The thriving Wester Ross community of Gairloch is made up of all the villages and hamlets around Loch Gairloch (Geàrrloch means ‘short loch’ in Gaelic), from Red Point in the southwest to Rua Reidh Lighthouse in the northwest. The area provides a wealth of activities for visitors as well as spectacular scenery, with unforgettable sunsets across the Minch to the Western Isles and the dramatic backdrop of the Torridon mountains to the south. Gairloch offers visitors clean sandy beaches, with history at every turn, dolphins, porpoises and seals in the loch, fishing boats in the harbour, a superb golf course, opportunities for fishing and pony trekking, and some of the best and most varied walking in Scotland. The area has been a popular holiday resort since Victorian times, when visitors came in on the regular steamers from the south. In those days most visitors put up at the 150-bed Gairloch Hotel (built in 1872), but today’s visitors have a wide choice of accommodation, and lots of different places to wine, dine and shop all around the loch. In the summer the local inns and hotels frequently hold ceilidhs and musical evenings.