There are two Beinns na Caillich on Skye. This is the one that towers 2,403ft above Broadford and is the first major hill that visitors see in front of them if they are driving up the island from the Skye Bridge. The name means the mountain of the old woman. She is a tough old woman to conquer, but she has her good points too.

View to the Black Cuillin from Beinn na Caillich summit

The shortest route to the top starts from the road end at Coire-chat-achan - the corrie of wildcats - at NG619227. When Dr Johnson stayed at Coire Chatachan House during his tour of the Hebrides with Boswell he noted that 'The hill behind the house we did not climb. The weather was rough and the height and steepness discouraged us.' Considering the corpulence of Johnson, and the scale of the hill, the mere thought of him attempting it is amusing, to say the least.

Beinn na Caillich from Coire-chat-achan

The ascent is a slog for most of the way. From the road end, rough moorland rises slowly to the foot of the hill itself. As the climb steepens you begin to encounter boulders. Soon that is all there is underfoot. They are a lot bigger than you would expect from having looked up from the foot of the hill. In some places they form a staircase of sorts, allowing you to bounce up from one boulder to the next. In other places it's a little tougher than that... Other than making sure to stay to the left of the prominent outcrop on the right shoulder of the hill, the choice of route here is just a series of micro-decisions on the easiest way to climb the next few tens of feet.

Boulders!

The hill is very convex on this side, so the summit remains out of sight until you are upon it. Suddenly, the slope eases, there is short grass beneath your feet, and the views northward to the Cuillin, the rest of Skye, Raasay and the Scottish mainland take your breath away.

On the summit there is an immense cairn, said to be the burial place of a Norwegian princess who wished to lie forever in the winds that blow from her homeland. I, for one, wouldn't have been a willing volunteer to carry her remains to the top. But I'm very pleased to have climbed there on a crisp winter's day.

The huge summit cairn