Grulin – Ruined Walls and a Bothy Under the Cliffs of An Sgùrr

The walk

Visitors reach Eigg as foot passengers on CalMac's ferry from Mallaig, and can't bring a car. On the winter timetable, from 19 October 2026 to 25 March 2027, the boat leaves Mallaig at 10.15am on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and reaches Eigg at 11.35am, or at 2.15pm on a Saturday. Boats back leave Eigg at 11.55am on a Monday, 1.55pm on a Wednesday and a Friday and 2.35pm on a Saturday. That's little more than two hours ashore, so in winter plan on a night or more on the island. Book the boat with the Mallaig port office on 01687 310240, option 2, by 4pm on the working day before you sail. Gales cancel sailings in winter, so keep a day in hand. The walk starts at the pier at Galmisdale. Walkhighlands gives it as 6.7 km there and back, a little over four miles, with about 180 metres of climb, and allows two and a half to three hours. It's a track with a good surface all the way, over rolling moor below the south face of An Sgùrr, so it suits a day when the hill itself is in cloud.

Grulin was a farming township, and its people were cleared from it long ago. What's left is a scatter of roofless houses and field walls in dry stone, grown over with lichen. The Trust that owns Eigg says the ruins and their enclosure show what an eighteenth-century farm would have looked like. The grey cliffs stand right behind them, and a small white bothy with a red roof sits at the end of the track, looking out to sea. In winter the bracken has died back and the walls are easy to pick out. Sheep graze among the ruins, so keep dogs on a lead. The caves on the island's south coast are sometimes added to this walk. The Trust strongly advises people not to go into the Massacre Cave, after rock falls inside it in 2016. From November to January the sun is down before 5pm, and before 4pm in December, so start by 11.30am.

The Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust's website lists the places to stay, from the hostel and camping pods near the pier to bothies and B&Bs at Cleadale. Only the Eigg Organics bothy is listed as open all year, so ring before you book the boat. The Galmisdale Bay Cafe and Bar is beside the island's shop at the head of the pier. From autumn it asks you to book by noon on the day you want to eat, on 01687 482487. The toilets and showers next door are open day and night. From April a day trip works. Arisaig Marine's boat sails to Eigg from Arisaig between April and September, and on CalMac's 2026 summer timetable the Monday boat gave about five and a half hours ashore. The 2027 summer timetables are still to come.