Loch A'an is a remote freshwater

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 ...

set deep within the central

Cairngorms The Cairngorms ( gd, Am Monadh Ruadh) are a mountain range in the eastern Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain Cairn Gorm. The Cairngorms became part of Scotland's second national park (the Cairngorms National Park) on 1 ...

plateau, in the

Cairngorms National Park Cairngorms National Park ( gd, Pàirc Nàiseanta a' Mhonaidh Ruaidh) is a national park in northeast Scotland, established in 2003. It was the second of two national parks established by the Scottish Parliament, after Loch Lomond and The Tros ...

, located in the eastern

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia * So ...

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 th ...

. Loch A'an, also called Loch Avon, is the source of the River Avon. Loch A'an is oriented southwest–northeast and is bounded on three sides by precipitous mountains, cliffs and crags, with the North-East opening out to provide an outflow for the river through Glen Avon.

Geography

To the north of the loch, rising almost vertically, lies the

Cairn Gorm Cairn Gorm ( gd, An Càrn Gorm) is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. It is part of the Cairngorms range and wider Grampian Mountains. With a summit elevation of above sea level, Cairn Gorm is classed as a Munro and is the seventh ...

, the sixth highest mountain in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Southwest of Cairn Gorm, at the head of the loch, lies the imposing peak of

Ben Macdui Ben Macdui ( gd, Beinn MacDuibh, meaning "MacDuff's mountain") is the second-highest mountain in Scotland and all of the British Isles, after Ben Nevis, and the highest of the Cairngorm Mountains. The summit is above sea level and it is class ...

, the second-highest mountain in the UK, and to east lies

Beinn Mheadhoin Beinn Mheadhoin or Beinn Meadhain () is a mountain in the Highlands of Scotland. It is a Munro with a height of and by some counts it is the twelfth-highest mountain of Great Britain. It lies in the very heart of the Cairngorm mountains, ...

, the thirteenth-highest mountain in the UK, again rising almost vertically from the Loch A'an basin. Lying south of the loch and higher up the range at an elevation of , lies

Loch Etchachan Loch Etchachan is a remote freshwater loch set deep within the central Cairngorms plateau, in the Cairngorms National Park, located in the eastern Highlands of Scotland. It is the highest waterbody of its size in the UK, the surface being above ...

Gallery

File:Loch Avon in Springtime - geograph.org.uk - 683700.jpg, The Loch in springtime before the thaw File:Loch Avon in Cairngorms - geograph.org.uk - 10129.jpg, Photo taken from just east of the Saddle on the SW ridge of A'Choinneach File:View towards Loch A'an and Beinn Mheadhoin - geograph.org.uk - 866001.jpg, View towards Loch A'an and Beinn Mheadhoin The 'Middle Hill' from Shelter Stone Craig. File:Burns tumble towards Loch Avon - geograph.org.uk - 2598831.jpg, Burns tumble towards Loch Avon

References

A'an A'an Cairngorms {{Highland-geo-stub