Dalwhinnie ( "meeting place") is a small village in the Scottish Highlands. Dalwhinnie is located at the head of Glen Truim and the north-east end of Loch Ericht, on the western edge of the Cairngorms National Park.

Location

Dalwhinnie sits at an altitude of 351 m. It is one of the coldest villages in the UK, having an average annual temperature of 6.6 C, making it suitable for winter walking and mountaineering. It is north of Drumochter, just off the A9 road from Perth to Inverness and has been bypassed since 1975. It is about 75 mi from both Edinburgh and Glasgow, 25 mi from Aviemore, 13 mi from Newtonmore and 17 mi from Kingussie. Dalwhinnie railway station lies on the Highland Main Line from Perth to Inverness.

Tourism

The area is walking destination along the River Truim and in Cairngorm and Monadhliath Mountains in the Cairngorm National Park. Dalwhinnie is on the Sustrans National Cycle Route 7, Glasgow to Inverness. There are several cycle routes in the area including one alongside Loch Ericht. Loch Ericht Hotel stands on the banks of the River Truim.

Distillery

Diageo owns the local distillery, the highest-elevation working distillery in Scotland. Dalwhinnie Single Malt is a light, heathery whisky.

Climate

Dalwhinnie experiences a subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc) that very closely borders a humid continental climate (Dfb) with strong influences of an oceanic climate (Cfb), a climate very rare for a UK town. Skies are frequently overcast with cool temperatures and rainfall throughout the year. Sunshine here averages only 1,032 hours, which is one of the lowest in the United Kingdom. Dalwhinnie holds the UK low temperature records for the months of June, September and October. In addition, it also holds Scotland's record for the lowest April daytime maximum temperature of -1.0 C in 1975, and the record lowest October temperature for the United Kingdom of -11.7 C. For the 1951–1980 observation period, it averaged a temperature of 6.3 C compared to Braemar's 6.4 C, making Dalwhinnie one of the coldest inhabited places in the British Isles. According to the 1981–2010 observation period, Dalwhinnie is the coldest place in the UK below 500 metres above sea level, with a mean temperature of 6.6 C, lower than Leadhills and Braemar which both have mean temperatures of 6.8 C for this period. The lowest temperatures in recent years have been -15.8 C in January 2010 and -16.1 C during December 2010. Winter snowfall can be heavy, with accumulations often exceeding 30 cm.