report on telephone consultation on the concept of a North Highland Way by Bill Taylor Associates. On behalf of Highland Council
January 2014
Introduction
The idea of a North Highland Way that would run from Cape Wrath to John o’ Groats has been around for some time. Recently a local company has undertaken some work to explore the concept further and has involved a number of local businesses. A meeting between The Highland Council the North Highland Initiative (NHI) and the company agreed that the idea had great potential for the area but neither the Council nor NHI were currently in a position to lead such a project. Similarly the company indicated that they were not in a position to continue undertaking the level of work that would be required if this was on a voluntary basis. A petition indicated a degree of interest from local residents and visitors to the area.
Since the creation of a statutory right of responsible access in 2003 there is no longer a need for the public sector in Scotland to designate national long distance routes to provide a guaranteed right of access. However many communities see the potential for economic benefit from having a designated route in their area with a number of routes already successfully created by local community and / or tourism groups. In the Highland area this includes the South Loch Ness Trail. A further project is taking this approach to the development of the Cape Wrath Trail. It is envisaged that this approach may be an appropriate one for the North Highland Way. Such a route would link in with the Cape Wrath Trail in the west and the Moray Firth Trail in the east.
The Highland Council commissioned Bill Taylor Associates to undertake of a short piece of work to gauge the level of community interest in the formation of a group to take forward the development of a North Highland Way long distance walking route.
This report outlines the findings of this exercise.
Methodology
Telephone contact was made with a range of organisation and individuals supplied by Highland Council. Calls were made between 18th December and 21st January. Several of the contacts required many calls before a successful interview was possible. This was undoubtedly due to the timing of the exercise.
The following organisations, groups and agencies were contacted (full list Appendix 1):
 11 Chairpersons of Community Councils along the North coast  2 Community Development Companies  3 Regional scale development organisations  1 local tourism development group
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Telephone Consultation on the concept of a North Highland Way by Bill Taylor Associates January 2014
 4 National agencies  1 Conservation NGO  1 Walking Group  1 Private company.”

ViewRanger supported the Way for a while.

2019 – Coast Walker says Tina Irving is the perpetrator of the North Highland Way.

2021 – Adventure Travel Research Association

2020 – Ordnance Survey

2022 – Outdoor Active

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