Coire na Creiche

Coire na Creiche is a dramatic and particularly beautiful corrie on the north-western side of the Black Cuillins, with a horseshoe of magnificent peaks, crags and cliffs around its head and the famous Fairy Pools series of little falls and pools falling from its heart.

Various streams flow from its broken rock to join to form the River Brittle. The main one of these, the Allt Coir' a' Mhadaidh, falls in a series of extraordinarily pretty rapids, waterfalls and deep pools which are known as the Fairy Pools, all surrounded by the dramatic dark cliffs of the Black Cuillin and the vivid greenery of the corrie... a truly beautiful place. W

This is a wonderful area to walk and linger over a picnic and a swim. It is, though, horribly crowded on a good summer day. 

The best option, if you have the energy, is to reduce the impact of the riverside crowds by starting off leftwards (north-east),climbing gradually away from the river towards a cairn on the Bealach a' Mhaim pass to Glen Sligachan, with wonderful views of the corrie ever present. Turn right at the cairn, and meet and follow the path right, back around the base of the wall of the Coire na Creiche, round to the rocky high end of this grand bowl; then follow the trail down beside the main river with its falls and pools, enjoying an end of walk dip.

A wonderful time, and a very good lower level walk for a cloudy day.

And enjoyable snip of history is that Macdonalds and Macleods fought a bitter battle here over stolen castle - in 1601, a good indication of how violent and backward Scotland then was. 

For more information and photos, including detailed practical information, see our Isle of Skye walk page.