Ruabhal and Beinn Langais

Tuesday 9th June 2015

After my frustration with the walk the day before when I had considered abandoning my whole plan, it was a relief to finally have a satisfying walk as I continued my trek north along the length of the Hebrides. A large reason for my frustration had been the amount of time that I had been spending walking along roads, albeit on roads that don’t get much traffic, but on this walk I made a significant discovery that I had been looking for throughout the length of the holiday. I had spent the night camped beside a track that skirts the southern slopes of Ruabhal, the highest hill on the small island of Benbecula, an island that is sandwiched between North and South Uist. After breakfast, before breaking camp, I climbed up heather-covered slopes to the top of Ruabhal, which I found very enjoyable not only because this low hill commands extensive views all around the island, but also because I’d left my heavy rucksack behind in the tent. The views were marred by grey, overcast skies, but I still had an astonishing sight across the whole island that revealed an assortment of loch and moor.

The extensive views from Ruabhal were exploited by Bonnie Prince Charlie when he spent a few days hiding at the top of this hill before taking a boat with the aid of Flora MacDonald over the sea to Skye. After coming back down to my tent I broke camp and set off along the track heading east further away from civilisation and towards Ròsinis, where Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora MacDonald set sail. The inspiration for my trek along the Hebrides was a book by Peter Clarke called "The Timeless Way" and I was using a GPS track of that route when in doubt. After passing between two lochs I reached a yellow marker post beside a gate that was exactly at the point where my GPS indicated the Timeless Way turns north. At that point I turned off the track and set off across the pathless heather-covered landscape eventually reaching a ruined shepherd's hut, known in Scotland as a shieling, not far from the edge of a tidal inlet of Caolas Fhlodaigh.

This was a delightful, unspoilt place with colourful wildflowers, mostly sea pinks, on the edges of the large sandy bay. There was a modern house within eyesight, however a direct line was blocked by a bog, so I took a roundabout route following the shoreline until eventually I reached the road near the start of the causeway to the tiny tidal island of Flodda. Instead of going onto the island, I turned left and walked along the road with the coast on my right back onto the main road. From this point I had quite a bit of unavoidable road walking as I followed the road across the series of causeways that links the island of Benbecula with the island of North Uist, while skirting the edge of the small tidal island of Grimsay. Peter Clarke had crossed from North Uist to Benbecula by walking across the sands of the North Ford, which is not the safest thing to try if you don’t know what you are doing, however since the tide was in it was not an option.

Once on the island of North Uist I stopped to have my lunch while the planes coming in to land at Benbecula Airport passed overhead. Continuing to walk beside the road was not as bad as it could have been as there was a wide grass verge or stones beside the road that I could safely walk upon until I reached a Free Church of Scotland where my GPS track confirmed the Timeless Way comes off the road. There was no trace of a path, but I trusted the GPS and passed through the gate across a field until I reached a gate on the other side of the field where I found a clear track. Soon after setting off along this track I was astonished to see the condition of the path improve dramatically and a footpath that had clearly been recently constructed. Excitedly I realised that this was part of the new Hebridean Way that the local council were building and of which I had previously found no trace. As I made my way along the path I found that it was still being constructed and in many places was nothing more than two narrow trenches with the lifted turf piled in the middle while at other times the path appeared to have been completed with gravel covering the surface.

It was a joy to walk along this path, especially after the days of walking across pathless terrain or along roads. There had been no indication that I would find the new Hebridean Way at this point and if the Timeless Way had not taken the same route I would never have found it and probably, tragically, wearily continued walking along the road. I much prefer to walk along a clear footpath than having to find my own way across the terrain as it allows me to enjoy the surroundings, including the sight of Eabhal, the highest hill on the island. I had wanted to climb Eabhal, but access from this direction is tricky as the path I was on headed north while Eabhal passed me by. Further along the path the route was marked by nothing more than a rubber mesh that is maybe simply the first stage of the process of path building, but still gave me an easy walk past a couple of old cairns and down to the road near the end of Loch Euphort with the hill of Beinn Langais opposite. Despite now having reached my third map I was disappointed that I was not going to be climbing Eabhal and was instead walking away from it.

After a short walk along the road I noticed the same rubber mesh that I had walked on earlier now heading north from the road towards Beinn Langais. Realising that this must be the continuation of the Hebridean Way I set off along it, following a winding route past Barra-mhail and eventually reaching the Langass Lodge Hotel at the foot of Beinn Langais. Passing by the hotel I took a track up the side of the hill, but as I made my way up the dirt path I found more of the rubber matting marking the route of the Hebridean Way around the eastern side of the hill. When I realised that the path was not going up to the summit I turned off and made straight for the top of the hill soon reaching the trig point at the summit. The view was sensational despite overcast skies across a land so filled with lochs that in places water was more plentiful than land. The stunning views continued as I made my way down the hill past the ancient chambered cairn of Barpa Langais until I eventually reached the Circular Road of North Uist.

I now had to choose whether to follow the new Hebridean Way along the old road towards Lochmaddy and the east coast or to head west to Clachan and rejoin the Timeless Way along the west coast. Eventually I decided to go west to Clachan and from there I found a way onto the edge of the bay and followed a faint path beside the estuary until I found a good spot to camp for the night. Despite the overcast weather this was the first day of my holiday when it didn’t rain and I was left feeling like this had been a good day on new and non-existent paths, however I was still questioning the wisdom of this whole enterprise and whether I should keep going. The tranquil, slightly windswept, surroundings of my camp spot, looking across the sands towards the island of Baleshare, reassured me that it was worth going on for moments like this.