Loch Borralan is a freshwater loch in the

Assynt Assynt ( gd, Asainn or ) is a sparsely populated area in the south-west of Sutherland, lying north of Ullapool on the west coast of Scotland. Assynt is known for its landscape and its remarkable mountains, which have led to the area, along with ...

District of

Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (later ...

in the

Highland Council Area Highland ( gd, A' Ghàidhealtachd, ; sco, Hieland) is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It share ...

, northern Scotland. It's located adjacent to the A837 main road near to the settlements of Aultnacealgach and Ledmore and is from

Ullapool Ullapool (; gd, Ulapul ) is a village and port located in Northern Scotland. Ullapool has a population of around 1,500 inhabitants. It is located around northwest of Inverness in Ross and Cromarty, Scottish Highlands. Despite its modest size, ...

and from

Lairg Lairg ( gd, An Luirg, meaning "the shank/shin") is a village and parish in Sutherland, Scotland. It has a population of 891 and is at the south-eastern end of Loch Shin. Lairg is unusual in the northern Highlands in being a large settlement tha ...

Geography

The Loch is just over across and the settlement of Aultnacealgach is located directly on the Loch, there's also the Aultnacealgach Lodge which is also on the Loch but despite the name is on the other side. Finally there's the Alt Motel Located Just Northwest of the other Lodge. Both of these boost the tourism in the area, it's proximity to the A837 makes most people go here instead of the nearby albeit larger Loch Urigill. Flowing into the loch there's the Ault an Loin Duibh and the much smaller Allt nan Cealgach and the Allt na Meine. Flowing Outward there's the Ledmore river which flows towards

Loch Veyatie Loch Veyatie (Gaelic: Loch Mheathadaidh) is a large freshwater loch in north-west Scotland. It stretches for 6 km north-westwards from the settlement of Elphin, and lies between Suilven and Cùl Mòr. The loch is located in an area known as ...

and eventually the Atlantic Ocean. There are also nearby peaks of Bad na Cleithe, Cnoc Gorm and Cnoc bad na h-Achlaise.

Tourism

Loch Borralan is a tourist attraction given its location.

Geology

The areas around Loch Borrolan are full of Igneous rocks such as

borolanite Borolanite is an historical petrological name for a pyroxene-melanite bearing nepheline syenite variety which contains nepheline-alkali feldspar pseudomorphs interpreted to be after leucite which occur as conspicuous white spots in the dark rock ma ...

. Which is typically white-spotted

nepheline syenite Nepheline syenite is a holocrystalline plutonic rock that consists largely of nepheline and alkali feldspar. The rocks are mostly pale colored, grey or pink, and in general appearance they are not unlike granites, but dark green varieties are al ...

unique to this area. Other rocks like

pyroxene The pyroxenes (commonly abbreviated to ''Px'') are a group of important rock-forming inosilicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Pyroxenes have the general formula , where X represents calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), iron (Fe II) ...

-rich

mafic rock A mafic mineral or rock is a silicate mineral or igneous rock rich in magnesium and iron. Most mafic minerals are dark in color, and common rock-forming mafic minerals include olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite. Common mafic rocks include ...

can be found blended in, overall there's a large range of particular rocks found around the banks of the loch. Largely in a nearby disused

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borralan, Loch Freshwater lochs of Scotland Kirkaig Basin