The Old Man of Storr is the photograph everyone sees before they come to Skye, and it is not an exaggeration. The 50-metre basalt pinnacle rises from a landscape of collapsed cliff face and moorland that looks unlike anywhere else in Britain, angular, dark, enormous, with the Sound of Raasay in the distance below. The walk from the main car park (off the A855) takes around 45 minutes to reach the base of the rocks.
Go early, by 9am the car park fills in summer and the atmosphere at the rocks is completely different. Mist around the pinnacle is the best condition, if you can stand the cold. The views east over the sound, on a clear day, extend to the Scottish mainland.