Cuilags and the Old Man of Hoy

Monday 3rd September 2018

This walk was always high in my plans for Orkney, but for various reasons I kept putting it off until eventually I decided I could delay no longer. What set this walk apart from all the previous ones I did in Orkney was that it was on a different island so it involved me catching a bus to Stromness where I caught a ferry across the channel, around Graemsay and to the island of Hoy, whose name means high. The hills on Hoy are significantly higher than anywhere else on Orkney and just off the coast of Hoy is a sea stack that is well-known across the whole of Britain. Coming off the ferry I had gorgeous sunshine yet again on this holiday as I headed straight up the road towards the gap between the two highest peaks in the whole of the Orkney Isles, Ward Hill and Cuilags. After crossing the dry Braebuster Burn just below the dam of Sandy Loch and under the shadow of these two hills, I reluctantly came off the good track that I was on and started climbing the steep, pathless slopes of Cuilags. This walk was taken from Cameron McNeish’s “Scotland’s 100 Best Walks” where this climb is described as easy, but it’s not. It’s phenomenally steep and there’s no path to help you on your way. Fortunately it’s short as the hills on Hoy are not particularly high so it didn’t take me too long to eventually reach the summit of the second highest hill on Hoy, Cuilags.

Dark clouds passed over during the climb and deposited a few drops of rain that thankfully cooled me down during my tiring climb to a summit that had blessedly been in sight for most of the way. Once I reached the top all my exertions were forgotten as I found a magnificently built conical shaped cairn standing guard over the western entrance to the Scapa Flow. From the gloriously stony summit of Cuilags I passed over the col above Back Saddles where mountain hares played amongst the stones and along a broad ridge until eventually I reached the trig point on Sui Fea. It was now fabulously sunny, I had stunning views all around me and I was enjoying every moment of the walk across on top of these hills despite Cuilags itself being only 433 metres above sea level. The scarcity of any higher hills in the whole of Orkney provided me with views across the whole length of the Orkney mainland far below and made these hills feel much higher and energised my walk across the tops aided by dry ground following the hot summer this year. After having my lunch at the trig point I made my way across to the actual summit of Sui Fea and as I headed south down the ridge the view opened out towards the sea and I made my first sighting of the Old Man of Hoy.

This tall, narrow sea stack was famously climbed on live television in 1967 just one year after it was first climbed and is still quite well-known. Slowly I made my way down the moorland while great skua birds skimmed low over my head until finally I reached the coast where a faint path follows the cliff edge around the spectacular scenery to reach the promontory of Tuaks of the Boy where the Old Man of Hoy sits a short distance beyond. As stunning a sight as this tall sea stack is I was more struck by the cliffs along the coast northwards that are twice as high as the Old Man and even more impressive. I didn’t linger on the promontory as a better photograph could be gained from the south towards Rora Head and when I reached Geo of the Light the view north was now superbly lit by the sun behind me that gave me not only a perfect shot of the Old Man, but also with the tall cliffs of the Carl and the Sow beyond. I took loads of pictures of this fabulous view, sometimes timing them so that a fulmar seabird was caught in the shot as it flew past, but these were simply a distraction to the stunning views along the coast.

Eventually I tore myself away and rather than continuing along the coast around Rora Head I tried to cut the corner making my way through thick heather to reach the tourist path that crosses the western slopes of Moor Fea until it drops down into the delightful bay of Rackwick. Coming off the road into the village I followed the Rackwick Burn through a fabulous valley that is overflowing with plants particularly purple flowering heather interspersed with small trees that may have come from the ancient woodland nearby at Berriedale Wood. The path unfortunately doesn’t go through the wood, but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment of this gloriously wild valley as I joyfully made my way along a well-made path up the valley all the way back to Sandy Loch and the road to the ferry. The good weather continued into the afternoon so that this walk under clear blue skies was a pleasure with every step as I skipped along the path overjoyed at the day's events and the views that I had seen on this walk. Considering I had almost been avoiding this walk it is astonishing that it eventually became the best of my whole holiday on Orkney

I had a great mountain walk over Cuilags even though this is only the second highest hill on Orkney and the highest hill, Ward Hill, is not much more than one and a half thousand feet high. My route at the end of this walk took me around the foot of that hill, but I did not feel the need to waste my effort in climbing to the top in order to bag it. Climbing to the top of Cuilags had served a purpose in providing me with a direct route to the Old Man of Hoy, but I didn’t need to waste time climbing Ward Hill. I really enjoyed the walk beside Rackwick Burn towards the end, while my walk across the pathless tops from Cuilags was immensely enjoyable in the sunshine on the firm ground, and I was spellbound by the tall cliffs along the coastline. Curiously the Old Man of Hoy did not seem particularly special to me despite being so famous and taller than any of the other sea stacks that I saw during this holiday. I have no idea why I was more impressed with the cliffs behind the Old Man than the sea stack itself.