Heatherlea Hotel - Highlands.

Heatherlea offers some trips for those with limited mobility. For full details of all our Birdwatching Trips see the Heatherlea website contact Kevin Shaw

'Limited Walking' Holidays. Our 'Limited Walking' holidays are for those who can walk, but not too far. Unfortunately we don't have the full facilities that many people might need, nor can we do much about it.

Our constraints include:
Hotel on a hill. Great for views, but not for wheelchairs or walking.
Eleven rooms up stairs, and only one on ground floor.
Some small en suites, without the necessary room for more than a grab rail.
Travel by minibus doesn't include wheelchair access.

It is obviously important that we only offer services we can provide! I don't want to mislead anyone. To be positive, our 'Easy Walking' weeks will be very good for everyone who can get in and out of a minibus, and our knowledge of this area guarantees good birding in a responsive environment. We will look for all the key Scottish specialities, and should find a good number. We can find Black Grouse and Capercaillie without leaving the bus, so I think the holiday will have great value to some 'disabled' birders, although sadly not all. We have two minibuses, and one will be reserved for those on the 'Easy Walking' week, so that people don't have to wait around whilst more active folk go for a walk. We started by launching this holiday in January, and rapidly sold out not one but two weeks. The second began on April 8 2001.

Most clients seem to be elderly or suffering heart or walking complaints, and wish to avoid strain or being a nuisance to 'able-bodied' birders. I'm determined to find as many key species as possible, as I don't see why anyone should miss out on these beautiful birds just because of their restricted abilities. We have now opened a third week, from 30 Sept to 7 October.