Читать книгу Walking on Rum and the Small Isles. Rum, Eigg, Muck, Canna, Coll and Tiree онлайн

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On the Dibidil pony path, with Sgurr nan Gillean dominating the horizon (Walk 3, Day 1)

Rum is by far the largest of the Small Isles, and at some 100 square kilometres and 14km (8½ miles) north to south by 13.5km (8½ miles) east to west is the 15th largest of the Scottish islands. It is the wettest and arguably the most mountainous island of its size in Britain. Its striking profile of jagged basalt and gabbro mountain peaks testifies to its volcanic origins. Rum’s highest peaks, Askival (812m) and Ainshval (781m), are Corbetts – those Scottish mountains between 2500 and 3000 feet (762m and 914m) with a relative height of at least 500ft (152m): Rum is the smallest Scottish island to have a summit over 762m (2500ft).

Kinloch, the island’s only settlement, is at the head of Loch Scresort, the main anchorage, some 27km west of Mallaig and the Morar peninsula on the mainland. Rum is 11km (7 miles) south of Skye at its nearest point and 23km (14 miles) north-west of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Rum has a tiny population – around 30 – and when the village of Kinloch is left behind a true sense of remoteness is soon found amid the island’s wild, dramatic and sometimes challenging landscape. The only other habitations, besides the bothies at Dibidil and Guirdil, are the red deer research base at Kilmory Bay and the Scottish National Heritage (SNH) lodge at Harris.