Got up on the Monday morning, packed and went down stairs for breakfast. Interesting guest house – a glass of OJ already sits next to your plate, and the landlady asks what cereals you would like – then serves you a bowl with milk poured. Anyhow, we sat on the same table as a father / son (Daniel) from Newcastle way. No, I am not exagerating when I say the kid was probably the cleverest 8ish year old I have ever met, as had an unbelievable confidence with it. He led the conversation over breakfast, and amazed reciting all the train stations, in order the they passed from Newcastle to Mallaig. He had also found their train tickets – a bargain deal no less.
Although it was a nice conversation and good breakfast, we were eager to leave to ensure to catch the ferry. However, this was not helped by the landlady being very friendly and talkative! However, we got to the ferry terminal with about 20 minutes to spare. The ferry was larger than I expected, and thus calmed any sea sickness fears.
Isle of Rum photos
The scenery was amazing on the ferry, and a helpful and knowledgeable passenger pointed out some significant mountains / areas of the mainland, most noticably the Knoydart peninsular. The quick stop off at Eigg showed us the impressive edges of the island, and finally we started to journey to Rum proper. The views up Glen Kinloch starting at the castle – truly amazing, but the views up Askival and Hallival rising majestically from the sea were concerning – we would be walking up their tomorrow….
Anyhows, our initial impressions of Kinloch Castle (after the 1/2 mile walk) were good. A beautiful building in fantasitc surroundings, but as we entered, the confirmation of some slight apprehension became apparent – it was definately more hostel than hotel. Further walking thrugh the building took us past a veritable building site. It’s funny how your views change – intially we were both dissapointed at the state of the room and building internally. Much dust, and lack of new building comforts such as locking bedroom doors didn’t help. Finally, the meals were tasty if basic.
However, it was through staying on the island and speaking to the locals did we start to understand the community nature of the island. Most people on the island live and / or work at the hostel carrying out work from cooking / cleaning to basic maintainence and simiar. Not like normal ‘hotel’ staff. The hostel is the main focal point in the community – its the employer, the hub, the drinking point, the reason people come to the island and contribute so heavily to its finances.
Isle of Rum photos
Its also strange to see the layed back and trusting nature of the people living here – little things like people using other peoples cars without asking – unthinkable in our modern town lifestyles.
The next morning saw our first main walk on Rum – from the Castle, through Coire Dubh onto the Bealach Bairc Mheall. On reaching the Bealach, we would skirt Hallival to the East contouring above Atlantic Corrie along the scree slope on the north ridge of Askival. The walk to the ridge was ok, but as we started the final scramble up on the north face of the summit, the scree and exposure became too much and we decided to eat our sandwiches, the descend east to meet the coastal path back to the castle. I was initially dissapointed to not reach the true summit, but all was forgotten when Cheryl noticed a large bird in the sky – surely not – yes, it could be… Yeah, it was definately an eagle – a massive creature that at one point flew pretty much straight over us, albeit probably 500 ft above. And it’s flight flicked between soaring on thermals and upwinds to acrobatic falling and turning. However, I could not identify it as either Golden or White Tailed.
Isle of Rum photos
Anyhow, the we continued down, off the summit meeting the coastal path, which provided great views of the mainland at the beginning, then as we changed direction, the Isle of Sky’s dramatic black cuillen dominated. Some local features such as deer and waterfalls provided some interested and we arrived back at the castle approx 16:00. A laze around the castle followed by dinner concluded with some wine and whiskey back in the bar with lots of locals. A relativley early night fuelled us for the next day – my introduction to midges!!!