I seem to be mentioning my dodgy feet a lot in this series of blog posts about our autumn holiday road trip last year, but it was ostensibly a combined family visit and hiking holiday, so most of our activities had been organised around walking. Luckily, a good week’s rest and a few gentle wanders seemed to largely do the trick, so it was only with a little hesitation and somewhat gingerly that I went out for a picturesque dog walk to Oronsay Island.
There are two islands with this name in the Inner Hebrides, but we visited the one connected to the Isle of Skye, to which it’s possible to walk across a narrow and short tidal beach. After parking up in a considerate spot at the end of the road near Ullinish, we put on our walking boots, unpacked the dogs and made sure that they were securely fastened with their leads—local farmers quite rightly don’t take at all kindly to their sheep being worried—then headed out across the fields to the peninsula.
The path is well-trodden and easy to follow, but muddy because of the variable local weather and coastal location. After crossing the fields, we passed through a gate with a view to the island and then down a short, easy, rocky section to the tiniest sliver of tidal sand and rock.
It was a simple ascent from there to the main summit of the little island, where you get magnificent views to Fiscavaig and Wiay, thence right along the coast to Macleod’s Maidens and on to the Outer Hebrides. We sat and enjoyed the warm sun for a while, and I sent my drone up and out to the far extent of its range, so that I could film the dramatic headland from above.
