The remote valley of Glen Roy, a few miles from Fort William in the north West of Scotland, seems at first sight no different from many similar locations – a deep trough cut into the mountains by glaciers during the last ice age. But Glen Roy, described by no less a figure as Charles Darwin (quoted in McKirdy et al) as ‘far the most remarkable area I ever examined’, is distinguished by a remarkable geological feature – the so-called Parallel Roads.

Located in the Lochaber Geopark, the Parallel Roads are an outstanding geological site and have caught the attention of visitors for hundreds of years.Clearly visible, they form parallel terraces running along both sides of the mountain at heights of roughly 260 metres, 320 metres and 350 metres. Long before the science of geology became established, people struggled to understand their origins and they are attributed in legend to the work of some mythical Gaelic giant.

The Parallel Roads of Glen Roy: Historical Theories

Gen Roy has for years been a magnet for geologists and these have included Charles Darwin. Darwin is known to posterity as a biologist but when he returned from the Beagle expedition he did so with an interest in geology. One of his earliest geological papers, published in 1839, was on the subject of Glen Roy, whose landforms he interpreted as part of tectonic theory (the physical movement of different sections of the earth).

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