The QUIRAING Walk ISLE OF SKYE | Walk Scotland

A solo hike around the Quiraing on the Isle of Skye, a truly spectacular walk and an icon of Scotland. The Quiraing defies any description for its wonders and I ran out of superlatives for it as wow, awesome, beautiful, superb etc didn't seem to really cover it. It is quite simply a magical place which must be seen to be believed.

The Quiraing (Scottish Gaelic: A' Chuith-Raing) is a landslip on the eastern face of Meall na Suiramach, the northernmost summit of the Trotternish on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. The whole of the Trotternish Ridge escarpment was formed by a great series of landslips. The Quiraing is the only part of the slip still moving and the road at its base, near Flodigarry, requires repairs each year.

The Quiraing Loop route is a popular hotspot for tourists, hikers, hill walkers and photographers alike.. The name Quiraing comes from Old Norse “Kví Rand”, meaning “Round Fold”. It is said that the inhabitants of the area hid their livestock within the fold from rampaging Norse invaders.

According to legend The Quiraing was a meeting place for fairies, and a home to dragons who protected the land from invaders. There is evidence that dinosaurs roamed this area, as the nearby An Corran beach at Staffin Bay has rocks that bear the impression of megalasaur footprints from 165 million years ago.

The Quiraing can also be seen in many films including the following The Land That Time Forgot (1975), Stardust (2007), Snow White and the Huntsmen (2012), 47 Ronin (2013), Macbeth (2015), The BFG (2016), King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017), Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)

GETTING THERE
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To get to the Quiraing, take the single track minor road connecting Uig with Staffin. There's a car park for around 100 vehicles near to start of the track for the walk. At the time of writing the charge was £3 for 3 hours or £5 for 6 hours. I believe there is some free parking at the cemetery car park at the bottom of the hill and some road side parking if you're lucky enough to find a space.

WALK DESCRIPTION
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The walk starts out from just across the main car park and one of the main attractions, the Prison, can be seen in the distance. The path early on can be busy but the crowds soon disappear as you make your way up the track. Along the way there are 2 or 3 stream crossings where waterfalls are cascading down the hill side.

Eventually you come to the Prison on your right, which is a complex rock feature that when looked at from certain angles resembles a castle. Then just a little further up the trail on the left is the Needle, which is a prominent detached rock.

From there you carry on round and soon you get views over Staffin Bay. A little further along the path you come to a dry stone wall which enters into a glen. The area here is very muddy in places.

Once out of the glen you have 2 options turn right for a detour to Sròn Vourlinn or go straight left towards Meall na Suiramach. On this day I decided to go right and check out Sròn Vourlinn. The views from the prow of Sròn Vourlinn are immense and well worth the trip with views over Leac nan Fionn, Staffin Bay and Staffin Island.

From there you can make your way to the back of Sròn Vourlinn for views over the many small Lochs in the lowlands below and you see the many small islands such as Eilean Floddigarry. At the back of Sròn Vourlinn you get sweeping views over towards the Isle of Lewis and Harris.

Once you have had your fill of the views Sròn Vourlinn has to offer it's time to make your back to the junction for the ascent up to Meall na Suiramach. This ascent, especially when you reach the plateau can get very wet and boggy so care must be taken. The views below certainly make walking through the boggy ground worth it.

The final part of the walk is the descent down the eroded path to eventually meet the path you was on when setting out earlier. This descent is very steep and very muddy in places so extra care does need to be taken. It would be very easy to end up on your backside or worse still take a tumble.

Once the descent has been negotiated it's then turn right and make your way back to the car park which you could see on the muddy descent.

If you enjoyed watching this video please click the like 👍 , let me know in the comments below ✍️ and consider subscribing 🔔 , it would be very much appreciated. This would help me out a lot with growing the channel. Thanks Paul aka The Hiking Hermit

00:00 Intro
00:28 The walk to The Prison and The Needle
04:03 The Prison and The Needle
04:57 The hike to Sron Vourlinn
08:13 Exploring Sron Vourlin
13:14 The climb towards Meall na Suiramach
14:33 Conclusion

Music:
Path Through The Mountains by Scott Buckley |   / scottbuckley  
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...