Page 1 of 1

A Trotternish Ridge loop including Bioda Buidhe

PostPosted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 1:53 am
by Musicfinder

our_route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts



We didn’t have far to travel for our walk this morning. We are staying in Staffin so it was a short drive on the Staffin-Uig road to the parking area at the top of the hill. Backpacks on, boots laced up and we were ready for our first walk of our week on Skye.

We headed south along the ridge so we had views on our left of the Outer Hebrides and at one point a view down to Cleat. We continued along the ridge approaching the flat summit of Bioda Buidhe. We descended the grassy slope south and east of the summit for a great view back to the north that overlooked Druim an Ruma. Once I had taken plenty of photos we headed primarily west trying to keep as much altitude as possible.

We dropped down to the low spot of the ridge once we had gone west far enough to line up with the ridge as it turned south again. Once we reached Bealach nan Coisichean it appeared we could drop down below the cliffs but Barb was not comfortable with my suggestion. We continued on the Trotternish Ridge over the rocky strewn field of Druim na Coille and then over to Bealach na Uige. The steep grassy slope here was more to her liking, so we headed down to below the cliffs here for our walk back.

We shortly came upon a fence with a row of barbed wire we would have to cross. Fortunately, we found some large rocks near the fence line that allowed us enough elevation to get over the fence without injury, provided the other person was able to hold the barbed wire down far enough at the time of crossing. We tried to stay high on the grass slope on the walk back as that would reduce the elevation we would have to regain at the end. To stay high we did much of the return walk on narrow sheep trails across the hillside.

As we neared the base of Bioda Buidhe we entered a mini valley which we passed through as we headed toward Druim an Ruma. We went up the steep hill between the main cliff and the adjacent hill and worked our way through a boulder field. From the high point we had an excellent view back toward the Quiraing and Cleat that was just below us. We worked down the steep slope to the bottom where we rested and had an apple and Mars bar while we enjoyed the up close view of Cleat.

To finish up our walk we again followed the hillside north until we could go up and over the hill to reach the road at the one switchback. It was then up the road to the parking area and our car.

Re: A Trotternish Ridge loop including Bioda Buidhe

PostPosted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 7:16 am
by The Rodmiester
Hi Musicfinder, some wonderful dramatic photographs, of a beautiful area on Skye. I never tire of seeing photographs of this fantastic place. It looks like your stay on Skye was blessed with some fine weather, always a plus, look forward to your next set of photographs from the Cuillin maybe? :)

Re: A Trotternish Ridge loop including Bioda Buidhe

PostPosted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 8:08 am
by jmarkb
That looks really good - I didn't know you could return fairly easily at a lower level. Thanks for posting!

Re: A Trotternish Ridge loop including Bioda Buidhe

PostPosted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 8:37 am
by Lenore
Great report and love the photos!!! Thanks for sharing. I'm walking the whole ridge a few weeks from now and hope I'll be blessed with similar weather. What a great day. One tiny thing: outer Hebrides are west of Skye so that last picture, looking east, is not Harris and Lewis. It's pretty though :-)

Re: A Trotternish Ridge loop including Bioda Buidhe

PostPosted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 12:46 pm
by Musicfinder
Lenore wrote:Great report and love the photos!!! Thanks for sharing. I'm walking the whole ridge a few weeks from now and hope I'll be blessed with similar weather. What a great day. One tiny thing: outer Hebrides are west of Skye so that last picture, looking east, is not Harris and Lewis. It's pretty though :-)


Lenore hope you have similar weather for your ridge walk. Thanks for pointing our the description error, which is now fixed.

Re: A Trotternish Ridge loop including Bioda Buidhe

PostPosted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 8:56 pm
by johnkaysleftleg
Looks a superb walk, having done the Quiraing and the Storr this looks another great walk to explore Trotternish.

Re: A Trotternish Ridge loop including Bioda Buidhe

PostPosted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 7:02 am
by headless spectre
Hauntingly beautiful and very quiet area.