Beyond the Black Cuillin - Walking on The Isle of Skye and Lochalsh

The lone soldier in the glen in Winter rainment, shown from the Sligachan path, a more attractive access route than the Loch Ainort approach.
Photo © Phil Gorton Studio

Climbing the neighbouring Red Hills contrasts dramatically with the technical difficulties dogging a Black Cuillin ascent. The rounded, granite formations are a steep climb, but once attained, the ridge walking is easy, with superb views of the jagged Gabbro peaks across Glen Sligachan. Marsco is the jewel here, an isolated soldier on the moors, often bathed in evening sunshine.

Alternatives to the Munros and Corbets abound for the day walker, Island legend has it that MacLeods tables in the North West had their tops cut off to provide table and bed for St. Columba. These two often visited mountains can be walked easily as a round, with the North the highest, and the South the more interesting.

The backpacker and rough camper can take on the finest walk in the Hebrides, the Trotternish High Level Route.

From Portree to Duntulm, the peninsula's backbone is an escarpment with five points over 2000 feet, gently sloping to the West but with dramatic and fractured cliff faces to the East. Superb mainland views extend from Torridon to Ben Nevis.

An unusual view of Healabhal Bheag, easily climbed in Winter, showing the buttress and rock outcrops from the peat hags of the lower slopes.
Photo © Phil Gorton Studio

Wild, remote and rugged beauty awaits. Photo © Cailean Maclean

For the static camper, sites throughout Skye support all manner of outdoor activity, including bike and canoe hire. Sailing, diving and riding are all available on the island.

A classic, fractured Hebridean coastline provides intriguing low level walks on cloudier days, this is the land of sea stacks and pinnacles, of dark caves and sparkling waterfalls, of slippery cliff descents and sharp crag headlands. Here, the after dinner stroller is often rewarded by a spectacular sunset.