The Ben Loyal Hotel is in the centre of Tongue. We are on the north coast right in the middle at the junction of the A838 from Durness and the A836 from Lairg. Tongue is approximately a 5 to 6 hour drive from Edinburgh or Glasgow, 2 hours from Inverness and 1 hour from the Orkney ferry terminal at Scrabster (Thurso)

The following weblinks will provide up to date travel information and help you to plan your journey.

British Airways
Easyjet
KLM
Scotrail
Citylink

The following places of interest are also worth visiting on you journey north.

Glenmorangie Whisky Distillery is located in Tain on the A9. Stop and see how they make the 'water of life'.

Falls of Shin Visitors Centre is located on the road going north from Bonar Bridge to Lairg. Just follow the signs. The falls are the only natural salmon leap in Britain and the centre also has an excellent restaurant and shop. Mr Alfayeed who is the proprietor of Harrods of London now owns the centre. Needless to say the Falls of Shin Centre is now known as the Harrods of the North and the shop is stocked with all manner of Harrods goodies including some which are unique to the Falls of Shin.

Dunrobin Castle at Golspie is the Clan seat of the Sutherland's. The castle has a look of a French chateau and has wonderful grounds and outstanding views.

Those of you who are unfamiliar with the area might find the following information helpful. If you are driving north to Tongue via Lairg then please be aware that the last 40 miles from Lairg to Tongue is on a single track road. This is also the case if you are coming from the west where there are around 60 miles of single track to negotiate into Tongue. Those of you travelling from the east will enjoy mostly normal double track roads as far as Bettyhill then about 12 miles of single track into Tongue. Most of our roads are unfenced and sheep and deer roam freely. Whilst admiring the scenery make sure that you keep any eye open for these natural hazards!

Petrol stations are few and far between in this part of Sutherland. If you are running low then please fill up whenever you get the opportunity. Many petrol stations do not stay open very late. Outside of the tourist season many of the petrol stations do not open on a Sunday or have very restricted hours, so again make sure that you have enough fuel to reach your destination.

The nights do not get very dark in Sutherland between May and September but if you are travelling outside of these months it does get very dark very early in the afternoons. It is quite possible to be requiring your headlights be 3.30 PM (1530 hours) and in the mornings it remains fairly dark until about 09.00 AM