Isle of Skye...or Middle-Earth?

This was my favourite hike during my two-week trip to Scotland. The scenery was stunning, the walk was challenging yet rewarding, and the photographs that followed were, well you'll see below!

Firstly, let me give you some background on The Quiraing. It is part of the Trotternish ridge, formed by a huge landslide thousands of years ago which created the cliffs, plateaus and outcrops of rock. Geologically, the area is formed by hard igneous rock underlain by softer sandstone that is eroding beneath it. This is what plays a part in creating a landscape that looks fictional.

The walk itself was a whole day outing, being 6.8km and took us 3-4 hours to complete. It is a circular route, so you'll arrive back at the car park, but many walkers we passed decided to only do a section of it and turn back. It's up to you how far you want to go and what you'd like to see.

Most of the walk was on a dirt track wide enough for one person only, which can get wet and slippery at times depending on the weather. Some scrambling and jumping over small streams was required at times, but added to the excitement. This narrow path is what we followed for about half of the walk, as we snaked around and through these huge rock structures leaning precariously over a cliff face. The scenery was genuinely insane, it felt like something out of Lord of the Rings or from another planet. The way the rock formations look make them seem almost made up, but there it was in front of us.

The second half of the walk took us upwards to the cliff top. At times we were close to the edge with huge cliff drops, so be careful! As you climb you'll get even better views of the surrounding area, and as you look down you'll see the path that you were once on, with fellow hikers looking like the size of ants. The summit of the clif top lies 540m above sea level, and as you get to the top the path is marked out less clearly. To make your way back down, I would advise you to follow the edge of the cliff face, and that should re-join you to the path. This bit of the hike was through boggy and wet ground, walking boots are a must! The downhill section then took us back to the carpark, but only after some sections of scrambling and careful foot placement.

On finishing that walk, it definitely the most rewarding and satisfying ones to have completed in Scotland. Definitely a challenge, in terms of distance covered and elevation gain, but the views make it worthwhile. However, for those who are not particularly interested in doing the walk but still want to capture the epic landscape, with a short walk from the car park you can get to some spots for that photo opportunity.

Walk details:

That's all for this Skye blog. Thanks for reading and feel free to get in touch here :)

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