Lochindorb and the Dava Moor Fire / Fire and Wind

Between the Cairngorms and the Moray coast lies a little-visited part of Scotland, a place with a real backcountry feel. It is the domain of the River Findhorn, and while the river itself dark and secretive in narrow gorges, its drainage basin is a huge open moor. 

Dava Moor:

In the middle of this moor, in a shallow bowl of windswept hills is Lochindorb. And on an island in the loch is a castle. Not much grows up here at an altitude of 1,000ft, and the castle occupants would have not had much access to crops. Food would have to have travelled a long way, and it wouldn't have been an easy journey over miles of moor and bog (and possibly in those days, some forest) to reach this spot. But this is how its most notorious resident liked it.   

Lochindorb Castle:

Alexander Stewart, the Wolf of Badenoch (like the Wolf of Wall Street, but with less drugs and a lot more violence) had his base at the castle in Lochindorb, its remoteness an asset. With his band of caterans he terrorised the surrounding lowlands of Moray, retreating to Lochindorb. It's perhaps no surprise he was a law unto himself, with at least twenty-five siblings and half-siblings reaching adulthood: but as his father was the king, nobody did much to stop him.

His most notorious act was burning the cathedral of Elgin, the 'lantern of the north' in 1390 over a dispute with its bishop. But recently, fire came to Lochindorb.

Map of the fires: 

In June 2025, a fire broke out (suspected to have been started by a campfire or barbeque) in the area that would end up being the largest recorded in Scotland, covering 29,000 acres (BBC) and with a perimeter of 157 miles (Scottish Wildlife Forum). Over a month later we visited Lochindorb and climbed a nearby hill. As soon as we got out the car the smell of smoke was obvious, the fire-blackened ground still warm to touch in places. A ribbon of damper ground was undamaged, and we followed up up the hill to the top. 

Dog and devastation:

The fire revealed hundreds of thousands of bolt holes of small rodents and we wondered what had happened to their inhabitants. Did they flee? Or did they cower in their burrows and burn alive?

At the top, wide views opened up from the coast to the Cairngorms. Few tourists come this way - its not a fashionable area - and for me that makes its loveliness all the more appreciated.