Scenic Place in Highland

The Old Man of Storr is the most distinctive and most photographed geological feature in Scotland, a great rocky pinnacle 55 metres high rising from the Trotternish Ridge on the Isle of Skye in a cluster of rock towers and spires that stand against the sky above Loch Leathan with a profile simultaneously alien and deeply natural. The pinnacle and the surrounding rock formation are the product of one of the largest and most active landslip systems in Europe, the slow but continuous movement of the basalt plateau above sliding over the underlying softer rocks and creating the chaotic, dramatic landscape of towers, pinnacles and faces visible today. The walk to the Old Man from the car park below takes approximately forty-five minutes and involves a sustained steep ascent through plantation forestry and then open hillside to reach the base of the pinnacle cluster. The approach is straightforward in good weather but the path can be muddy and slippery after rain, and the cloud that frequently envelops the Trotternish Ridge can reduce visibility significantly. The reward in clear conditions is a close encounter with rock towers of imposing scale and the wide views over the Loch and Sound of Raasay toward the mainland mountains. The Trotternish Peninsula as a whole is one of the most geologically extraordinary landscapes in Britain, the ongoing landslip processes having created a succession of dramatic features along the ridge from the Old Man in the south to the Quiraing in the north. The thirty-kilometre ridge walk connecting these features is one of the finest hill walks on Skye, combining continuous geological drama with exceptional views in both directions across the island and the surrounding sea. The Old Man of Storr appears frequently in film and television productions requiring a dramatic, otherworldly landscape, and its profile has become as recognisable internationally as any natural feature in Scotland.

Suilven in the Assynt region of northwest Sutherland is one of the most distinctive mountains in Scotland, a great sandstone tower rising from the Lewisian gneiss moorland in a profile of extraordinary individuality unlike any other mountain in Britain. Its silhouette of a flat-topped ridge with steep conical peaks at each end, visible from a wide area of Assynt and from the sea offshore, has made it one of the iconic images of the Scottish Highlands. The geology of Suilven reflects the extraordinary ancient landscape of northwest Sutherland, where Torridonian sandstone deposited approximately 800 million years ago sits on Lewisian gneiss three billion years old, among the oldest exposed rock on Earth. The ascent requires a walk of approximately five miles across trackless Assynt moorland before the mountain itself is reached, a commitment that contributes to the wild and remote character of the experience. The landscape of Assynt visible from the summit, with its hundreds of lochans reflecting the sky across the gneiss moorland and the Atlantic visible to the west, is one of the most extraordinary in Scotland. The combination of the geological antiquity, the mountain drama and the profound remoteness makes Suilven an experience unlike any other available in the British Isles.

Corrour is the most remote railway station in Britain, a halt on the West Highland Line to Fort William on the bleak and beautiful moorland of Rannoch Moor at 411 metres above sea level, accessible only by train as there is no public road within several kilometres of the station. The combination of the extraordinary remoteness, the bleakness and the beauty of the surrounding Rannoch Moor landscape and the memorable experience of arriving or departing by the single railway line that crosses this uninhabited expanse creates one of the most distinctive and most memorable railway destinations in Britain. The station became widely known following its appearance in Danny Boyle's 1996 film Trainspotting, in which the characters travel to Corrour to walk on Rannoch Moor in a sequence that captures the appeal of this remote place with unusual accuracy. The station tearoom, the only facility within walking distance, provides warmth and refreshment that takes on an outsize significance in this context of extreme remoteness. The walking available from Corrour on Rannoch Moor and to the surrounding mountains is exceptional, the complete absence of roads creating a landscape of genuine wilderness quality unusual in the Scottish Highlands where most mountain walking involves road approaches. The circuit of Loch Ossian from the station is one of the finest accessible wilderness walks in Scotland, and the more demanding routes to the Munros of the surrounding hills provide serious mountain walking of the highest quality.

