Ben Tianavaig

May 2009

Participants  - Just me
Where - Ben Tianavaig, 413m/1,355', Sub 2k Marilyn, Map 23, NG 511410

The weather seems to have settled in to an overcast and often wet spell. Looking out of my window, the Campsies are more often than not covered in clag. So to cheer myself up, I will end my posts for 2012 with a look back to a trip on a glorious sunny day in 2009. It wasn't a long walk- only 1 hour and 30 minutes to the top- but it represented all that is good with hill walking.

Most of my hillwalking trips to Skye have resulted in me getting no further than Sligachan or Glenbrittle and the Cuillin and the Red Hills. I have never, however, been fully comfortable scrambling about on high, narrow and rocky places and this feeling of unease has got stronger as I have got older. So on this trip I decided to fore go the Cuillin and have a look at some of the smaller hills that the island had to offer. I had also discovered sub-2k Marilyn, another reason to give the scary places a body swerve!

Ben Tianavaig caught my eye as one that should prove interesting. From Portree harbour, it just looked like another hill of no special note.....

But from the south, near the village of Braes, it looked entirely different, like a hill that had been split down the middle with only half remaining, the other half having disappeared into the sea. Really dramatic, I almost expected Johnny Depp and the Black Pearl to sail out from beneath the cliffs. OK, a bit of an exaggeration but it was an unusual hill.....

The above pic is taken from near Braes and this one is from Raasay at the other side of the Sound of Raasay.....

I drove to the village of Camastianavaig and parked at a picnic area at the beach. The map showed a path starting at the houses a couple of hundred yards further on (where the road swung to the left and next to a post box) and going up a narrow "close" between two houses and on to the open hillside. It was a bit rough in places lower down, a good excuse to stop and catch my breath and gaze at the views opening up behind me.....

Ahead, I could see what looked like a band of crags and I wondered if there was an easy route through them. There was, close to the seaward side. Beyond that, the going became excellent on short cropped grass and by sticking close to the cliff edge I got some great views. Arrival at the trig opened up views to Portree and the north.....

The summit was a marvellous perch; the hill dropped away abruptly very close to the trig and it looked like a long way down to the sea. I sat around for ages looking down the Sound of Raasay to the distant Red Hills.....

There seem to be a number of similar small hills in Skye that end in precipitous cliff top views. I look forward to visiting them also.

I hope that everyone who reads this blog enjoys great hill walking in 2013. Happy New Year to all!