Glen Roy parallel roads

Glen Roy is situated just north of Roy Bridge in the Highlands of Scotland.

The glen is accessed from the A86 trunk road along quite a narrow and winding lane, but once there, the views are spectacular.

Glen Roy is best known for the ancient geological formations known as the “Parallel Roads of Glen Roy”.

It has been the subject of much study over the years, with many early geologists including Charles Darwin, having visited and studied the area.

In fact it was Charles Darwin, having published a paper on the phenomenon in 1839, was notably challenged by others on its origins to the extent that some four decades later he was convinced “My paper is one long gigantic blunder”.

The parallel lines seen in the mountains around Glen Roy are remnants of the shorelines of a series of ice-damned proglacial lakes.  Interestingly, the lines aren’t quite parallel, and this shows how tilting of the land took place in between periods of glacial cover.

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