The Isle of Skye is the largest and most visited of the Inner Hebrides, a dramatic and scenically extraordinary island off the northwest coast of Scotland whose combination of the Black Cuillin mountains, the Trotternish Peninsula's geological features, picturesque fishing harbours and a strong Gaelic cultural tradition have made it one of the most celebrated tourist destinations in Britain. The island is connected to the mainland by the Skye Bridge at Kyle of Lochalsh, making it accessible year-round, and the volume of visitors it receives has grown substantially in recent years as social media has circulated images of its most dramatic features worldwide. The Black Cuillin, the dark gabbro mountain range in the south of the island, is the most technically demanding mountain terrain in Britain, its jagged ridgeline and sheer rock faces providing the only true alpine ridge scrambling available in the British Isles and attracting mountaineers from across the world. The traverse of the complete Cuillin Ridge, which has over thirty Munros and tops, is the most serious and committing multi-day mountain challenge in Britain and is completed in a single continuous traverse only by very experienced parties in settled weather. For the majority of visitors the mountains provide exceptional walking on their lower approaches and extraordinary visual drama from the roads, beaches and villages below. The Trotternish Peninsula in the north of the island contains a series of geological features produced by the ongoing collapse and slipping of the great lava flows that cap the peninsula. The Old Man of Storr, the Quiraing and the Kilt Rock are among the most dramatic results of this process, their towers, pinnacles and tilted rock formations creating a landscape of surreal grandeur unlike anything elsewhere in Britain. Portree, the island's capital, provides a charming harbour setting and a good range of restaurants and accommodation, and the Skye Bridge approach from the mainland through Glen Shiel and over the Ratagan Pass is one of the finest drives in Scotland.

Glencoe is the most dramatic and most historically resonant mountain valley in Scotland, a great glacially carved trough in the western Highlands whose combination of towering mountain walls, the dark waters of the River Coe flowing through the valley floor and the melancholy historical associations of the Massacre of Glencoe create an atmosphere of brooding grandeur that has made it one of the most visited and most emotionally powerful landscapes in Britain. The National Trust for Scotland manages extensive areas of the glen and the surrounding mountains, and the visitor centre at the head of the valley provides orientation for the extraordinary landscape. The mountains surrounding Glencoe are among the finest and most varied in Scotland. The Three Sisters, the great buttresses projecting from the south wall of the glen, and the Aonach Eagach ridge on the north wall, the most technically demanding ridge traverse in mainland Scotland, frame the valley in rock walls of enormous scale. Bidean nam Bian, the highest peak in the former county of Argyll at 1,150 metres, occupies the massif behind the Three Sisters and with its satellite peaks provides some of the finest mountain walking in the Highlands. Buachaille Etive Mòr at the eastern entrance to the glen, the great pyramid visible from the A82 approach, is one of the most photographed mountains in Scotland. The Massacre of Glencoe in February 1692 is one of the most notorious acts of calculated treachery in Scottish history, when government soldiers billeted with the MacDonald clan turned on their hosts in the early morning and killed approximately thirty-eight men, women and children in an attack that violated the ancient Highland laws of hospitality and trust. The massacre was carried out on the orders of the Secretary of State for Scotland and with the knowledge of King William III, and the bitter memory of it has contributed to the atmosphere of the glen ever since.

The Quiraing on the Isle of Skye is one of the most dramatic and otherworldly landscapes in Britain, a spectacular landslip terrain on the eastern escarpment of the Trotternish Ridge where the slow, continuing collapse of the ridge's basalt cap onto the softer sedimentary rocks below has created a landscape of towering pinnacles, hidden plateaus, sheer faces and grassy hollows that looks more like a film set for a fantasy epic than a real Scottish hillside. The name comes from the Norse for round fold or cattle fold, a reference to the hidden plateau where islanders are said to have concealed their cattle from Viking raiders. The landscape was created by the largest mass movement of rock in the British Isles. The basalt lavas of the Trotternish Ridge, laid down in the Paleocene epoch around 56 million years ago, overlie much softer Jurassic sedimentary rocks. As the softer rock erodes and slumps, the massive weight of the basalt cap causes it to crack and slide, creating the dramatic broken terrain visible today. The process continues at a geological pace, and some of the rockfalls within the Quiraing are geologically recent. The distinctive features of the Quiraing each have their own names and character. The Prison is a massive free-standing block of basalt that rises abruptly from the hillside. The Needle is a slender pinnacle of rock that punctuates the skyline dramatically. The Table is a remarkably flat grassy plateau, hidden behind a curtain of cliff, that was apparently used for shinty matches by local communities in previous centuries. Finding the Table, up a steep scramble from the main path, has the quality of a genuinely unexpected discovery. The walking route from the car park above Staffin passes along the base of the cliffs with views across the Sound of Raasay and the mainland mountains throughout. The full circuit, which loops over the ridge and returns along the escarpment, takes around two to three hours for fit walkers and provides an experience of this extraordinary landscape from multiple angles. The starting car park on the Staffin to Uig road can be busy in summer, and early morning visits are rewarded with better light and fewer crowds.

