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OS 1:50 000 Sheet 7 : HY210033 and HY229022 |
Ward Hill from Rackwick
| Old Man of Hoy. Cuilag's rather famous 'top'. |
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| St John's Head, where Cuilags meets the sea. A 350m high overhanging to vertical crag. |
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| Above St John's Head. The prow(Bre Brough) is becoming detatched and may one day be a sea stack over twice as high as the Old Man. That will take some bagging! |
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| The summits: Cuilags and Ward Hill. |
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| Cuileags from Berriedale, to the south. The gap is the pass between Cuilags and Ward Hill. |
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Map:
Cuilags
and
Ward
Hill
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This is where Orkney gets serious about hills. Hoy is different, green fields full of Ayrshire cows are replaced by dark brown moors full of bonxies. Miles of bog and brae interupted by very high sea cliffs. Cuilags does not run down to the sea, but is cut in half, the plateau plunging 350 metres over Orkney's greatest crag. Weighing in at a 'mere' 137m , there is also The Old Man of Hoy, so close to being the 'E1' marilyn. That infamous 2nd pitch would have been the ultimate list stopper. We stayed at Rackwick of the scattered holiday cottages and storm beaches. To gain Cuilags we followed the coast around to the highest point and then headed inland for the short climb to the summit. There were plenty of bonxies about, but fortunately they were new arrivals and did not bother us. They are a big problem in the summer. Cuileags and Ward Hill are divided by a deep glen, it felt like a big Scottish hill day by the time we got to the summit. The going was easy due to a prolonged dry spell, normally these hills are running with water. The hills are normally very windy, and although fine it was hard standing at times in the strong cold wind on the summits. A very well drained and built path runs between the hills, this provided a fast and less windy, in fact summery, walk back to Rackwick. |
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