Guirdil Bothy, Rùm

LOCATION LAT/LONG 57.0254, -6.4183, NM 319014, LR Map 39
Watching the sun setting behind Canna from the shingle beach below the bothy at Guirdil is a life-affirming experience. It also brings back happy memories for the many people whose first experience of bothying was here, as part of an organised field trip or wildlife tour. Tucked into a tight crescent bay on the W coast of Rùm, in the shadow of the conical peak of Bloodstone Hill, Guirdil takes its name from the bay’s tumbling burn: in Norse, Giùadal means ‘deep chasm’. The ruined houses nearby are all that remains of a small crofting community, but people were living on Rùm considerably earlier. A Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) site that was uncovered near Kinloch is thought to be one of the earliest discovered so far in Scotland, dating back over 7500 years.