Neist Point is the most westerly point of the Isle of Skye, a dramatic basalt headland jutting into the Atlantic from the Duirinish Peninsula with a lighthouse at its tip and cliff scenery of exceptional quality on all sides. The combination of the dramatic volcanic geology, the lighthouse approach descending steeply from the cliff top to the headland below, the views across the Minch toward the Outer Hebrides and the wildlife that gathers in the surrounding waters makes Neist Point one of the most rewarding and most photographed viewpoints on Skye. The walk from the car park at the top of the cliff to the lighthouse is one of the finest short walks on Skye, descending steeply on a clear path to the broad lower headland and then following the cliff edge to the lighthouse buildings. The basalt geology of the headland is displayed clearly in the cliff faces, with the characteristic hexagonal column jointing of cooled basalt visible in sections and the dramatic black rock contrasting with the green of the cliff-top grass and the deep blue of the Atlantic when the sky is clear. The waters around Neist Point are excellent for whale and dolphin watching. Minke whale, common dolphin and harbour porpoise are regularly seen from the lighthouse headland and from the clifftops, and less frequently orca and other large cetaceans are reported in these waters. The combination of the Atlantic swell, the cold nutrient-rich water and the concentrations of fish that gather in the tidal races around the headland attract marine mammals reliably enough that a patient vigil from the cliff edge is frequently rewarded. The sunsets from Neist Point, with the sky over the Outer Hebrides turning red and orange above the Atlantic horizon, are among the most celebrated on Skye and draw photographers and visitors at every appropriate evening throughout the year.

Loch Leathan Dam is a modest yet characteristically Highland structure situated on the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. This dam sits at the northeastern end of Loch Leathan, creating a reservoir that serves the local area around Portree, Skye's largest settlement located just a few miles to the northeast. While not a grand engineering achievement on the scale of major Scottish hydroelectric schemes, the dam represents an important piece of local infrastructure that has quietly served the island community for decades. The structure itself is a straightforward concrete and earth construction typical of mid-twentieth century Scottish water management projects, built to secure a reliable water supply for the growing population of Portree and surrounding areas during a period when Skye's tourism industry and resident population were both expanding. The dam was constructed during the post-war period when Scottish islands were undergoing significant infrastructure improvements as part of broader efforts to modernize rural communities and stem depopulation. Loch Leathan, whose name translates from Scottish Gaelic as "broad loch," was selected for this purpose due to its natural basin and proximity to Portree. The engineering work would have been relatively modest compared to the massive hydroelectric schemes being developed in mainland Scotland during the same era, but it nonetheless represented a significant investment in island infrastructure. The dam ensures that Portree has access to fresh water even during the drier summer months when tourist numbers swell dramatically and demand on local resources intensifies. Standing at the dam today, visitors encounter a functional structure set within quintessentially Skyean moorland scenery. The surrounding landscape is characterized by rolling hills covered in heather, bracken, and rough grassland, with patches of exposed rock breaking through the peaty soil. The waters of Loch Leathan spread out behind the dam, their surface often reflecting the ever-changing Highland sky which shifts from brilliant blue to brooding grey sometimes within the space of an hour. The sound environment here is typically peaceful, with wind sweeping across the open moorland creating a constant whisper through the grasses and heather, occasionally punctuated by the calls of skylarks, meadow pipits, or the distinctive croaking of ravens overhead. The physical character of the area around Loch Leathan Dam is distinctly Highland, with that particular quality of openness and exposure that characterizes much of Skye's interior. The dam structure itself is unpretentious, a utilitarian construction that makes no claims to architectural distinction but simply performs its function year after year. The water cascading over or through the dam's outflow creates a pleasant rushing sound when levels are high, particularly after periods of heavy rainfall which are frequent on Skye. The loch's shores are largely undeveloped and natural, with peaty banks and scattered stones creating habitat for various waterbirds including ducks, grebes, and occasionally visiting waders. The surrounding area places Loch Leathan Dam firmly within Skye's Trotternish Peninsula, one of the island's most geologically dramatic regions. While the dam itself sits in relatively low-lying moorland, the spectacular landscapes of the Trotternish Ridge including the Old Man of Storr and the Quiraing are within a few miles to the north. To the northeast lies Portree, with its colorful harbourfront houses and status as Skye's administrative and commercial center. The Storr lochs, a chain of small freshwater lochs including Loch Leathan, drain eventually toward the east coast of the island. The entire area is typical of Skye's interior, where open moorland provides a contrast to the dramatic coastal cliffs and mountain scenery for which the island is famous. Reaching Loch Leathan Dam requires a drive along the A855 road that runs north from Portree toward Staffin. A minor road branches off westward and passes close to the loch and dam structure. The site is not heavily signposted as a tourist destination since it remains primarily a functional piece of water infrastructure rather than a designed visitor attraction. Those who do visit should expect a quiet, relatively remote spot without facilities, interpretation boards, or designated parking areas. Walking around the loch and dam area requires appropriate footwear as the ground is typically wet and uneven, with the peaty soil remaining boggy even during drier periods. The area is open access under Scottish outdoor access legislation, but visitors should remain mindful that this is working infrastructure and exercise appropriate caution around the dam structure itself. The best times to visit Loch Leathan Dam are during the longer daylight hours of late spring through early autumn, when the moorland vegetation is at its most vibrant and the weather, while still changeable, is generally more favorable for outdoor exploration. Summer brings purple heather blooms that transform the surrounding hillsides, while autumn sees the bracken turn to rich bronze tones. Winter visits are certainly possible but require preparation for short daylight hours, potentially severe weather, and the likelihood of very wet, slippery conditions underfoot. The light on Skye is famously beautiful and constantly changing, and photographers sometimes seek out lesser-known spots like this precisely because they offer Highland atmosphere without the crowds that gather at more famous locations. One fascinating aspect of Loch Leathan and its dam is how it represents the often-overlooked infrastructure that makes modern life possible on Scotland's islands. While visitors flock to Skye for its natural beauty and dramatic landscapes, few give thought to the reservoirs, dams, and water treatment facilities that enable the island to support both its resident population and the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit annually. The dam is also a reminder of how human intervention in Highland landscapes, while sometimes controversial, has often been undertaken with practical necessity in mind. Every time a visitor in Portree turns on a tap, there's a connection back to this unassuming structure sitting in the moorland a few miles away, quietly gathering and regulating water from Skye's abundant rainfall for human use.

Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve in Wester Ross was established in 1951 as the first national nature reserve in Britain, a designation that recognised both the exceptional natural quality of the mountain, loch and woodland landscape and the importance of protecting the ancient Caledonian pine forest remnants that survive at the foot of the mountain on the shores of Loch Maree. The reserve covers approximately 4,800 hectares of some of the most scenically dramatic and ecologically important mountain country in the northwest Highlands. The mountain itself, whose name means file or ridge in Gaelic and refers to the serrated quartzite ridge that crowns the massif, is composed of some of the oldest rocks in Britain, Torridonian sandstone and ancient Lewisian gneiss overlaid by pale Cambrian quartzite that gives the upper slopes their distinctive white scree character. The combination of these ancient geological materials with the dramatic erosional forms of the glaciated Highland landscape produces a mountain environment of raw geological power that feels genuinely ancient in a way that the younger rocks of most British mountains do not. The Caledonian pinewood remnants at the foot of the mountain on the shores of Loch Maree are among the finest surviving fragments of the ancient forest that once covered much of the Scottish Highlands. These woods, dominated by Scots pine with juniper, birch and rowan, support red squirrel, pine marten, crossbill and a range of woodland invertebrates and fungi associated with ancient forest habitats that are increasingly rare across the British Isles. A programme of deer management and natural regeneration is gradually expanding the pinewood area, one of the conservation successes of the reserve. Two waymarked trail networks provide access to the reserve at different levels of ability, with the Mountain Trail providing a challenging ascent to the quartzite ridge and the Woodland Trail a gentler exploration of the lochside pinewoods and their wildlife.

Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in Britain at 1,345 metres, and the tourist path, officially known as the Mountain Track but colloquially as the Ben Path or Pony Track, is one of the most walked mountain routes in the country, carrying an estimated 150,000 ascents annually up the western side of the mountain from the visitor centre near Fort William to the vast plateau summit. The path was originally built in the nineteenth century to service a meteorological observatory on the summit and the route it follows, while not technically challenging, involves a considerable and unrelenting ascent of approximately 1,300 metres over approximately seven kilometres with correspondingly demanding descent. The experience of ascending Ben Nevis via the tourist path is one of contrasts. The lower section through the valley of the Allt a' Mhuilinn is gently graded and passes through pleasant moorland and river scenery before the path begins its sustained ascent of the mountain's broad western shoulder. The upper section above the Red Burn is increasingly exposed and demanding, the path crossing boulder fields and scree before reaching the plateau, where the walking surface becomes more level but the conditions can deteriorate rapidly and dramatically at any time of year. Snow can remain on the summit into August and the plateau is subject to violent weather that claims lives every year among walkers who underestimate the mountain's conditions. The summit plateau provides one of the most dramatic mountain experiences in Britain on clear days, with panoramic views extending across the Scottish Highlands to the distant peaks of the Cairngorms to the northeast, Ben Lomond to the south and, on exceptionally clear days, the mountains of Ireland to the west. The ruins of the Victorian observatory, the emergency shelter and the memorial cairn mark the summit area, and the dramatic cliffs of the northeast face, falling nearly 700 metres to the Coire Leis below, provide a sudden and vertiginous contrast to the gentle western approach. The Mountain Track approach via the Allt a' Mhuilinn should not be confused with the much more serious mountaineering routes on the north face, which include some of the finest winter climbing in Britain.

The West Highland Way is Scotland's oldest and most celebrated long-distance walking route, running 96 miles from Milngavie on the outskirts of Glasgow to Fort William at the foot of Ben Nevis through some of the finest Highland scenery in the country. Opened in 1980 as the first of Scotland's Great Trails, the route quickly established itself as a classic walking challenge that combines accessibility from Scotland's central belt with a progressive journey into genuinely wild Highland country, the landscape becoming more dramatic and remote with each successive day of walking. The route begins in the suburbs of Glasgow and quickly moves through the farmland and woodland south of Loch Lomond before reaching the loch's southern shore at Drymen and following the eastern bank of the loch northward for approximately 19 miles through one of the finest stretches of loch-side walking in Scotland. The wooded shores of Loch Lomond, the views across the water to the mountains of the western shore and the transition from the relatively gentle southern section of the loch to the increasingly dramatic Highland landscape around Inverarnan mark the route's transition from accessible country walk to genuine Highland journey. Beyond Crianlarich the route crosses the broad, treeless expanse of Rannoch Moor, a high desolate plateau of peat bog and open water that marks the true beginning of the Highland wilderness and provides some of the most dramatically austere walking on the entire route. Glencoe lies just below the northern edge of the moor, its dark volcanic cliffs rising above the valley floor in an atmosphere of considerable power, and the final descent to Fort William through the Great Glen provides views of Ben Nevis on the approach to the journey's end. Most walkers complete the route in seven to nine days, and a well-developed network of accommodation, baggage transfer services and supply points makes the logistics manageable for those without wild camping experience.

The Quiraing is the finest section of the Trotternish landslide landscape on the northern Isle of Skye, a complex of tilted rock pinnacles, grassy terraces and dramatic basalt cliffs created by the same geological instability that produced the Old Man of Storr further south, but at the Quiraing reaching a scale and complexity of landscape quite unlike anything else available in Britain. The combination of the Table, a great flat-topped grassy platform visible from the road below, the Needle pinnacle, the Prison and the extraordinary views from the ridge walk above creates one of the most remarkable and most otherworldly landscape experiences in the Hebrides. The landslide that created the Quiraing is still active, the instability of the Jurassic rocks beneath the basalt cap allowing continued movement that has disrupted the road across the ridge at this point on multiple occasions. The road from Staffin to Uig that crosses the ridge provides a dramatic view of the Quiraing landscape and the starting point for the walks into the interior of the landslide complex. The walk from the car park on the ridge road into the Quiraing provides access to the most dramatic features, the path threading between the tilted rock masses and ascending to the Table with its surprising hidden grassland enclosed between the pinnacles above. The views from the ridge above the Quiraing across the Sound of Raasay to the mainland and north across the Minch toward the Outer Hebrides represent some of the finest coastal mountain panoramas available in Scotland.

