Compass Hill – Basalt Columns and a View over Canna's Harbour

The walk

The walk starts at the Canna Community Shop, on the harbour road a short way from the pier. No visitor's car goes to Canna, so leave it at Mallaig: the West Bay car park charges and is five minutes' walk from the ferry, and the East Bay one is free and 10 to 15 minutes away. Compass Hill rises behind the harbour, and the way to it begins beside the garden wall of Canna House. There are two ways on. Saturnino's Path keeps low, a narrow path through a wood that fills with snowdrops, wild garlic and bluebells in spring. The other, which the island's community trust keeps for the more adventurous, climbs the open hill past the radio mast to the high point. From up there you look straight down on the harbour, on the rock stack and dark beach at Coroghon, and across to low Sanday and the hills of Rum. The hill is named for its rock, which is magnetic enough to send a compass needle astray, and on its slopes the basalt stands in tall, many-sided columns like a wall of organ pipes. Cattle graze the grass.

The top is about two thirds of a mile from the shop in a straight line, so allow an hour and a half there and back. The ground is rough, with field gates on the way and steep cliffs on the far side of the hill: stay well back from the edge, and save this for a calm day. Keep dogs under close control among the cattle. The toilets are at the Visitor Hub near the pier. Canna belongs to the National Trust for Scotland. The Tarbert track, west along the coast, is a longer walk for another day of your stay. Tighard Guest House asks for at least two nights and means to stay open all year. It cooks its guests a two-course dinner on a Tuesday and a Thursday, for £30, makes packed lunches and meets the ferry to carry luggage. Café Canna is shut until April and the campsite is shut for the winter.

The Canna Community Shop is open day and night, every day of the year, on an honesty system. Book a bed on the island before you book the boat, and bring food. On CalMac's winter timetable, from 19 October 2026 to 25 March 2027, the boat for Canna leaves Mallaig at 9.50am on a Tuesday and a Thursday and lands at 12.40pm. It sails again 20 minutes later, at 1pm, and is back at Mallaig at 3.50pm, so a winter visit means at least two nights, Tuesday to Thursday. A Sunday boat runs only if it is asked for on 0800 066 5000 by 4pm on the working day before: it leaves Mallaig at 9am, reaches Canna at 11.05am and leaves again at 1.25pm. No boat runs on Tuesday 1 December or Tuesday 2 February, nor on 25 December or 1 January. Book the crossing ahead: CalMac's Mallaig office, on 01687 310240, option 2, takes bookings until 4pm on the working day before, and foot passengers check in 20 minutes before the boat sails. Winter weather cancels sailings and can keep you on the island a night or two longer than you planned, so look at CalMac's service status page before you travel. From April to October, the island's own site says, Canna can be a day trip on a Wednesday or a Saturday.