One of the highlights of my hiking trip to Scotland was to be the Old Man of Storr on the Isle of Skye. The “Old Man” of Storr refers to pinnacles of rock near a massive cliff formation “the Storr”. This feature is one of the major tourist attractions on Skye, and for good reason. It features dramatic cliffs and rock formations, amazing views of the island’s coast and the Sound of Raasay. I figured that whatever the weather provided, I would have a chance to take great photos with either dark and gloomy storm clouds or warm sunlit rock features with views across the Sound. So, I targeted predawn at the carpark, rain or shine. The photo below shows the view from trailhead near the carpark with a light rain blowing in the wind.

Why is it called the Old Man? The name itself may come from an old Gaelic name “Bodach an Stòrr.” that may mean “old man” or (affectionately) “grumpy old man” of Storr. And Storr is old Norse meaning “large” or “great” referring to the massive rock formation of which the old man is a part. I have read a few different tales about how this rock feature formed that range from mythological giants to people turned to stone by faeries. One account holds that an ancient giant fell in combat with the pinnacles being what’s left of his thumb sticking out of the earth; at least I hope it was his thumb. Another account states that there was a man and woman who used to climb the Storr as they loved the view, and as they grew older this became very difficult. They eventually encountered a faerie that offered to help them to always be able to enjoy their special place. They agreed and the faerie turned them into the rock pillars. If you find yourself in a faerie tale and are offered a wish by some magical creature, you should probably politely decline.

The actual story of how these cliffs and pinnacles formed is a bit less fantastical and is the result of ancient volcanic activity building the heavy layers of rock atop softer layers and this eventually led to landslides and erosion resulting in the features that we see today. But volcanos can, I suppose, be thought of like giants and what we see is their remnant eroded and shaped by millions of years of erosion. I haven’t quite been around for 60 million years, but I am faerily certain that the geologist have the correct story here. The image below shows the Old Man from a viewpoint.

From what I had read, the carpark for the Old Man of Storr would fill up quickly as it is a major tourist attraction. So, I intended to leave very early and to arrive before 7:00AM and hopefully see the area in the early morning sunlight. The place I was staying was about an hour drive from the Storr, primarily due to the roads on Skye often being narrow and going down to a single-lane, slowing down traffic. So I got up and drove through the rain in the dark and when I got to the carpark, there were only a dozen or so other cars there. By the time I got back after my hike it was in fact a crowded mess though. From the carpark there are several hiking trails that will take you up near the Old Man of Storr and the cliffs beyond. The image below, taken from AllTrails shows the basic route that I took. There are some alternate paths and I took the ones to the left on the way up and the paths to the right on the way down. This trail leads up to a viewpoint beyond the Old Man with panoramic views of the cliffs and the sea. The climb is a little over a thousand feet with stone steps most of the way up.

There was a strong cold wind and rain as I started up the trail. The rain got much heavier for a while, but then dried up as I got near the pinnacles. My backpack and I were each wearing a raincoat and made it up the trail OK. Like nearly every other stretch of land on Skye, the hillside was dotted with sheep and the odd rabbit or two. They don’t seem to be bothered by the rain or thousands of hikers climbing up and down the thing all day. The weather seemed to be moving rather quickly, so I had hopes for better conditions as I neared the top. The image below shows the view from the top overlook with the trail winding down around the pinnacles in the distance.

I made it to the top without much trouble and took time to just have a look and experience being there. There were a lot of other people around me so there was no real solitude, but I did enjoy standing there and partially pretending I was in a lonely desolate place. After I had enjoyed taking in the view and the cold wind for 10 minutes or so, the light began to change to the East. So, I tried to work my way around the selfie-seekers to get good vantage points from which to photograph the light. The two photos below were taken about 11 minutes apart, which gives you an idea of how rapidly the conditions were changing.

I love warm colors and really enjoyed the sunlight on the cliffs when I was able to get it, though the openings in the clouds did not last long. The conditions resulted in high dynamic range for the photos, so I did do some editing of these photos to bring up the land and adjust the sky. In the sunlit photos I also masked the pinnacles so that I could accentuate the highlights created by the sunlight. The hillsides were really that green and there is no saturation on my part. The editing of my photos reflect how the scene made me feel as well as how the scene actually looked. My favorites are usually the images with lots of warm sunlight as it makes me happy.

Looking the other way you can see the Trotternish ridge and low-lands near the coast into the distance. There really isn’t a bad direction to look from up there. I certainly was provided with some good conditions for photography on this morning and these are some of my favorite photos from the entire trip.

There are trails that take you further up the cliffs to the very top. I didn’t see these trails at the time, I guess because I was focused on the main overlook. In hindsight, I might have liked to have taken more of those trails and spent more time here. But after this, I had scheduled myself to head up North along the coast to see some waterfalls and a bay, which were nice too.

Below you can see a happy old man standing in front of the grumpy Old Man. Thanks for reading.