The Rothiemurchus Estate in the Cairngorms National Park is one of the finest and most accessible areas of ancient Caledonian pine forest in Scotland, a privately owned estate of approximately 10,000 hectares that encompasses ancient woodland of Scots pine, birch and juniper, the beautiful Loch an Eilein with its island castle, the River Spey and some of the finest accessible Cairngorm mountain terrain between Aviemore and the high plateau. The estate has been owned by the Grant family for over four centuries and their continuing management combines traditional land uses with conservation of the ancient woodland and a comprehensive programme of visitor activities. The ancient Caledonian pinewood of Rothiemurchus is one of the largest and most ecologically intact fragments of the forest that once covered much of the Highland landscape before millennia of human clearance. The old Scots pines, some of considerable age, grow with the space and character of genuinely ancient woodland, the open understorey of heather, blaeberry and juniper creating the conditions for the specialist pinewood wildlife including red squirrel, Scottish crossbill, crested tit and capercaillie that depend on this habitat type. Loch an Eilein, accessible by an excellent circular walk of approximately five kilometres through the forest, is one of the most beautiful lochs in Scotland, its island castle ruin reflected in the clear water and the surrounding ancient pines providing a landscape of perfect composition. The castle, a fifteenth-century tower house, was a stronghold of the Wolf of Badenoch, the notorious younger son of Robert II who terrorised this area in the fourteenth century. The estate visitor centre at Inverdruie provides interpretation and the access point for a comprehensive programme of ranger-led activities, fishing, cycling and walking.

Aviemore is the main gateway town for the Cairngorms National Park, the largest national park in the British Isles, and has been developed since the 1960s as a year-round outdoor recreation destination serving the ski fields, walking country, mountain biking trails, wildlife watching and watersports that the surrounding landscape offers in exceptional abundance. The town itself is a functional resort rather than a historic settlement, its modern hotel and leisure infrastructure reflecting its purpose-built character, but the landscape it serves is of the most remarkable quality. The Cairngorm plateau, the high arctic mountain environment that forms the core of the national park, covers an area of over five hundred square kilometres above five hundred metres and contains five of the six highest mountains in Britain. The plateau's character is genuinely subalpine: harsh, exposed, subject to violent weather at any season and supporting plant and animal communities more typical of Scandinavia than of most of the British Isles. Dotterel, ptarmigan, snow bunting and the Scottish subspecies of the crossbill breed here in summer, while reindeer, introduced to the Cairngorms in 1952, roam the open mountain slopes in a herd that is the only free-ranging population in Britain. The Cairngorm Mountain funicular railway, one of the highest mountain railways in Britain, carries visitors from the Coire Cas ski area to a visitor centre near the plateau summit, providing year-round access to the high mountain environment for those who prefer not to walk. The ski area is Scotland's largest and operates from approximately December to April in most years, though snow reliability has reduced in recent decades with changing climate patterns. In summer the ski area transforms into a mountain biking and walking venue of considerable scope. The River Spey, one of Scotland's great salmon rivers, flows north from the national park through Aviemore, and the surrounding forests of ancient Caledonian pine, remnants of the great forest that once covered much of the Scottish Highlands, support capercaillie, red squirrel, crested tit and osprey in habitats of international conservation importance.

The Old Man of Storr is the most distinctive and most celebrated rocky pinnacle on the Isle of Skye, a 50-metre column of basalt standing on the Trotternish escarpment above Portree whose unusual profile, created by a massive ancient landslide that left the pinnacle and its companions isolated on the hillside below the main cliff face, has made it one of the iconic images of the Hebrides and one of the most visited natural features in Scotland. The walk from the car park below to the pinnacles takes approximately one hour and provides increasingly dramatic views of the stack and the surrounding Trotternish landscape. The geological history of the Old Man of Storr explains its unusual isolated position. The Trotternish escarpment is the largest landslide complex in Britain, created when the heavy basalt rock that caps the peninsula slid westward over the softer underlying sedimentary rocks in a series of catastrophic slips that have created the extraordinary landscape of isolated pinnacles, tilted blocks and jumbled rock scenery visible across the northern section of the Trotternish ridge. The Old Man and its companions are the most impressive and most photographed remnants of this process. The views from the vicinity of the Old Man encompass Portree Harbour and the Portree Bay below, the Sound of Raasay and the island of Raasay itself, the mainland Hills of Torridon visible across the Minch and the Cuillin ridgeline to the south, a panorama that captures the full extent of the extraordinary Skye landscape from a single vantage point.