Arkle, Sutherland

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Arkle
Sutherland

Arkle above the shores of Loch Stack
Summit: 2,582 feet NC302461
58°22’13"N, 4°54’17"W

Arkle is a mountain in Sutherland.

Like its sister Foinaven, the mountain is made up of glistening white Cambrian quartzite, laid down around 530 million years ago on an uneven basement of much older Lewisian gneiss. The quartzite, and the Torridonian sandstone which makes up many of the other mountains in the area, have been dissected by rivers and glaciers, leaving a series of isolated peaks, such as Suilven, Quinag and Stac Pollaidh, standing above the "knock and lochan" landscape of small hills and lakes that is typical of the Lewisian gneiss.

The name 'Arkle' is from the Old Norse Ark fjell, and means 'Flat-topped hill'.