Mention Skye to ramblers worth their
saltand the word Cuillins with swiftly appear in the conversation. In terms of
grandiose and brutal terrain, few mountain ranges in Britain can compare. The
violence of their volcanic birth was tempered by the ice age that followed,
with basalt and gabbro rock splitting and corroding at different rates to
create a landscape that looks like the aftermath of the battle.
Stark pinnacles and deep gullies make this
one of the most challenging – and rewarding – places to walk in the British
Isles. The landscape of the Black Cuillins was considered so intimidating that
it was thought impossible to climb until 1835, when two hardy souls made the
traverse along one of the ridges between Loch Coruisk and Sligachan. To add to
the mysticism of the ridge, the iron in the basalt does strange things to
compasses, an intimidating prosper for those early explorers as the mists
closed in and the needle spun before them. Today there is a variety of
well-established walks, scrambles and climbs on both the Red and the Black
Cuillins, and although familiarity and modern equipment make these trips safer,
there is still a magic to this stark environment.
Stark
pinnacles and deep gullies make this one of the most challenging – and
rewarding – places to walk in the British Isles.
Although the Cuillin Ridge tends to
dominate conversation whenever one speaks of walking in Skye, of course the
island has so much more to offer. Its position off the west coast of Scotland
makes it the veranda of Europe, staring out onto the wild Western Isles and the
broad sweep of the Atlantic beyond. The elevation afforded by much of the
western coastline allows a perfect vantage point from which to observe the sea,
with all the teeming wildlife that swims beneath it and flies above it.
