Struan Hill Road Forest Track

This Struan Hill Road Forest Track is located approximately 4.5 miles from the centre of Portree on the B885 Portree – Struan Road. Known locally as the Struan Hill Road or Hill Road. We did enquire if the track was known locally by any name but nothing came forth so until we know any better we will call it the Struan Hill Road Forest Track. A good accessible track suitable for all abilities and all weathers.

Location of the Struan Hill Road Forest Track

As previously mentioned it is 4.5 miles from the centre of Portree on the Struan Hill Road (B885). Your journey will take you past one of our favourite spots Ace Target Sports just a mile or so along the road. Avoid any turn offs along the road, drive towards Struan. Eventually the road eases upwards until you are on top of the peat moor with views to the Western Isles on clear days. The road drops steeply to cross the River Snizort and rises steeply up the other side. As the road levels off there is a large gate and driveway on the left hand side. Sensibly park here leaving space for other walkers and get ready to start your walk.

The track

To start the walk go through the side gate on the left. It is a wide gate and easy to open and close. This is a forestry track so do be aware that there may be forestry vehicles using it at times. Currently there are no logging company signs on the gates so it doesn’t look as if a vehicle has been down there for a while. We usually find these tracks are well compacted by the vehicles that travel them, making the going smoother and easier. The surface here was more changeable. The first 0.5 km of the track quite smooth comprising of compact small gravel and pine needles. Further along it is less compacted with some larger stones still protruding slightly. Here is a perfect spot to watch our video which shows the track and the surface.

Sarah struggled with her wheels in places as there were small stones wedging under the small wheels of the rollator. It was simply a case of heading for the smoothest parts of the path where going was easier. This did mean sometimes having to switch sides to avoid the worst of the stones. As we had one of Melanie’s dogs out with us again sometimes this was just to avoid his lead as he tried to tie Melanie in knots around the trees. And we aren’t joking on more than one occasion Jasper completed a full loop of a few trees!

This is a good place to walk dogs as we encountered no livestock. We did meet another dog walker so bear this in mind. It would also be good for kids on bikes or folks in wheelchairs too.

Great views from within the forest

This is a linear walk which eventually ends at the River Snizort. Although we walked quite a way as we were too busy talking to notice, we didn’t go as far as the river. We just turned and retraced our steps when we had had enough.

The track slowly meanders down hill to the river and along the way you are rewarded with great views to Glamaig and the Cuillins. It isn’t even particularly steep but save some energy for the return leg. After approximately 1km the surface is much rougher with a chunkier, less compacted stone surface. This is where we had a rest and then turned around. To be honest it would have been much harder for Sarah from this point onwards. On the way back up to the car a fox shot across the track a few yards ahead of us which was quite a sight.

This is a quiet track, we only saw one other walker while we were there. Being heavily forested it is quite sheltered making it good if the weather is inclement. While being one of the more challenging forestry tracks we have tackled it would still be possible for a manual wheelchair. As long as the person pushing it is up to the challenge.