The Quiraing

On Sunday during my stay on Skye the early mist started to clear, promising a fine day and, indeed, the weather got better and better during the morning.

The view from our B and B, Ronan House

After breakfast the minibus arrived at the B and B ready to drive us to the start of our walk. We collected the rest of the party who were staying in another B and B and drove to Portree where we stopped at the Co-op to pick up some sandwiches and supplies for our dinner (midday meal!!). We then headed along the Trotternish Peninsula and just past the small village of Staffin turned down a narrow road which eventually climbed steeply to the starting point for our walk in the Quiraing.

The Quiraing is a giant landslip on the eastern face of Meall na Suiramach at the northern end of the Totternish ridge caused by volcanic rocks sitting on top of a softer sedimentary layer. The softer rocks being crushed by the pressure from the heavier rocks above. Like Mam Tor in the Peak District, it’s still a “live” landslip and the road up to the car park, which continues over the mountains to the other side of the peninsula, requires frequent repairs. The car park was busy as, with its dramatic landscape, it’s something of a honeypot and it was also a Bank Holiday weekend.

After parking and booting up we set out

The view along our route

The view back along the Totternish ridge

Our route took us along a path along along the clear path below the high cliffs, a little rough in places, which climbed gradually giving views over the dramatic rock formations.

After a while we reached a steep path which climbed up on to the top of the ridge and we doubled back, still climbing. On a beautiful morning there wer fantastic views over to the mainland and the Western Isles which stretched out along the horizon.

Looking over to the Western Isles

Looking across the sea to the Scottish mainland

It was a little boggy on the top of the ridge, but nothing too bad and our boots coped, but I imagine that it would be rather a quagmire after any serious rain and during the winter.

Reacing the end of the ridge the path descend steeply down to our starting point. It wasn’t an easy descent as the path was in quite badly eroded in places and wasn’t clear in places. Some sections covered with scree, and I regretted not taking my walking poles out of the back of the mini-bus.

Looking back towards the path we’d descended

Reaching the bottom of the hill it was time to stop, take a rest, grab a bite to eat and take in the views over the hills and sea at the end of a great walk.