Navigating to a backwater pub or brewery and around one of Britain’s last wildernesses is a magical way to explore
M
ake this the summer you get back out on the water, with fish plopping beneath you, bulrushes shimmying and kingfishers darting by. Even if you don’t have your own kayak or paddleboard festering in the garage, there are dozens of excellent hire places and guided tours up and down the country, on beautiful rivers, lakes, canals and coastlines. I’ve spent a couple of years researching a book about the loveliest, and here are five of my favourites.
For many years the Old Forge Inn – often referred to as the most remote pub in mainland Britain – was well known for its live music sessions that would break out when the whisky started flowing. Locals and visitors were often moved to take down the musical instruments hanging on the walls and burst into tune. It sounded like the best party in the land, all the more so for the degree of difficulty it took to reach it, and the ridiculous beauty of the surroundings. It’s the only pub in the only village, Inverie, on the Knoydart peninsula, a heathery, mountainous hunk of the Scottish west coast that juts between three deep sea lochs, where seals play and white-tailed eagles soar.
