Quiraing
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.