Rum is such a popular High Level holiday that this year we ran it again in early June!

The group met at Mallaig and we boarded our ferry bound for Rum.

The crossing was a rough one and when we got off the boat at Rum, we donned our waterproofs to walk to Kinloch Castle where we were staying.

After settling in, we had a chat about the days ahead and then had an early night ready for tomorrow.

The cloud was down and our views were somewhat limited.

As we made our way up the Coire Dubh path we got glimpses of the spectacular scenery around us.

Unfortunately, as we made our way higher, these views were lost entirely and the group made its way to the summit of Barkeval in cloud, mist and drizzly rain.

However, despite this, we had a great time and everyone was really positive and enjoying the walk.

We contoured after descending to the bealach, to Capan breaca and joined the coastal path and make our way back to the castle.

After hot baths and showers and a brew and biscuits in the kitchen followed by a good meal, we headed for bed to see what tomorrow would bring weather wise!

We awoke to clear blue skies and sunshine (which remained with us for the rest of the week).

After breakfast we headed off, having applied generous amounts of sun cream, for Hallival and Askival.

The route up to the summit of Hallival gets quite scrambly in places and the whole group negotiated these sections with "goat like" ease!

The views from the top were spectacular. All the surrounding islands were clearly visible and we could see over to the mainland.

Many photos were taken before the group made its way down to the col between the two summits.

Again, any scrambly sections were negotiated competently and after a lunch stop... which included a brew of tea at the col, we left our sacs and made our way up the ridge towards Askival.

The path is narrow and rocky in places and again quite scrambly.

Our intrepid group by now well adept at this terrain coped well and our efforts were rewarded with even more spectacular views (if that was possible) than we had had on Hallival!

Eventually, having looked, photographed, pondered and marveled, we had to make our way back to the rucksacks and then descended quite steeply to Coire nan Grund to the coastal track.

We had had a truly fabulous day.

After breakfast, food parcels were distributed to the group and everyone scurried about getting herself packed and ready for our trip away... to the Guirdil bothy.

We set off in beautiful weather from the Castle with stunning views.

After leaving the Harris track, we made our way over to Glen Shellesder where we deer spotted as we ate our lunch.

The coastal walk from the bottom of the Glen over to our bothy afforded us spectacular sea views and the location can only be described as idyllic.

Tea and cake bars were served in warm sunshine and afterwards some people foraged for dried seaweed to burn on the campfire, others braved the cold sea!

And some just lay back and took in the peace and quiet. (We were joined by deer and wild goats)

After a "home cooked" meal, a relaxing evening and a hot bedtime drink, the group retired to their respective sleeping mats and sleeping bags.

After much tea and a traditional Scottish breakfast (porridge) we set off to tackle Bloodstone Hill.

The ascent is steep but we had continual stunning views to make every step worthwhile.

From the summit we looked down on the bothy, across to Canna and Skye and could see deer wandering the grassy areas far below us.

We made our way to the bealach an Dubh-bhraigh, again deer spotting as we went, and then ascended to our lunch (and sunbathing) spot on Sron an t-Saighdeir. (We were also fortunate to spot a Sea Eagle).

From here we completed a magnificent broad ridge walk to Orval and then down to the bealach at the base of Fionchra.

At this point the group split and some returned to the bothy via the glen, whilst others made the horseshoe complete by continuing up Fionchra and descending the long ridge down to Guirdil.

A great day had been had by all. We swam in plunge pools in the small river by the bothy after tea and cake bars and then had "dinner" in the warmth of the sun.

We tidied the bothy and packed our rucksacks after breakfast and it was with much sadness that we had to leave such a remote and beautiful place.

We looked back at the bothy nestled on the shore as we walked up Glen Guirdil.

We crossed the bealach and made our way down to the Harris track at Malcolm's bridge for lunch.

(The group came to the rescue of a 4x4 that had got stuck in a ditch next to the bridge! Girl power kicked in and I think the 3 people in the 4x4 were amazed at their luck to have a group of women just happen to be there at the right place and time to be able push them out!).

It was such a beautiful day that we decided to make a detour to Kilmory sands for a swim on the way back to Kinloch.

We went down to the beach amid deer grazing the fells around us and also spotted a sea otter too. Our hardiest members went swimming whilst others paddled.

After a short sun snooze it was time to head back. No one could believe where the time had gone.

We made it back to Kinloch castle just in time to get quick showers before dinner.

That evening a small group headed out at 10.30pm to make their way up to the side of Hallival to see the Shearwaters coming in. We had been told that as it was so clear and fine that the birds might not come in the thousands as normal!

Even with the lack of birds, we had a wonderful time and were amazed at how great it felt to be in the hills at 1am. By the time we got back to the castle it was 2.30am and after tea and toast in the kitchen, we headed for bed sometime after 3am!

We packed our bags and then went for a more leisurely walk along Loch Scresort passing the ancient Black houses and wildlife spotting on our way.

After lunch we then made our way back to Kinloch to take the castle tour before our bags were loaded into the land rover and we walked down to the pier to catch the ferry back to Mallaig.

To sum up... it had been an awesome week - fantastic weather, stunning scenery, great walks, and wonderful people.