However, the A862 (along the firth's southern shore) has grown increasingly busy, making the route difficult at peak times.

[4] Although there are no sandy beaches on the firth's coast, its pebbled shores are excellent for stone skipping, and popular amongst artists wanting to depict the sunset.

This name is mostly used on Scotland's west coast, and is a reference to a cross erected by the Collegiate Friars of Inverness on an islet in the firth.

As the Last Glacial Period ended however, the ice gradually retreated, leaving the firth and its steep surrounding hills.

[8] In Ptolemy's geography of the British Isles, written around AD 150 at the height of the Roman Empire, the Beauly Firth is possibly referred to as the "Varar estuary"[9]—a view supported by Scottish scholar William J.