The Old Man of Storr

On Skye the glaciers of the last ice age carved out the spectacular rock pinnacles around the tallest, known as The Old Man of Storr.

The name is from the Norse ‘stor’, and it simply means ‘big’. At 48 metres tall, this impressive formation is so prominent, easily visible from long distances, that the Vikings probably used it as a sea-mark when they sailed past Skye. Standing guard over the mountains, the Old Man and his companions seem like giants, almost human. They remember the convulsions of millions of years ago and how they formed the unique landscape of the Highlands and Islands.

There are other Old Men; one stands in the sea off the Orkney island of Hoy. At the head of Glencoe towers the mountain known as Buachaille Etive Mòr, the Great Herdsman of Etive. He kept watch over the shepherds, and the flocks and herds that grazed his flanks.

The Five Sisters of Kintail are a geological and mythical relic of broken promises. Gazing up Loch Duich towards the Atlantic, they seem to sit silently together, one beside the other, wreathed in ancient disappointment. Once, two Irish princes were washed ashore and they fell in love with two of the seven daughters of the king of Kintail. They promised to send back their five brothers for the five sisters left behind, but no ship ever came. The sisters asked the Grey Magician of Coire Dhunnaid to extend their vigil beyond the bounds of mortal life, and to make them into mountains. And still they wait.