The Beaches of West Harris

Friday 12th June 2015

When I got up on this morning it was drizzling and it seemed that I was going to have poor weather for the rest of the day, however by the time I left the delightful Berneray Youth Hostel the sun had begun to peak through the clouds and I thought that maybe the waterproofs that I had just put on were not going to be necessary after all. After catching a bus around the island from the hostel to the terminal I caught the ferry across the Sound of Harris that meanders around the many rocks that litter the channel until I eventually reached Leverburgh on the Isle of Harris. I passed through Leverburgh four years ago, but didn’t see much of it on that occasion as I simply got off the bus and onto the ferry. Now that I was coming the other way I was walking out of the terminal. On my holiday I have been following two different routes along the length of the Outer Hebrides, one that I knew the route of and the other that I didn’t.

One of the routes was based on a book by Peter Clarke called "The Timeless Way", and at this point in his expedition he took a route along the Golden Road, a winding road over difficult terrain along the east coast of Harris that was very expensive to make. This route starts, from the south, in the township of Rodel at the southern-most tip of Harris, and continues along the undulating road through the rugged and deeply indented coastline past fishing townships rarely finding a path off the road. The opposing option is to follow the new Hebridean Way currently being constructed by the local council, but since it hasn’t been finished yet the final route has not been announced. I did, however, thanks to Public Contracts notices, know that the route goes over the Gleann Horsacleit to Gleann Uachdrach pass.

Since I wanted to see the beaches of West Harris on this walk I decided that I would attempt to try and follow the route of the new Hebridean Way so I set off along the quiet road out of Leverburgh past Loch Steisebhat to Loch na Moracha at the eastern end of Gleann Horsacleit. I had assumed that the path would start near Loch na Moracha, but when I got there I couldn’t find any trace of the path, except for something in the distance that may have been a path on the other side of the loch. With no sign of how to get onto that supposed path I decided to return along the narrow, winding road in the glorious sunshine back to Leverburgh and try to find the start of the path from there, but as I headed down the main road I could find no sign of it. Eventually I had to give up and walk beside the main road through Gleann Choisleitir and down to the sands of Tràigh Scarasta.

It was frustrating not being able to find the path and it was definitely there as once I reached the other end of the pass I found the new path coming down from Gleann Uachdrach. By now, however, I was already becoming mesmerised by the beaches of West Harris with Scarista Sands the first of many, and one of the finest. The beach was gorgeous with golden sands that were a marked contrast to the white beaches that I had seen earlier in my holiday. After walking along the machair grasslands behind Tràigh an Taoibh Thuath for a while I eventually could resist the temptation of the sands no longer so when the sands narrowed into Tràigh Scarasta I dived across the dunes and down the beach to the sea. The weather was fabulous with stunning views along the length of the Sound of Taransay and towards the mountains of Harris. No other island in the Outer Hebrides matches Harris for its craggy hills that reminded me of national parks in England and Wales, most notably the Lake District, which is praise indeed.

I had a thoroughly enjoyable walk along the soft, golden sands of Scarista and didn’t want to leave them, but eventually the rocks of Sgeir Liath impeded my way. Rather than move away from the coast I clambered over the rocks between the sea and the Isle of Harris Golf Course making my way along the coast to smaller, but equally stunning beaches of West Harris including Tràigh Mhòr. Eventually my familiar Hebridean nemesis of barbed wire reared its head and barred my path forcing me back onto the road. Now my views of the beaches was restricted to that from the road as I made my way along the coast until I got to West Beach and beyond the headland to, the queen of Harris beaches, Luskentyre Sands, possibly the finest beach in the UK. I had been looking forward to seeing this beach for months, but by the time I reached Tràigh Losgantir it was evening, I was getting tired and the sunshine that I had bathed in on Scarista had dulled. My photos show white sandy beaches in Luskentyre instead of the golden sands that I encountered on all the other beaches on this walk.

The biggest difference between Luskentyre and the other beaches is extensive tidal flats that must be a delight to walk over when the tide is out, but when I was there the tide was in making the wide estuary seem more like a vast, shallow lagoon. By the end of this walk I was really tired and was keen to find a spot where I could put up my tent and rest, and eventually I found a spot that overlooked the Luskentyre Sands. At one point on this walk I had thought this was going to be a bad day, but the weather turned out to be fabulous and I was entranced by the stunning views of the Harris hills behind these gorgeous beaches. However I am disappointed that I wasn’t in a mood, or have the time, to really appreciate the Luskentyre Sands so the sands that I actually enjoyed the most were those that I first visited: Scarista, whose golden sands and distant views of mountains were spellbinding and a highlight of my holiday.