Benbecula and Ruabhal

Sunday 27th August 2017

I walked most of this stage of the Hebridean Way when I was in the Outer Hebrides in 2015 despite making up my own way up the length of the Western Isles while the Hebridean Way was in the process of being constructed. On the way I found little sections of the trail that I was able to follow including the section at the start of this day. I had camped beside the muddy river that runs between the fresh water loch of Loch a’ Bharpa and the sea loch of Loch Euphort. After crossing the river on a solidly built bridge, a good path runs along the side of Bagh Orasaigh, but initially had come under attack from tall grasses that I had to wade through until the path climbed above the floodplain. I encountered a variety of surfaces on this path, starting with gravel but becoming a plastic mesh that I recalled walking on two years ago. At the time I had assumed this was a partly constructed path that would eventually be covered up with gravel, but it appears this was not the case, or maybe they just ran out of gravel. It was still dry underfoot which is all I ask for in a path, and this one took me around the western tip of Loch Euphort and onto the Sidinish road that I walked along for a spell before turning onto a track that climbed gradually uphill to continue my trek south.

After the tremendous weather that I had enjoyed the day before, on this walk conditions had now reverted to the usual Hebridean standard with grey, overcast skies and a strong breeze that was coming off the Atlantic Ocean. Despite the poor weather I had a good path to follow with some good views behind me over Loch Euphort and towards Beinn Langais, while underfoot various techniques were being used again including gravel, but also a wide turf path reminiscent of the narrower turf paths that I’d seen in Lewis. Sometimes the turf path would have the plastic mesh on top of the turf, but generally it was all dry underfoot and therefore a pleasure to walk upon despite the grey weather that was threatening rain. I enjoyed the stroll along this path looking out west towards the main road where the houses on the flat terrain looked very exposed to the winds coming off the Atlantic. After a short, steep descent that I distinctly remembered from last time the path deteriorated into a boggy track that eventually led to a gate that I also remembered from two years ago, however I knew that the Hebridean Way doesn’t join the main road at the same point where I had previously left it, opposite the Carinish Free Church.

Retracing my steps all the way back along the boggy track and up the short, steep ascent I was frustrated to discover that the Hebridean Way leaves the very good path just before the descent to head onto a pathless section heading east. There was no indication or reason why I would have expected the Hebridean Way to leave such a good path at this point and venture out across the bleak heather moor. Plain wooden posts marked the route across the moor until a faint path appeared that heads across the boggy terrain past a small collection of young deciduous trees to skirt the shores of Loch a’ Bharpa and pass a chambered cairn until I eventually reached the main road. By now it had started to rain heavily and as I made my way along the road and over the causeway I was severely whipped by the wind and rain that was making me wish I had never come to the Outer Hebrides. The tidal island of Grimsay was briefly visited before I crossed another causeway that leads to the island of Benbecula, where I finally got some shelter from the wind. The Hebridean Way is usually done in a south to north direction, but I was doing it in the opposite direction because I’d gone north two years ago.

The wind often comes from a south-westerly direction across the Western Isles, though until this point I hadn’t noticed, but now a strong head wind was blowing the rain straight into my face. When I got to the end of the causeway I turned left onto the Flodda road and during a brief respite from the wind and rain I had my lunch before turning south across the boggy moor at a Hebridean Way signpost that was pointing towards the only hill on Benbecula: Ruabhal. I very quickly lost all trace of a path in the saturated ground and while looking for the wooden posts that have usually guided me across Hebridean moorlands I saw one far to the east and headed towards it, but when I got closer I realised it was an ancient standing stone, so instead I turned towards the one marker that I could see: Ruabhal. Slowly I made my own way between two lochs and across the peaty, heather moor occasionally coming across a small wooden stake in the ground that probably marks the Hebridean Way or where the proper, larger posts should have been sited. As it is they were useless as a guide for navigation as they were far too small so I headed slowly up the hill until eventually I reached the top.

A respite from the rain had continued all the way up to the top of Ruabhal, but the views across the loch-scattered landscape were still lousy and they had been better the last time that I was on Ruabhal, even though it had not been sunny then. As the rain started to fall once again I made my way down a clear path that took me down the southern slopes of Ruabhal until I reached a track near to the point where I’d camped last time. Turning right along the track I passed the local authority recycling site and across the main road, and as the rain continued to fall, but now thankfully with a crosswind and not a headwind, I made my way west across Benbecula for several miles along a minor road until I reached the coastal road. After a short distance heading towards Balivanich I turned left to pass through the small community of Aird until I reached a small car park at the northern end of Culla Bay. Although it was still quite early in the afternoon I didn’t want to walk any further in this terrible weather, so I pitched up my tent where I hoped it would be sheltered from the winds behind the dunes. This had been another walk through hell even though the landscape and the footpaths had been good, but this time it was the weather that had ruined the day.