Have a gneiss day in the hills around Inverpolly

by - 15:30 on 01 May 2007

It has to be the improbable shape of the hills of north-west Scotland that gives the place its special character. They are, let’s face it, a weird lot, but in a good way. The spectacular profiles of Stac Polly, Cul Mor, Suilven and the others can stop you in your tracks as you journey here. Sometimes, I’ve found myself explaining in guides and brochures that they are Torridonian sandstone peaks that are all but eroded away; and that they sit on a plinth of tough and ancient Lewisian gneiss. It’s easier to suggest looking at the interpretative material at Knockan, north of Ullapool, within the designated North West Highlands Geopark.

With a seaboard open to prevailing Atlantic south-westerlies, here you can sometimes have days of low cloud and rain, so that you never see the tops. On the other hand, it can be magical. It was, for example, on our visit (29th April 2007). For all its 2000ft / 600-odd (very odd) metres, Stac Polly (or Pollaidh for the purists) offers some easy scrambling for walkers looking for a bit of adventure. There’s very well-constructed path now (which I don’t remember from my youth) lacking only an electrically operated stair-lift for the less fit. The path takes you round to the shady side of the hill, then up to the col at the eastern end. There are spectacular views over the Coigach peaks southwards, the Assynt hills to the north and the big Beinn Dearg Group, uhmm, over there somewhere.

So far, so good; and if we’d all stopped at that point, that would have been an easy half-day rewarded with a sensational panorama. Johanna decided to stay on the col with the dogs, sensible girl. But no, memories from giddy youth of sauntering over the pinnacles drove me on, in the company of another tourism professional but self-confessed novice mountain scrambler. We went all round the hill, below the crags, and had a real close-up of how fast the sandstone pinnacles are eroding. And at this point, I’m a little sheepish, because, near the west end of the hill, for our route to the very top, we committed ourselves to a steep and very loose gully topped by solid Torridonian sandstone: a little too near the vertical for a casual stroll. I suppose it was what the climbing guides call an easy scramble.

We were blessed with a beautiful day and had plenty of time. But, joking apart, it was just a wee reminder that Scotland’s hills demand respect. Stac Polly is not a Munro – but for spectacle and entertainment it beats many of them. Visit soon, before walkers’ boots and natural erosion level it completely!

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