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This is the 'Empty Quarter' of Caithness, glimpsed by passengers on the Thurso/Wick to Inverness train as it rattles south past the remote station of Altnabreac. There are no roads here, simply rough, broken tracks, passable only by four-wheel drive vehicles or on foot.

But it is one of the most amazing landscapes in the world and far from devoid of life. This is the Flow Country, a landscape that has remained virtually unchanged since the end of the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago; peat moorlands, sparkled blue with lochs, lochans and tiny silver streams that are home to an astonishing array of wildlife.

The vehicle entry point to this wonderland is the road from Westerdale on the north bank of the Thurso River. To the north of this road the view is marred by blanket forestry, but to the south the moors are pristine and treeless. Caithness mountains line the distant horizon: the Scarabens, Smean, Maidens Pap, Morven and Small Mount.

The best way of exploring this enchanted land is on foot and convenient stalker's paths allow you to do so. Of particular note is a 'living' peat bog at Blar nam Faoileag, fringing the north shore of Loch Ruard. The loch is full of hard-fighting brown trout and often home to families of otters. Wildcat hunt the moor and you will invariably see red throated diver, buzzard and other great raptors. What you won't see are people.