River Islands of Inverness

1 Head up Ness Walk, with the river on your right, passing opposite the castle. Stay on the left-hand bank past a road bridge (it leads to the tourist information centre). Pass the Glenalbyn Bar into Huntley Street to a suspension footbridge. Cross this, to the foot of Church Lane. At the other end of this short street is Dunbar's Hospital, a handsome building from 1688. Return to the river and continue downstream, with the water on your left. A cycleway leads under the ugly concrete bridge of the A82. Turn left across the Waterloo Bridge, built in 1896, then right on Anderson Street and continue alongside the river, passing under a railway bridge.

2 Continue along the streets nearest the river, passing two branches of the Gael Force Superstore. Beyond it you regain the river as it opens into the Beauly Firth. Behind a pumping station, a short track leads to a beacon. This has a fine view of the estuary and Kessock Bridge. Continue along the shore to the old ferry slipway - you'll notice the corresponding slipway on the opposite shore. A sea wall path ahead runs above a seaweed expanse. After a level crossing, the path passes between salt pools to the Caledonian Canal.

3 On the right, lock keepers' cottages and a lighthouse mark the canal's entry into the salt water. Your route turns left, past the wide Muirtown Basin (which should be on your right). You pass a swing bridge, with Canal Kebabs on the left and then the Caley Inn. The canal now rises through a set of locks. Follow it for another ¾ mile (1.2km) to a gate, with a swing bridge visible ahead. Those with dogs must continue along the tow path to this swing bridge, those without can turn off left just before the gate, on a tarred path. The street ahead runs to the left of the wooded hill which is the Tomnahuirich Cemetery. A gate between white pillars lets you in. The cemetery is closed at night and dogs are forbidden.

4 For the most atmospheric path up, bear right inside the gates, then left on to a path under a lime tree. This joins a track at its hairpin bend. Go round left to rediscover the path at a tall birch. After 50yds (46m), turn left up a rhododendron tunnel. The path winds up the steep end of the hill, with several flights of steps. Across the top of the hill runs a gravestone avenue, dipping into an amphitheatre and ending at a war memorial with a fine view.

5 Return to the amphitheatre and turn right, on to a track that bends back around the hill. At the prow of the hill, turn left down steep steps to exit from the cemetery close to the swing bridge of the Caledonian Canal mentioned earlier.
Turn right to the swing bridge, but don't cross it; turn left along the nearside tow path. (Those with dogs must turn more sharply left here to follow the waymarkers of the Great Glen Way.) After ½ mile (800m), the River Ness appears below. Turn left on a path that runs past a rugby pitch to a footbridge to Whin Island. Again, dogs aren't allowed in this park.

6 Turn left on any path along the island, passing to the right of the ornamental pool to a path with the main river close by on the right. At the park's end is a footbridge which leads back to the left-hand bank of the river. Turn right, downstream. This is again the Great Glen Way, where dogs and their owners rejoin the route. A tarred riverside path leads to a white suspension bridge. Cross to the first of the Ness Islands and turn left. At its end, another footbridge leads to a second island, and at the end of that, a further footbridge leads to the other bank of the river.

7 Turn left to continue downstream for another 650yds (594m). A final footbridge leads back across the river, with the cathedral ¼ mile (400m) downstream.