Creag na h-Iolaire

A modest Dodd rising to 578 metres in the Scottish Highlands, bearing a summit touched by history. The Gaelic name translates as 'Eagle's Rock', and the mountain gained tragic significance in 1942 when a wartime aircraft crash claimed fifteen lives near its upper slopes. The approach crosses rough, open moorland typical of Caithness.

• •The name Creag na h-Iolaire comes from Scottish Gaelic, meaning 'Eagle's Rock' or 'Rock of the Eagle', likely named for the birds of prey that once nested on its crags or soared above its slopes.
• •On 25 August 1942, a Short Sunderland flying boat crashed on the hillside near the summit, killing fourteen of the fifteen people aboard including Prince George, Duke of Kent, younger brother of King George VI, who was serving as an Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force.
• •The aircraft was bound for Iceland when it struck the mountain in poor visibility. A Royal Air Force Board of Inquiry concluded the crash resulted from a navigational error leading to controlled flight into terrain.
• •Winston Churchill proposed a message of condolence in Parliament following the accident, which remains one of the most significant air crashes in British royal history.
• •The crash site lies at approximately 240 metres elevation on the hillside, well below the 578-metre summit, testament to how easily these rounded Caithness hills can be misjudged in cloud.