Inhabited, west coast Scottish islands - Rùm

The isle of Rùm is the largest of the Small Isles at roughly 10.4 hectares. It is also the most northerly. I’ve read it described as diamond shaped (as in playing cards) but I see it more as a square which has been twisted through 45° such that one corner points to the south while the other three point east, north and west, respectively. What is the difference? In a diamond, the distance between the north and south corners is usually longer than the distance between the east and west corners. No difference apart from that. Rùm is also the most mountainous of the Small Isles (or, perhaps, hilliest when taking real mountains into consideration). There’s very little level land to be found on Rùm. The area towards the southern corner holds the highest of Rùm’s hills/mountains, with five between 2000 and 3000 feet (but without any reaching the magic 3000’ of a Munro). The highest peak, at 812 m (2664 ft) is Askival. Every other corner of the island, however, is hilly with many summits between 1000 and 2000 feet.
It’s a wild piece of land with habitation, these days, confined to the village of Kinloch at the head of Loch Scresort, which is immediately to the north of the corner pointing east. The jetty is on the southern side of Loch Scresort, just a short walk from Kinloch. This is along an earth road, wide enough for a vehicle, through a pleasant woodland with houses and other building dotted about in the trees. From what I’ve read, the whole of Rùm was once almost entirely covered in trees but there are now only a few small wooded areas left and all of them, going by my maps, are scattered around Kinloch . As with many of the names in this part of the world, there does not seem to be any agreement on the root and meaning of the island’s name. Is it Norse? Is it Gaelic? Does it derive from something even older? There does not appear to be any consensus on this.
Rùm is reached, like the other islands of the Small Isles, by the CalMac ferry from Mallaig and, in summer, by the private Shearwater from Arisaig. As with all the Small Isles, visitors are not allowed to bring over their own vehicles - not that there is much in the way of roads to drive on, anyway. As already mentioned, the only inhabited area, these days, is the village of Kinloch and along the road from there to the jetty (which might still count as Kinloch, anyway). Most recent counts put the population at about 40, most of which are employed by NatureScot (previously the Nature Conservancy Council) which manages the deer population and the general ecology of the island. The NCC bought the island in 1957. None of the current inhabitants are native to the island which was cleared of it’s population at least twice. The first time was during clan warfare when every man woman and child was slaughtered by Clan MacLean of Duart on Mull. The second time was during the highland clearances. Anyone who sees Scotland through romantic, rose tinted glasses needs to go and read the history books. If you want to go looking, there are nine ruined villages scattered around the island. It’s thought that the population was at one time around the 450 mark.
The village of Kinloch also hosts the magnificent Kinloch Castle (see photo below). It was once possible to take a tour of the building but I’m not sure if that is still the case or not, and I certainly didn’t have time to. If going to Rùm for a night or two it would certainly be worth looking into this and taking the tour if possible (note that the Internet contains articles describing the history of the building so I will not waste time doing that here).
For many years, Rùm was restricted to being a reservation for red deer and the inhabitants were solely employees of the Nature Conservancy Council. Most inhabitants (but not all) are still employed by NatureScot but there’s now a few others as well (teacher etc.).These days anyone can visit and stay on the island and, from what I can tell, some land has been sold to allow a few crofts around Kinloch to be established. Perhaps because of it’s history, Rùm has very little in the way of roads, and their condition and surface is unknown to me as I did not venture further than Kinloch - but I suspect what few there are are probably dirt tracks, maybe wide enough to take an off road vehicle. One such track heads west out of Kinloch. A short distance from the village, this track/road splits. The left branch turns south and heads into Rùm’s higher hills, known as the Rùm Cuillins (despite the name, they are nowhere as high and rugged as the Skye Cuillins - although they are pretty steep and impressive). The right hand branch continues westwards for a while before turning north to arrive at the coast just to the west of the northern-most corner. This is at Kilmory beach and bay. There is also a bothy close to the beach but I presume camping anywhere on the island is possible. There are a few other beaches scattered around the island but, with no tracks to them marked on my maps, getting to them would, I think, be a bit of a mission.
Not only is getting to Rùm now more easily managed but it’s also possible to stay overnight or for even longer periods. There is a variety of accommodation available these days, from wild camping, the official campsite, bothies, a bunkhouse and a guest house. However, you won’t find a hotel, pub or restaurant. There is a school and village shop and a café (summer only, I think) but not much else. Once there what is there to do? The lack of facilities includes no water sports centre - so bring your own kayak if you have one. Apart from that it’s hill walking (through the glens or up to the tops), searching out (and walking to) beaches, searching out ancient historical sites including the ruined and abandoned villages. Finally, there’s all the varied flora and fauna to go in search of. On Rùm this includes not only the red deer but ponies, goats, highland cattle and otters to name a few. Birds to go looking for includes the sea (white tailed) eagle. There’s also a good variety of insect and plant life along with a couple of reptiles - and the usual sea life, for this area, around Rùm’s coast.
Since I only had a couple of hours on Rùm, I’ve taken most of the above from the Internet and added to that what I saw myself. The famous on-line encyclopedia has a very extensive article on almost every aspect of the island that you could think of so having a read of that, and other Internet articles, would be a good idea. Although no longer seeking to struggle up to the tops of big hills, never mind mountains, I would be more than happy to return to Rùm to walk some of it’s tracks and paths to it’s wilder and more remote spots.

As always, a few of the photographs I took to end this post.

 

The above photo is simply of Rùm taken from the ferry.

 

 

The photo above was also taken from the ferry. It was taken near to the entrance of Loch Scresort and is looking towards Kinloch Castle and village. This photo also gives a bit of an idea of Rùm’s tree coverage around Kinloch.

 

 

The shot above is of the yacht anchored in Loch Scresort with Kinloch Castle behind.

The photo above was taken on the track from the jetty to Kinloch village.

The above photo was also taken on the walk into Kinloch village from the jetty. It shows one of the houses beside the track.

 

 The photo above, of an old lime kiln, was also taken on the walk into Kinloch village from the jetty.

 

The above photo is of the bridge over the river Kinloch near the centre of Kinloch village.

 

The photo above is of Kinloch Castle.

The photo above is of one of the beaches just to the east of the northern-most corner. I’m not sure which one. This is one of the beaches (and there looks like there are others close to it) which don’t appear to have any tracks or paths leading it - so it would be a hard tramp over the hills to get to it.

 The above photo is of Kilmory bay and beach (this photo, like the previous one, was taken from the ferry to Canna). This beach does have a track leading to it - so maybe a bit easier getting to than some of the other ones.

 

This is the wreck of the French stern trawler the Jack Abry II, which floundered during January 2011 - after the captain fell asleep at the wheel. The location is just to the west of the northern-most corner. No lives were lost. If you want to know more then an Internet search for ‘ship wreck off Rùm’ will get you the full story.