The Landscape Today
From the tops of its pyramidal peaks, Rum offers a spectacular panorama encompassing the sloping backbone of Eigg, the rich green pasture of diminutive Muck and the carved basalt coastline embracing Canna and the low lying Sanday.
Held together by the sea, these islands combine a richness of landform, colour and texture with ever-changing light and dramatic weather. The landscape can feel dark and oppressive in the fading greyness of winter, or spangled with intense light and distant clarity on a brilliant summer day.
From sandy beaches to coastal stacks, from remote ridges to clustered houses and from windswept woodland to flowering machair, these islands are a microcosm of the Scottish landscape. Their outstanding natural beauty has led them to be designated as one of our National Scenic Areas.
Each island has its distinctive pattern of habitation and cultivation. Fertile grassy slopes support crofts on Canna and a farm on Muck. The largest of the islands, Rum, is dominated by its rugged mountains, rough terrain and uninhabited glens. Eigg combines managed land with woodland and scattered houses. All of the islands focus much of their settlement on the sheltered east facing harbours.
The islands are perhaps best known as the familiar silhouettes seen from the mainland or neighbouring Skye - the low wedge of Much, the flat topped tower of the Sgùrr of Eigg, the massed peaks and ridges of Rum and the whale-like profile of Canna.