THE ISLE OF RUM

Mini cruise to Rum, glorious weather

Skye from Halival

Mountain Avens

Tralval from Askival

High altitude goat on Hallival

Just hanging in the sun

Deserted beach at Kilmory, Skye beyond

Kilmory red deer

Dolphins guiding us home

Dolphins wanting more play

Another fine spell of weather on the west coast once more. With just a couple of days for some mountains and sea we headed over to the magical Isle of Rum. The journey starts with a fabulous road or train journey to Mallaig via the 'Road to The Isles' and Tuesday morning was a cracker, clear blue skies on the hour long journey passing outstanding mountain scenery to catch the Cal Mac ferry. The two and a half hour sailing over to Rum is like a mini cruise, stopping off at the Isle of Eigg before continuing to Rum. We stayed just the one night at the quirky and wonderful Kinloch Castle, dumping our overnight gear there before heading straight up onto the Rum Cuillin by early afternoon. This time of year the daylight hours are so long that start times can be whenever you wish! The mountains on Rum are of similar geology to the more famous Skye Cuillin, being like a miniature mountain range and with only easy scrambling in places. We wandered and scrambled  up Hallival and Askival and soon had fabulous 360 degree mountain and sea views. We saw no one all day as we enjoyed the warmth of the sun and dry conditions underfoot. There are Manx Shearwater burrow nests on all of the hills here and these lovely sea birds are usually out at sea feeding all day and return to the nests in the evening. After lingering on the final and highest mountain on the island, Askival, we made the long journey back to Kinloch via the coastal path that runs from Dibidil Bothy. With late evening approaching it was a beautiful walk back with constant views of the mainland mountains of Knoydart and Torridon in the distance. We crammed in another day before heading back home on Wednesday, a low level walk to the delightful beach at Kilmory. Along the way there are many wildlife opportunities including many red deer in the area. The easy track leads to a small beach with great views over to Skye. Again we had fab sunny skies and with temperatures warmer than yesterday. Sadly we had to get back to catch the 3.30pm wee ferry back to the mainland. We booked onto the Sheerwater ferry which runs marine watching trips from Arisaig and to round off our trip we had the luck of having many dolphins, whales and Manx Sheerwater's escorting us back to land. Our trip was only two days but Rum and Eigg have so many wonders that a longer spell will always beckon, but there is always another time.....