May Day bank holiday weekend is the traditional island meet for the MMC. The location this year was the Isle of Rum, the biggest of the group of four islands that make up the Small Isles. Rum was for much of the first half of the 20th Century known among west coasters and islanders as the forbidden isle. This was due to it being in private ownership as a sporting estate and with a policy turning away people who did not have permission to be there. During the 2nd half of the century the island passed into the ownership of the Nature Conservancy council who later became SNH. They had a more lax policy for visitors but still liked to control the numbers as they wanted to carry out scientific research of the fauna (particular red deer) and flora without too much disturbance from hill walkers and the like. The last 15 years or so has seen a change again with visitors welcome to explore the island at will.
Rum has fantastic geology and put simply it is a volcano which died about 60 million years ago. The hard igneous rocks that were formed at that time explain the distinct shape and height of the Rum Cuillin. On the central hills sixteen layers of rock have been identified as the remains of lava flows and close study of these reveals rocks rich in minerals such as olivine. Jump forward several million years and the place was covered by ice which has its own influence on the landscape carving out deep corries and valleys.
The place names of Rum are both Norse and Gaelic in origin. Ainshval – rocky ridge hill, Askival – Spear Hill, Dibidil – deep dale, Hallival – Ledge Hill, and Trollaval – Trolls’ Hill – possible from the noise made by the manx shearwaters as they nested on the mountain.
Anyway, enough of the Geography lessons and on to what folk actually got up to over the meet.
In Ray’s own words ‘I didn’t do very much. I arrived on Friday and walked out to Dibidil bothy on the Saturday.
On Sunday I went to the otter hide but saw no otters. I then walked up the track towards Kilmory and back. Monday I was with the group that went to Croft Three.’
Babs, Drummond and Ella filled up the days with a variety of walks. Here is what Ella had to say:
Arrived with most of the others on Friday afternoon ferry and settled ourselves into our pod. Maybe not exactly ‘glamping’ standard but comfy enough. Wandered down to Kim’s cafe in the hope of booking in for the Friday night fish supper but only one bit of fish left – any guesses which of the three bagsied it! Sheila gave him such a hard time about it. Saturday we set out with Maurice and Robert for the ridge. It was good to get back up there after a twenty year gap (Babs and I) and the two of us were happy to settle for Hallival and Askival. Drummond carried on to Trollaval before calling it a day. Maurice continued along the whole ridge, (it was noted that he did not surface from his tent till mid-morning on the Sunday).
All in all, great to be back in Rum after so long. Won’t be leaving it another 20 years.
Babs continues the story:
On Saturday Drummond, Ella and Babs set off for Guirdil Bothy on the west side of the island intending to drop down to this by finding the least steep option off Bloodstone Hill. They set off down the Harris road and had several stops for blethering to passing cyclists (Dan and Sheena) early lunch etc before turning off down the track towards Guirdil. On reaching the Bealach a’ Braigh Bhig, from where they could see the amazing Bloodstone hill [ Lava flowing away from the volcanic centre formed Bloodstone Hill, gas bubbles leaving holes in the structure that were then filled with green agate flecked with red], and also the near sheer drop to the Bothy, they decided to climb the hill on the north side of the Bealach, Fionchra, from which a far more gentle descent to Guirdil could be made. They were rewarded with amazing views to Canna and the Outer Hebrides. Guirdil bothy was reached, quite busy with people. They then followed the route back via Glen Shellesder, with a stop at the sea shore to look for subterranean tunnels. Ella and Babs gave up on the search quite easily, being aware of how long it would take to get back to Kinloch. Drummond, of course, continued exploring and reported that the tunnels smelt very strongly of goat! He arrived back much later than the others, his progress having been further hampered by a slight wrong turning on the road, briefly heading for Kilmory rather than Kinloch – well they both started with Ki!
On Monday morning, the trio headed out on a brief walk past the otter hide to the ruined village of Port nan Carannan, which was abandoned in 1861 when the remaining villagers moved to Kinloch. Fascinating place, as is the whole island and its history.
Dan and Sheena arrived on the Saturday morning and fuelled up by the Cal Mac full Scottish fry up, dumped their stuff at the camping pod and set off in hot pursuit of the Cullin crew. The advance party was soon spotted descending the first summit and then overtaken, albeit briefly as everyone arrived at the second summit about the same time after scrambling up the rocks by various routes.
They continued on to Trollaval where they weighed up the return route options. It was decided to descend the same route back to the bealach, then traverse round the back of Atlantic corrie to gain the bealach and descend via Corie Dubh.
The addition of bikes to the kit list allowed an easy trip to visit the mausoleum at Harris on Sunday. The structure houses the tombs of the former owners of the island – the Bulloughs – and is a reminder of the opulence they enjoyed at their holiday island. The adventure continued with a trip up Bloodstone Hill – but no such stones were found much to the disappointment of Sheena. However a couple of sea eagles were spotted over the sea towards the Hebrides.
Ben, Lauren, Iain, Sheila and Joe arrived on Rum on the Friday ferry in time to head along the Dibidil path for some bouldering. Ben assures us that the bouldering here, and further up the slope into the corrie beneath Hallival and Askival is world class, although when there’s a chilly breeze and more enthusiasm for looking at views and pondering dinner options the bouldering can sometimes take a back seat. Fun was had by all, and Ben is of course correct, the bouldering is superb.
On Saturday the same quintet went to Canna. It is a lovely island and very different to Rum, with its green scenery and apparent lack of ticks and midgies. An excellent seacliff was found on which to climb which was made even better by the weather – quite a bit of sunshine with a cold northerly breeze, so as soon as the climbers abseiled over the edge of the south facing cliff they were bathed in sunshine and out of the wind, with sound, warm black basalt to climb back up to the top.
Sheila decided to forgo the dizzying heights above crashing waves in favour of some solo exploring and found a Neolithic tomb on Canna and a lovely sandy beach on the appropriately named island of Sanday.
An early dinner was enjoyed at Canna Café, the humble name of the establishment belying the quality of its locally sourced quality food.
On Saturday Lauren and Iain traversed the Rum Cuillin, enjoying lovely weather and mostly having the ridge to themselves. Joe and Ben followed but didn’t get any further than Askival due to a combination of injuries and general lassitude.
Day three saw Dan and Sheena head out on their bikes to the beach at Kilmory for some easy coastal walking (see pic below), watching the deer and birdlife – few golden plovers – and soaking up the sun. Returning for the afternoon ferry where the voyage back to Mallaig was a reminder of the beautiful coastline that the west coast has to offer.
The Moray Mountaineering Club 