Beinn Amhlasaraigh and Clachan Sands

Wednesday 10th June 2015

After breaking camp beside the inlet, or maybe it is an estuary, called Clachan Cumhang, I headed along the coast walking along the strip of land between the fence and the water. Across the estuary were stunning views over the sands of Tràigh Leathann to Baleshare and Kirkibost Island and they just got better as I made my way up the coast towards Oitir Mhor and Bayhead. On this holiday I was making my way north along the length of the Outer Hebrides following the route of the Timeless Way, which is also a book written by Peter Clarke, and takes this west coast route around the island of North Uist. The previous day I had found traces of the new Hebridean Way being constructed near Beinn Langais and that presumably is going to head towards the east coast and Lochmaddy, however I had decided to stick to Peter Clarke’s route, but it was hard work. There were a lot of inlets or bays on this coast meaning that my progress was slow, but at least it was better than walking along the road, which is something I was getting rather fed up with on this holiday.

My progress along the coast was taking me so long I was fed up with the weaving course and made my way across several fields and over several barbed wire fences onto the Circular Road. I had come onto the road just before what Peter Clarke calls the Committee Road, a road that cuts across the island from Àird Heisgeir to Ceathramh Meadhanach on the north coast of North Uist. This road took me away from the coastal Circular Road, where all the houses in North Uist are found, and out onto the unpopulated open moorland. By now the weather was surprisingly warm and I was enjoying the best weather of my holiday as I made my way up the road in the sunshine past a chap who was cutting peat for his winter fuel as has been done for hundreds of years. Just beyond Loch a’ Charra I came off the road and climbed up Beinn a’ Charra onto the heather moorland heading towards the chain of hills that sit in the centre of North Uist and have their top at Maireabhal.

It seemed to me a bit odd that Peter Clarke should have gone to the top of these hills on his walk along the length of the Hebrides as he could have easily gone around them as I’m sure does the yet to be completed Hebridean Way. The only excuse he gave was to see the view, and for that I had to climb all the way up to the top of these hills carrying my heavy rucksack up the rough, boggy hillside. However as I was struggling up the hill I realised that this was only as high as Old John in Leicestershire, but I have never tried to climb Old John from sea level through tough heather and deep bogs while carrying a heavy rucksack. Eventually, after much effort, I reached the western top of Maireabhal, which is named Beinn Amhlasaraigh, and since I couldn’t see the point of visiting the top of Maireabhal itself I immediately headed straight back down the hill on the other side eventually reaching Loch Uisdean at the start of a lovely track that ran all the way down to the Circular Road near the township of Solas.

My biggest reason for wanting to take this route through North Uist was so that I could visit the Co-op in Solas where I could stock up on food. I had hoped that during my time in the Outer Hebrides I would hear plenty of the Gaelic language being spoken in these islands that are among the only places in Scotland where the Scots Gaelic is still widely spoken. I had thought that I would hear it being spoken in the Co-op in Castlebay, but was disappointed to hear everyone speaking in English, and the Co-ops in Daliburgh and Cregorry were no better. In my fourth and smallest Co-op so far, I finally heard two elderly women greet each other with “Ciamar a tha thu?” and “Tha gu math,” (the limit of my understanding of Gaelic) before launching into a long conversation with each other in Gaelic. It is sad that younger people in these islands don’t seem to be speaking Gaelic amongst themselves as this does not bode well for the future of the language.

Once I had gotten my provisions I set off along the Circular Road. Peter Clarke had cut the corner at this point by crossing the sands of Traigh Athmor, but I took the safer option by following the road all the way around the bay. The weather was fabulous with gorgeous sunshine as I walked past stunning coastal views until eventually, several hours later, I came off the Circular Road and reached the machair at Clachan Sands. Once past the farmland that is always found behind the machair I reached a cemetery and realised that I had passed a large number of cemeteries on my holiday and they had all been within sight or smell of the sea, as if the Hebridean people have such an affinity with the sea that they have to be buried beside it. Behind the cemetery is a gorgeous white sandy bay, Traigh Lingeigh, the sight of which made up for my long, tiring walk along the road.

After walking along the top of the dunes for a while I began to think I must be getting back onto the road soon, but a marsh in the middle of the machair forced me to stay beside the dunes until I reached the northern end of the machair at the foot of the hill of Sudhanais. Barbed wire fences were a problem at this point as they have been not just on this walk but throughout my holiday. It seemed to me that there are a lot of barbed wire fences in the Hebrides and for me they always seemed to be in the wrong place, while any gate that I was lucky to find was not only bolted but tied shut with thick rope as a guard against the strong Hebridean winds. After crossing more barbed wire fences I eventually reached the road at the junction beside the ancient Dun on Loch an Sticir. More wearying road walking took me across a causeway onto the seventh island of my Hebridean trek, Berneray, and after a long walk around the delightful bay of Loch a’ Bhàigh brought me to the idyllic Berneray Youth Hostel. This was a long, tiring and rather frustrating walk with a prolonged section of road walking albeit in fabulous weather, and far too many barbed wire fences.