Glen Roy National Nature Reserve

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Overview

An amazing sight meets your eyes as you round a bend in the minor road from Roy Bridge along the north side of the Glen Roy NNR. Three parallel ruler-straight lines run for miles along the hillsides into the far distance. These are the world-famous ‘Parallel Roads’ of Glen Roy, and in the 19th century, their origin baffled some of the finest thinkers in the world. Now accepted as the best evidence in Britain of how a series of ice-dammed lakes formed and then suddenly drained at the end of the last Ice Age leaving their ‘tide marks’, they make Glen Roy a place of international landscape importance. The River Roy runs through the glen, bordered by a narrow strip of native birch and oak woodland. You may hear buzzards mewing overhead, or catch the flash of a summer-visiting sand martin, while other wildlife includes ravens and the

Location

Roy Bridge

About the area

Apart from the Orkneys and the Shetlands, Highland is Scotland’s northernmost county. Probably its most famous feature is the mysterious and evocative Loch Ness, allegedly home to an ancient monster that has embedded itself in the world’s modern mythology, and the region’s tourist industry.

Explore Highland

Glen Roy National Nature Reserve

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Glen Roy National Nature Reserve

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