# Most Desolate Places in UK/Ireland? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 12, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-desolate-places-in-uk-ireland/599468 "2011-10-12T22:19:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-desolate-places-in-uk-ireland/599468/21 "2011-10-13T19:19:10Z")
I suppose desolation is relative, the west of Ireland in parts seems desolate, but really you’re never that far (maybe no more than 10 miles) from a town or village, anywhere you go on this island. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-desolate-places-in-uk-ireland/599468/22 "2011-10-13T22:26:24Z")
> [@drbhoneydew](#): > > Indeed. And, like Knoydart mentioned above, it still finds room for a pub 😃 > The pass was named after the pub, although the pub has now been renamed the Snake Pass Inn, so the pub is named after the pass that’s named after the pub. > > For _truly_ desolate in these islands, you’ll need to find somewhere without a pub :dubious: I’m quite amazed to hear that: I’d always assumed it was called the Snake because it is twisty. Wikipedia agree with you but I may just put it to our local forum (Sheffield) and get back to you 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![drbhoneydew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d78d45/32.png) [@drbhoneydew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drbhoneydew)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-desolate-places-in-uk-ireland/599468/23 "2011-10-14T11:17:31Z")
Now that I think about it, you are fairly likely to find a pub out in the bleakness so long as there was a coaching route. Rannoch moor has reputedly the oldest inn in Scotland. The road between Edmundbyers and Stanhope is pretty desolate, and looks even more so [on Streetview](http://g.co/maps/wyv2g) as their car goes through a moorland fire. I used to cycle along there back in the day. For fun. Not during fires though. Another way to find the less touched places - hostel clusters. Once you discount the cities that you’ve heard of, the YHA and its Scottish cousin the SYHA are mostly in out of the way places that are pretty. [Map of England & Wales](http://www.hihostels.com/dba/cmap-GB.en.htm) [Map of Scotland](http://www.hihostels.com/dba/cmap-GBS.en.htm) ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-desolate-places-in-uk-ireland/599468/24 "2011-10-14T21:12:29Z")
I’d suggest the Northern Pennine Moors, thing is, its not even all that pretty to look at, utterly bleak around places such as Meltham and Saddleworth. If you go up either side of the M62 its as bleak as hell, or around the moors above Holmfirth, Woodhead pass etc. These are not really tourist spots either since they are not visually appealing unless you are a walker, birdwatcher or mountain bike rider. I go up there quite regularly, nice to get away from folk.It’s usually cold and wet, that drizzly summat and nowt sort of rain > **[Pennines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennines)** > > The Pennines (/ˈpɛnaɪnz/), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "backbone of England" because of its length and position, the range runs from the north Midlands to North East England, near the Anglo-Scottish border. The Peak District is the southern end of the range, rising northwards from its foothills near the Trent Valley in northern Staffordshire, and further north into eastern Cheshire and so... [http://stigvista.co.uk/pa/walks/dkpeak/blackhill/blackhill.htm](http://stigvista.co.uk/pa/walks/dkpeak/blackhill/blackhill.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-desolate-places-in-uk-ireland/599468/25 "2011-10-14T21:37:55Z")
Fisherfield forest is pretty remote, below Ullapool in Scotland. Some of the most remote Munros in Scotland there. Also the location of the officially most remote spot in the UK mainland, with remote being defined as distance from a tarmac road. How far? A mere 7 miles… ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-desolate-places-in-uk-ireland/599468/26 "2011-10-15T01:36:32Z")
I’ve been to [Inisheer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inisheer), one of the Aran Islands off Galway in Ireland. It is desolate as fuck, but it does have a pub! ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-desolate-places-in-uk-ireland/599468/27 "2011-10-15T09:18:26Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > Fisherfield forest is pretty remote, below Ullapool in Scotland. Some of the most remote Munros in Scotland there. Also the location of the officially most remote spot in the UK mainland, with remote being defined as distance from a tarmac road. > > How far? > > A mere 7 miles… I was so surprised at this that I had to check it. Looks about right. Extraordinary. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-desolate-places-in-uk-ireland/599468/28 "2011-10-15T17:27:51Z")
Awesome, this is a great set of suggestions with some interesting surprises. Anyone been to Connemara or Ballycroy National Park in Ireland? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-desolate-places-in-uk-ireland/599468/29 "2011-10-15T17:45:27Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > Anyone been to Connemara My ex is from Connemara so I’ve spent a lot of time there. There’s basically a coast road on the outside and two main roads crossing in the middle in a +, and that’s about it. Lots of villages along the main roads, and lots of nothing in between. Parts of it look like the surface of Mars - just red scrub and rocks as far as you can see. And mountains to the north. And lakes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-desolate-places-in-uk-ireland/599468.md?page=1)