First hike on Skye: To Camustianavaig and Ben Tianavaig

I had been on the Isle of Skye for four days when I got my first day off work, so it was time to explore. I’d slept at my brother’s place in Penifiler (which he moved out of the next day), so he decided to show me one of his favourite hikes in the area.

We started hiking at 10 AM, an hour later than planned as I had slept through my alarm. Classic me. Oh well, it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day with clear blue skies, so we were looking forward to getting out there. Little did we know, the weather couldn’t have been more Skye-like. Constantly changing. Sun, rain, hail, repeat.

The first part of the hike took us along an asphalt road to the tiny village of Camustianavaig, located on the shores of the Sound of Raasay. Before we even reached the village, we had been drenched by sudden heavy rainfalls. I was so cold as I wasn’t dressed properly at all. I didn’t know that we were going on this hike when I packed for the overnight stay, so I was wearing thin sneakers, jeans, a sweater and a jacket. At one point, when it was raining heavily, we escaped into an old school telephone box! Thank God for the UK!

The weather changed for the better after we’d entered the village, so we went down to the ocean to see the view. Brandon soon spotted 5-6 seals that were quite close to the shore! We stood there for ages watching them before having to pull ourselves away due to the cold.

The trail up the mountain Ben Tianavaig begins in the village, and that was where we were headed next. I got my feet wet instantly. Climbing up a mountain in thin sneakers is stupid, but it’s sadly not the first time I’ve done it. I kept getting flashbacks to Wales in December 2017 when my friend Amanda and I did the exact same thing – only on a mountain twice as high…

I’d sworn never to hike in sneakers again, but here I was, stupid enough to try it again. And I just kept slipping and falling during the entire hike.

To make it worse, I also had a severe stomach pain as I’d been cleaning the bar for the two past days, using muscles that hadn’t seen action for years. Paaaainful!

Before reaching the summit, we’d already experienced blue skies, downpours and painful hailstones. On top of extreme wind. Not the best hiking conditions, but very typical Skye. It did create some beautiful light though once in a while.

2,5 hours after we’d started the hike, we reached the summit of Ben Tianavaig at 413 meters above sea level. Thankfully, the weather was amazing while we were up there, so we had first-class views of Portree and the surrounding landscapes, including the famous Old Man of Storr in the distance.

For the descend, we chose a different more direct route which was also steeper and took us through wet and muddy marshlands. The hailstones came back for a brief moment forcing me to stop and turn my head the other way as the wind was against us. I had many more slips and falls during the descend, and I fell for the last time when we were almost home, my seventh time that day. Needless to say, I was completely drenched and very very dirty when we finally got back home.

We got back to the house at 2.30 PM, wet and exhausted. I was so happy to finally get inside to take off my drenched shoes and trousers and get some heat to my cold body. Despite the less than perfect conditions and my silly outfit, it was a great hike with rewarding views. Ben Tianavaig was my first mountain on Skye and my first in 2020 – with hopefully many more to come!