The Great Glen ( gd, An Gleann Mòr ), also known as Glen Albyn (from the Gaelic "Glen of Scotland" ) or Glen More (from the Gaelic ), is a

glen A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

running for from

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

on the edge of

Moray Firth The Moray Firth (; Scottish Gaelic: ''An Cuan Moireach'', ''Linne Mhoireibh'' or ''Caolas Mhoireibh'') is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotl ...

, in an approximately straight line to Fort William at the head of

Loch Linnhe Loch Linnhe () is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland. The part upstream of Corran is known in Gaelic as (the black pool, originally known as Loch Abar), and downstream as (the salty pool). The name ''Linnhe'' is derived from the Gaelic w ...

. It follows a

geological fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

known as the

Great Glen Fault The Great Glen Fault is a strike-slip fault that runs through the Great Glen in Scotland. The fault is mostly inactive today, but occasional moderate tremors have been recorded over the past 150 years. Location Aligned northeast to southwest, t ...

, and bisects the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...

into the Grampian Mountains to the southeast and the Northwest Highlands to the northwest. great glen fault

The glen is a natural travelling route in the Highlands of Scotland, which is used by both the

Caledonian Canal The Caledonian Canal connects the Scottish east coast at Inverness with the west coast at Corpach near Fort William in Scotland. The canal was constructed in the early nineteenth century by Scottish engineer Thomas Telford. Route The canal r ...

and the

A82 road The A82 is a major road in Scotland that runs from Glasgow to Inverness via Fort William, Highland, Fort William. It is one of the principal north-south routes in Scotland and is mostly a trunk road managed by Transport Scotland, who view it a ...

, which link the city of Inverness on the northeast coast with Fort William on the west coast. The

Invergarry and Fort Augustus Railway The Invergarry and Fort Augustus Railway was a branch-line railway built in Scotland, connecting the named places with the main line at Spean Bridge. It opened in 1903. Serving exceptionally sparsely inhabited areas it was never commercially su ...

was built in 1896 from the southern end of the glen to the southern end of Loch Ness, but was never extended to Inverness. The railway closed in 1947. In 2002, the Great Glen Way was opened. A long-distance route for cyclists, canoeists, and walkers, it consists of a series of footpaths, forestry tracks, canal paths and occasional stretches of road linking Fort William to Inverness. The glen's strategic importance in controlling the Highland Scottish clans, particularly around the time of the

Jacobite risings , war = , image = Prince James Francis Edward Stuart by Louis Gabriel Blanchet.jpg , image_size = 150px , caption = James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766 , active ...

of the 18th century, is recognised by the presence of the towns of Fort William in the south,

Fort Augustus Fort Augustus is a settlement in the parish of Boleskine and Abertarff, at the south-west end of Loch Ness, Scottish Highlands. The village has a population of around 646 (2001). Its economy is heavily reliant on tourism. History The Gaeli ...

in the middle of the glen, and Fort George, just to the north of Inverness. Much of the glen is taken up with a series of

loch ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots language, Scots and Irish language, Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is Cognate, cognate with the Manx language, Manx lough, Cornish language, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh language, Welsh w ...

s, with rivers connecting them. The Caledonian Canal also uses the lochs as part of the route, but the rivers are not navigable. From northeast to southwest, the natural water features along the Great Glen are: *

River Ness The River Ness (Scottish Gaelic: ''Abhainn Nis'') is a river in Highland, Scotland, UK. It flows from Loch Dochfour, at the northern end of Loch Ness, north-east to the mouth of the Beauly Firth at Inverness, a distance of about , with a fall ...

() *

Loch Dochfour ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch. In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spelling ...

() * Loch Ness () *

River Oich The River Oich is a short river that flows through the Great Glen in Scotland. It carries water from Loch Oich (to the SW) to Loch Ness (to the NE) and runs in parallel to a section of the Caledonian Canal for the whole of its length. The Great G ...

() * Loch Oich () *

Loch Lochy Loch Lochy (Scottish Gaelic, ''Loch Lòchaidh'') is a large freshwater loch in Lochaber, Highland (council area), Highland, Scotland.With a mean depth of , it is the third-deepest loch of Scotland. Geography Located southwest of Loch Ness along ...

() * River Lochy () *

() The

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

lies between Loch Oich and Loch Lochy. Loch Linnhe to the south of Fort William is a

sea loch ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch. In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spelling ...

into which both the River Lochy and Caledonian Canal emerge. At the north end, the River Ness empties into the Moray Firth.

Seismic activity

Although earthquakes in the vicinity of the Great Glen Fault tend to be minor, seismic activity is a consideration in the design of infrastructure. For example, the Kessock Bridge includes seismic buffers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Glen Glens of Scotland Valleys of Argyll and Bute Valleys of Highland (council area) Loch Ness