The Quiraing, Isle Of Skye.

Early bird gets the worm?

Well in this case the early bird gets the solid views and unoccupied tracks. (Highly recommend the pain staking early start for this one) Departing the car park you are met with sharp volcanic edges and a winding valley single track that leads deep into the heart of The Quiraing. The name Quiraing comes from Old Norse “Kvi Rand”, meaning “Round Fold” and it is said the locals would keep livestock in the fold of the mountains away from ravaging Norse invaders.

Now days The Quiraing is a popular tourist attraction and has a 7km loop hike and is rated medium difficulty. Heading anti clockwise the first 20-30mins is reasonably flat with a small dose of rock hoping. At the end of the valley you can turn left and make your way back up and along the ridge. Or you can make a right hand turn up to a lookout that looks back over the valley and out to the North Sea. Probably adding another 40mins to your hike but is well worth the view. Making your way back to the carpark you can ascend up to the summit and what is known as The Table. Following the ridge up and over you will soon be able to see the car park making a swooping right hand turn you will be able to follow the track back through the field and through a gate. From here onwards it can be quite steep and sketchy (depending on how much recent rain there has been).

After about 4 hours of wandering, taking photos and soaking in the views I was back at the car park.