Meall na Suiramach

About Meall na Suiramach

Standing as the highest point of the Trotternish Ridge, this Marilyn offers a quiet, grassy sanctuary above the jagged geological chaos of the Quiraing. While tourists explore the rock towers below, the broad summit provides an easy walk with immense, clear views across the Minch toward the Outer Hebrides.

Key Statistics

Find It

Did You Know?

• •The name translates from Scottish Gaelic as the 'Hill of the Worthless One' or 'Contemptible Hill.' This self-deprecating title likely refers to the boggy, featureless nature of the summit plateau, which pales in aesthetic comparison to the spectacular rock formations found on its eastern flanks.
• •Although the summit is a gentle dome, its eastern face contains the Quiraing, a massive ancient landslip. This area features iconic landmarks like 'The Needle', a 37-metre high rock pinnacle, and 'The Table', a flat, hidden plateau of grass where locals reportedly hid cattle from Viking raiders.
• •From the summit trig pillar, the view north follows the dramatic line of the Trotternish escarpment toward the sea stacks of Rubha Hunish. To the west, the distinctive profile of the Outer Hebrides—specifically the hills of Harris and North Uist—stretches across the horizon of the Minch.
• •The hill is part of the largest landslip in Britain. The weight of heavy tertiary basalt lavas overloaded the weaker Jurassic sedimentary rocks beneath, causing the entire eastern face of the ridge to slide toward the sea, creating the 'nightmare of nature' described by Victorian poets.
• •Most visitors to the Quiraing manage to experience the entire mountain without ever realising there is a summit, usually because they are too busy trying to photograph the Needle from an angle that doesn't include forty other people in bright waterproofs.