The Lairig Ghru Pass from Tullochgru Aviemore View Landscape
The Cairngorms are a unique landscape, celebrated around the world. They include Britain's biggest National Park. Due to their exceptional wild and natural qualities they have been proposed as a World Heritage Site. The area is of outstanding national and international value for nature conservation:- one of the most important areas for mountain wildlife in the European Union; a concentration of glacial and post-glacial land forms (matched only by Baffin Island and Labrador); the home for many scarce plants, insects, birds and mammals with arctic or northern distributions - such as twinflower, capercaillie, dotterel and mountain hare; heartland of the remaining Caledonian woods - outliers of the boreal forest which are national monuments as important as, say any cathedrals; the bed for some of the least polluted rivers in Britain, including the world-famous Spey and Dee; breeding ground for uncommon wading birds and birds of prey, many of which are now rare in the UK; a land worked by generations of farmers, crofters, stalkers and gamekeepers The more adventurous find in the Cairngorms fulfilment from some of the remotest and wildest mountain tops and arctic high plateaux, offering vast and spacious views. The Cairngorms also contain the biggest granite cliffs anywhere in the British Isles, offering a vast array of climbs at all grades in both summer and winter. The area also offers some superlative ski mountaineering beyond the crowds on Cairn Gorm itself.
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Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: cairngorms, glacial, highlands, inverness-shire, kingdom, landscape, mountains, national, park, places, region, scotland, scottish, travel, uk, united, valley, view
