Monday 18th May 2009
Start Point : Top of the Staffin / Uig road (NG 440 679)
Distance : 4.4 miles Height Ascended : 550 metres
Route Map
The Quiraing is a fantastic, almost other-worldly, landscape of
rock formations near the northern end of the Trotternish
Ridge.
The most famous of
the formations are The Needle, a spire of jagged rock, The Prison, a ridge
which, if seen from the correct angle, resembles
a castle
keep with corner guard towers, and The Table, an incongruous green-clad plateau
nestled in the midst of the Quiraing rocks.
The Storr - the drive north from Portree
to Staffin is memorable for views of The Storr a series of near vertical
cliffs identifiable
by the conspicuous pinnacle of The Old Man at their base
Looking south down
the hills of Trotternish from near the start of the
walk (the Staffin / Uig
road
is seen
curving up through the right of the picture – to the start point of the walk)
The Quiraing
The Trotternish hills is a continuous escarpment that forms a
backbone of rock facing east to the Sound of Raasay
The gravelled path is easy to follow across the foot of the
escarpment
Looking south along
the range of The Trotternish Hills
The Prison (right)
The name ‘Quiraing’ translates loosely as ‘pillared fortress’, so it
should come as no surprise that one of the most prominent features
of this
unusual glacial outcropping of the Trotternish ridge
is known as The Prison. Whether this formation actually resembles a prison
is up to your own
imagination; from one angle it looks like an upside-down letter V, but if seen
from just the right direction it
does indeed
look like the crumbling ruins of a stone keep with corner turrets.
The Needle – needs
no explanation
Looking down on Staffin and
Hetty and
Martha out of prison!!
Some of the unusual
formations of The Quiraing……………….
…………………….and again
From here the path
ascends towards the top of the escarpment and Sron Vourninn (far right)
Sgurr Mor the northern extremity of the Trotternish Hills and a view across to the Isle of Lewis
Sron Vourlinn
Fantastic views
from the ridge top..................
………………..........the
most fantastic being this outstanding view of The Table
This small, green
plateau seems oddly out of place, hidden away like a secluded snooker table in
amongst the higgledy-piggeldy rock
formations that
surround it. In the days of clan warfare this plateau was used to hide cattle,
and in more peaceful times the Gaelic
sport of shinty was played on the mostly level surface.
Another view of the
Table further south along the ridge
The Quiraing
A final view The Trotternish Hills