A Wild Walk on Beinn Tianavaig Wild Walks

I'm in the tiny hamlet of Camastianavaig on the east coast of the Isle of Skye.

Today, I'm going to do something I've never done before.

I'm going to climb a hill for the Adventure Show on which

I have never ever set foot in my life before.

If you don't mind giving me just a few moments,

I have to check the map just to find out

how I get from here through the houses onto the hill itself.

Aha! That's a good clue.

So why am I taking on a walk that I've never done myself?

Sometimes it's nice to climb a hill, not because it's a Munro

or a Corbett or on any of the mountain lists,

but because you simply just fancy it.

It takes your fancy. This hill - Beinn Tianavaig

on the east coast of Skye, I've seen it so many times

and I've always thought, "I must climb that wee hill one day."

Wow, that's steep.

Beinn Tianavaig is part of a long basalt escarpment

that rises beyond the tip of the Trotternish Peninsula.

It follows the peninsula right down past Portree

and goes right down to the shores

of Loch Sligachan in the south.

The slopes rise fairly gently up from the west, get to a peak,

then fall precipitously right down here into the Sound of Raasay.

It means, when you do this walk, you can follow this cliff line

all the way up to the summit and it's very, very dramatic.

Beinn Tianavaig is only 1,355ft.

It's pretty miniscule in terms of the mountains here on Skye.

If you took this hill and you put it on, say, in the Lake District,

then I bet there'd be dozens and dozens of people on it every day.

The Braes was the locality for what some people would say

was the last battle on British soil.

That took place in 1882.

There had been longstanding disputes with crofters over grazing rights

and the landowner became frustrated and brought 50 policemen north

from the City of Glasgow police force to try to sort out these disputes.

What occurred was a raging battle with crofters on one side

with sticks and stones and the policemen on the other with their truncheons.

Five men were arrested and taken to Inverness

and a number of people were injured.

Really, the outcome of that battle was a public inquiry

called for by Prime Minister Gladstone.

The result of that was a document called the Napier Report

which really more or less defined crofting as we know if today.

Beinn Tianavaig will be familiar

to most people as the big mountain

that dominates the south side of Portree Bay.

Indeed, you can see Portree and the bay from the summit on a clear day.

You can look right down almost into the town.

Portree used to be called Kiltraglen

but the name was changed in 1540 after a visit by King James V.

The town and the bay were re-named

Port-an-Righ which is the "port of royalty"

or the "port of the kings".

Looks like the summit just ahead.

At last!

Well, here we are.

1,355ft above sea level

and this mountain seems almost twice that height.

On a day like this when it's misty and cloudy, you can't see very much,

there's false summit after false summit

and you never think you're getting to the top.

I was mighty relieved to see this old trig point

on the actual summit.

I wish I could tell you a wee bit about the views, but I can't see very much.

Trotternish is that way.

I know that and the Cuillins down that way. Rasaay is behind me.

Other than that, I can't see too much today.

But for the moment, we're up here in the cloud

and there is a silver lining to this particular cloud.

It means that I'm going to have to come back

and climb this hill again on a good day so I can get the views.

Not that I need an excuse to some and climb a hill for a second time,

but that's as good as excuse as any.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd