Our Slippery Slope: Hiking The Devil’s Pulpit

Well, hello! We left off our adventure last week with a train into Scotland, where Bobby’s aunt and cousin met us at the station and trundled us off to the cute little town near Glasglow to stay at his cousin’s house. On Monday, we were woken by the “din of Scottish children,” as Bobby dubbed his cousin’s kids, and then lazed about, heading into Glasglow to see the sights. Tuesday, however, is where Scotland got interesting.

Our idea in going to Scotland was to visit Bobby’s family and be flexible with what we did, so we had no pre-arranged plans or attractions to see. Which is how we found ourselves on Tuesday morning with Google as our trusty guide for regional to-dos. Amongst the options on Tripadvisor was one called the Devil’s Pulpit. According to the internet, it was a sandstone pulpit in a gorge only accessible by slippery, narrow rock stairs. Not only that, the water in the gorge ran blood red. Ummmmmm yeah okay. Obviously, we went with that option.

Now, if you’re ever in this particular bit of Scotland and decide to find the Devil’s Pulpit, make sure you’ve got the location and GPS because there’s no sign. Look at the site linked above for instructions on where to park. We got lucky when we went and got one of the few spots on the side of the road opposite the trailhead, but there’s more parking further away if you don’t swing that.

The hike to Devil’s Pulpit was short. More of a walk, really. You’re walking near the edge of the gorge, but you don’t get close to it until the last bit, just before you reach the staircase down to the bottom of the gorge.

We were warned online that the stairs were dicey, and it was true. At first, it looks like you’re descending into a jungle lair. But after not too far, the steps become wet and angled downward—lots of potential for slippage. There was a bungee cord–type rope that had been left there by some kind individual, and you definitely wanted to hang onto that while going down. However, since it’s only anchored at the top and the bottom, you feel everyone else who yanks on it while you’re holding it, which can be a little perilous when it’s the only thing keeping you from slipping down the stairs. Oh, also the rope was wet and muddy, so yeah, that didn’t help.

But our perseverance was rewarded and eventually we made it to the bottom of the gorge. And there we were met with this beautiful sight.

Red. Water. Oh my gosh. The pictures don’t even do it justice. Some of the pictures make it look a little more Coca-Cola brown than red, but I promise you, it was ruby-colored and one of the coolest nature things I’ve seen.

The Pulpit was around a bend in the gorge. In order to access it, you either had to lose the shoes or accept that they would get wet. We added ours to the pile.

Wading through the water (which was pretty dang cold), we came face to face with Devil’s Pulpit, which stands in a nice little chamber in the gorge. Past it, a small waterfall empties into the chamber, making it hard to go further than the Pulpit area unless you really want to get wet. The chamber was amazing. It’s hard to describe how otherworldly it was down there, with the bright sandstone and the blood-red water against the neon green walls of the gorge. So cool.

One additional fun fact about Devil’s Pulpit is if you’ve seen Detective Pikachu (a must-watch for anyone with Pokémon nostalgia), the Pulpit is where the Bulbasaurs bring Pikachu. It looks like a mystical, magical place in the movie, and being there in real life has the same effect.

Overall, this was an amazing experience and I’d highly recommend it. We spent quite a while down there taking pictures and just enjoying the nature (us and about two dozen other humans—it was obviously a popular spot). I’ll let you enjoy the fruits of our photos below—we found clusters of mushrooms, admired a miniature stone wall someone had constructed, and tried all manner of angles to try to capture that iconic red water. Enjoy! Next week, I’ll take you along on the worst Scottish hiking experience ever.

If you liked this story about hiking the Devil's Pulpit, try Patrice Carey Hale's post about exploring Lennox Castle Hospital, an abandoned mental hospital.

Blog: Lennox Castle Hospital