Old Man of Stoer
Old Man of Stoer
Tyrolean traverse back - you swim out with the rope to set up the Tyrolean
60 m ropes are needed to abseil down in one go. Bottom 30 m are free hanging.
A'Chailleach, An Bodach
A'Chaillach, its about 1 km south of Cape Wrath
Short swim but calm seas required. Martin with a valiant but failed attempt to swing out to it on an abseil rope
An Bodach, right next to A'Chailleach. The only route in the guide book is a diff. We did a new route straight up the black face at about HS 4b standard.
Wildlife
Puffins, there's a small colony near Durness
You will also see puffins right on the summit of The Old Man of Hoy
Seals - they're everywhere
Old Man of Hoy
You get a pretty good view of the Old Man of Hoy from the Scrabster-Stromness ferry
Access is from Rackwick Bay on Hoy
Very desolate and sod all there. There is a hostel and a bothy though
Rackwick looks more pleasant when the sun shines
Be warned
It's an hour's walk from Rackwick to the Old Man of Hoy. You scramble down the cliffs and then across the remains of the arch that once connected it to the mainland
From then on its 450' of climbing to the top. 60 m ropes are a massive help as you can then abseil straight down from the top of pitch 2 to the ground without having to fix a back rope.
Transport from Stromness to Hoy - MV Graemsay
Basically scramble down the green swathe on the left, then walk along the rubble.
Now if you want some big routes, try next door at St John's Head. You get no impression of scale but this cliff is over 1000' (300 m) high.
Latheronwheel
Not exactly a sea stack but a nice place for an afternoon's cragging on the drive back
