Climbing on the Table

About trip

Minimum Time: 4hrs Ascent: 1,800ft Difficulty Level: 3 - Hard Directions: From Walk 33 you can make a short but strenuous diversion to The Table. This takes you into the heart of the bizarre rock formations above the secret stronghold where the people of Staffin hid their cattle; the Gaellic name Quiraing means a round cattle enclosure. A sprawling cairn stands in the col (Point 2), with a jumble of crags and towers above, most noticeably the pointed pinnacle of The Needle. An eroded path zig-zags up the steep slope towards it, then up to its left (Point A). The path, easier now, turns right to contour behind The Needle, and across the head of a gully of grass and stones. It then heads into a narrow gap between two rock towers (Point B). The gritty passage between the two towers is slightly awkward, and has an extraordinary atmosphere, like a slot canyon or limestone ravine transported to a Hebridean hillside. Even if the raiders could believe this was the way to the cows - and they wouldn’t - a single man could defend it against any number. The path runs forward through a hollow full of pinnacles and then uphill. When the rock wall of The Table blocks further upward progress, head along its base to the left. Now with the much higher cliff of Meall na Suiramach above you, pass up and to the right, into the gap behind The Table, where you’ll find a path to its flat top (Point C). It’s a perfect picnic spot with room for several thousand people. Two large rock towers block part of the outward view from The Table. The gap between them has a pencil-shaped pinnacle. This gap is not the way down, but provides the marker for starting the descent. Directly above the pencil pinnacle, a short rocky path drops off the edge of The Table. At the terrace below turn left into a wide gully 50yds (46m) to the left of the pencil pinnacle. A small path goes down the gully. After 100yds (91m), a tower stands in the gully floor and the path goes down to the right of this. Below the tower it slants steeply down to the left, to join the main Quiraing path, just above a small peat pool (Point D). Turn left along Walk 33 for 0.25 mile (400m) to Point 3.