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I'd been looking at the logistics of a weekend on Eigg for a while. But entire free weekends for both of us are a rare event. Add in the requirement for good weather and availability of last-minute accommodation on a west coast island with a population of under 100, and perhaps it's no surprise the right ingredients never seemed to come together. But then I discovered there's a summer passenger ferry from Arisaig which, on certain days, allows a full day on the island - making a day trip much more feasible than with the CalMac sailing from Mallaig. That solved the accommodation problem... and three days off allowed a couple of days afterwards to explore Ardnamurchan.
An early start from Glasgow was a little painful as we'd driven up from London the day before. From the capital to picturesque Arisaig in 24 hours was quite a contrast. Onto a packed ferry under brilliant blue skies and with an exciting day in store:
The ferry was due to dock on Eigg at noon before coming back at 5pm. Five hours seemed enough both to climb An Sgurr and visit the caves on the south side of the island, although it was a bit tight. In the end we docked a little late, but with multiple harbour porpoises and dozens of seals seen from the boat, we weren't complaining.
Considering how full the boat had been, everyone spread out surprisingly quickly upon landing on Eigg. Climbing up from the coast immediately gave good views back over the long, new slipway:
Most of the walk to the summit is straightforward with very few steep sections. The first stretch of track climbs gently through trees. After rounding a corner and heading into the open, there's a fantastic view of An Sgurr ahead.
The track passes the houses in the picture above before the summit path forks off to the right. The heather was flowering but the bracken was starting to go brown, giving a lovely mix of colours.
Good views across to the north-east side of Eigg:
The path reaches the base of An Sgurr's cliffs without ever becoming steep, with only a couple of short boggy patches to watch out for.
The path passes underneath the north side of An Sgurr. It was hot in the sunshine, but the cliffs are so sheer that the path was in the shade even at lunchtime in August! We stopped to have lunch in the cool air, although after we'd been there for 10 minutes or so, a few midges started sniffing around signalling an abrupt end to lunch. A little further on, a break in the cliffs allows an easy ascent onto a low point on the main ridge.
View over a scattering of lochs from the ascent route:
The top of An Sgurr is hardly a "ridge" at all, but it's made interesting by all the exposed pitchstone. There a couple of odd steep bits where you might need to use the odd hand, but otherwise it's easy going to the summit.
Muck:
Rum - still cloud covered!
Along the ridge towards the summit:
Even at the summit there's no feeling of exposure at all unless you continue just beyond the trig point to where the ground drops away. Not a bad viewpoint, although the number of people at the top (presumably people staying on the island - they hadn't come from the ferry!) detracted just a little.
Back down by the same route, leaving us plenty of time (in the end) to head to the caves. As the An Sgurr: more straightforward but just as special as we'd hoped for.
Caves report
here.
