Loch Achilty is a large deep picturesque lowland freshwater
loch
''Loch'' ( ) is a word meaning "lake" or "inlet, sea inlet" in Scottish Gaelic, Scottish and Irish Gaelic, subsequently borrowed into English. In Irish contexts, it often appears in the anglicized form "lough". A small loch is sometimes calle ...
set within a sloping birch and oakwood forest, located near
Contin
Contin ( Gaelic: Cunndainn) is a Ross-shire village, and a civil parish and community council area between Strathpeffer and Garve in the Highland council area of Scotland. The parish has a population of 675. in
Easter Ross
Easter Ross () is a loosely defined area in the east of Ross, Highland, Scotland.
The name is used in the constituency name Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, which is the name of both a British House of Commons constituency and a Scotti ...
in the
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...
of Scotland. Loch Achilty is notable for having no outflow. It has been assumed that the loch discharges its surplus water via an underground tunnel into the River Rosay (now known as the Black Water) that eventually flows into the larger
River Conon
The River Conon () is a river in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. It begins at Loch Luichart, and flows in a south-easterly direction to be joined by the River Meig at Scatwell before passing through Loch Achonachie. It is joined ...
.
Geography
Loch Achilty is a small but deep loch in Torrachilty wood, three miles west of
Strathpeffer
Strathpeffer () is a village and spa town in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland, with a population of 1,469.
Geography
It lies in a strath west of Dingwall, with the elevation ranging from above sea level. Sheltered on the west and north, ...
, and contains char. In outline it is somewhat elliptical, with the long axis trending north-east and south-west. The floor of Loch Achilty is irregular. The contour follows approximately the outline of the loch, in many places approaching very close to the shore, but the deeper contours are all sinuous in character, and there are two small basins exceeding in depth, the larger and deeper towards the western shore, and the smaller, based on a sounding of , near the centre of the loch.