MacLeod’s Tables

MacLeod's Tables are a pair of unmistakable flat-topped hills on the Duirinish peninsula in the north-west of the Isle of Skye. Healabhal Mhòr (the larger, 488m) and Healabhal Bheag (the smaller but slightly higher, 489m) are formed from horizontal sheets of Palaeocene basalt lava, eroded over millions of years into their distinctive table shapes that dominate the skyline west of Dunvegan.

The name comes from a celebrated piece of clan folklore. It is said that the chief of Clan MacLeod, hosting King James V (in some versions a visiting Edinburgh dignitary), entertained him on the summit of Healabhal Bheag, declaring that no banqueting hall, candelabra or ceiling could compare with the open mountain, the stars and his own loyal clansmen standing torch in hand around the table.

Both summits are accessible to fit walkers from the road near Osdale or from Orbost, on rough pathless ground. The reward at the top is one of the great views in the Hebrides: out across Loch Bracadale to the Cuillin, north to the cliffs of Waterstein Head, and west over the Minch to the Outer Hebrides.