Achmore and Balallan

Sunday 20th and Monday 21st August 2017

After visiting the Outer Hebrides in 2015 I immediately started planning a return visit as I had been entranced by this delightful chain of islands off the west coast of Scotland and the tranquil way of life that exists there far from the maddening crowd. In 2015 I walked from the southern-most tip of the southern-most inhabited island of the Western Isles, Vatersay, all the way up to the northern-most tip of the northern-most inhabited island, at the Butt of Lewis. On the way I came across signs of the Hebridean Way being constructed and was even able to walk along sections of it. Retracing my steps along some of the Hebridean Way had always been a target for my return visit, but as I made my plans I realised that I really wanted to do the whole Hebridean Way from start to finish even though it would mean covering a lot of ground that I’d already done two years previously. I impatiently waited for two years until this year, finally, the Hebridean Way was officially opened and I set off to do the trail in the opposite direction to that in 2015 and later in the year so I would have a different perspective.

The Hebridean Way ends (usually, but starts in my case) at Lews Castle in Stornoway (the last section to the Butt of Lewis is awaiting further funding), so once I reached Stornoway, mid-afternoon during the quiet Lewis Sabbath, I walked through the empty streets of Stornoway into the Castle grounds and up to Lews Castle. I had expected some sort of memorial or marker to signify the Hebridean Way, but finding none I turned around and headed through the delightful Castle grounds disappointed that there seemed to be no sign of the Hebridean Way. After passing the edge of Stornoway Golf Course, the path improved immensely as it passed through lovely wild-looking woodland scenery beside a pleasant stream. It is a pity that the rest of the Hebrides does not have the abundance of trees that are to be found in the Castle Grounds. After passing the Stornoway Water Mill I climbed out of the Castle Grounds fully expecting to find a signpost for the Hebridean Way directing walkers towards the Castle, but I was once again disappointed in the absence of any signage.

The trail now deteriorated as I followed a road out of Stornoway and at the start of the Pentland Road I finally came across a sign for the Hebridean Way directing me out onto the wild, bleak Lewis moor, but on a tarmac road. After turning left towards Achmore I camped at the bridge over the Abhainn Ghrioda waking to hazy sunshine and mist covering the moor. A horrendous, midge-infested breakfast in the still weather and a fraught pack-up of my dew-saturated tent ensured that when I finally set off on my first full day on the Hebridean Way I was cursing my wisdom in camping on the midge-infested Lewis moor. Once I’d set off the midges were left behind, so I was finally able to calm down and resume my walk along the road with some interest added to the surroundings by the sight of old shielings, abandoned summer dwellings, beside the road with some showing signs of repair. As I made my way along the road the early sunshine faded so that by the time I reached the township of Achmore the weather was overcast as it would continue to be for the rest of the day.

After passing through Achmore I turned down a lane past the local water treatment works to discover the rather novel method of construction used for the path of the Hebridean Way at this point: two parallel trenches are dug and the turf piled up in the middle. This provided a not-always dry path through the boggy moorland that was very tiring to walk upon as the path crossed the Allt nan Torcan burn before climbing over Oidreabhal, down to the Allt nan Each, up Stѐiseal, down to cross the burn between Loch na h-Airigh Uir and Dubh Loch Steishal, up Cnoc Mòr Shòbhail, across the burn between Dubh Loch Shòbhail and Loch na h-Airigh Uir, across the burn between Loch na Spereig and Loch Eastapair and finally up Beinn Ceadraiseal. By the time I came down the last hill I was exhausted and thankful to have come across a good gravel path after the tiring, and often boggy, turf path. Heather is in flower at this time of the year and what I saw of it on the moor was a welcome sight, but the ground was unfortunately too wet for an extensive blanket covering of heather as can be seen in place like the North York Moors.

On reaching the main road in Laxay I now had to follow the road south, but just before I reached Balallan I came across a sign showing the Hebridean Way coming off the moors. Flummoxed, I turned onto this track following it north until the trail turns off to climb to the top of Cnoc a’ Ghille Ruaidh Mhòir. This diversion is not mentioned on the Visit Outer Hebrides website, but is in the Cicerone guidebook and other sources. With views across the Laxay valley a good gravel path heads downhill to reach the main road at the Laxay Bridge where I had earlier failed to spot the signpost. Resolving to be more observant and not rely on the website's GPS waymarks, I retraced my steps along this path until I eventually returned to the main road just outside Balallan. After more road walking through the sprawling township of Balallan I came across a Hebridean Way signpost that seemed to be pointing in the wrong direction, coming off the moor and onto the road ahead of me. I think the signpost was wrong. Heading out onto the moor once again I found signs of peat cutting, but no sign of the path heading north.

This was where I’d camped two years ago and enjoyed a lovely evening in windy, sunny weather, whereas now I turned left at a junction just after passing Loch Craoibhe where a Hebridean Way sign directed me west onto a particularly boggy and rough section of turf path. To be fair the Visit Outer Hebrides website says this section is closed so I was not surprised to see that the path is in need of work at this point and that I had some difficulty determining the correct route around Loch Cuthaig. By the time I reached a track at the far end of this closed section I decided that it was time to stop, so just after turning right at a junction I made camp only to be immediately attacked by midges again. This was a really tough day with some difficult moorland walking on uneven, sometimes boggy ground while my rucksack throughout the day weighed heavily on my back. I had thought the Hebridean Way would be comprised of easy footpaths, but I had soon discovered that this is not an easy trail to walk and also that it is not reliably signposted. I had been really tired going into this holiday and was looking forward to an easy holiday, but instead I found plagues of killer midges and boggy turf paths. This was going to be a tough fortnight.