The South Uist Machair

Tuesday 29th August 2017

This was the third time that I have walked across the machair of South Uist, the coastal plains that provide rich farmland for the locals and also a rich tapestry of meadows that are covered in wild flowers in the summer and are a wonderful kaleidoscope of colours entrancing the eye with every step. When I first visited the Outer Hebrides, in 2011, I walked from the Howmore Hostel as far as Daliburgh where I caught a bus back. In 2015, while making my way north along the length of the Western Isles I followed the coast up, but by the time I reached Howmore I was really tired even though this should be an easy stage of the Hebridean Way. There are no hills and the way keeps to good tracks all the way so it is a mystery why I found this walk so tough last time. On that occasion, I didn’t know the actual route of the Hebridean Way, so I had made up my own route as I went along, but as it turns out I was pretty much on the actual route. Now, two years later, I was retracing my steps all the way along the coast between the extensive beach to my right, looking out over the mighty Atlantic, and the broad machair grasslands to my left. I think the problem I had in 2015 was with my navigation despite how surprising that sounds with the sea always by my side, though that philosophy took me onto some very rough paths as I wandered around quite a bit.

Soon after I leaving Howmore on this walk I immediately went the wrong way, going straight on to a quiet road where the Hebridean Way turns right after crossing the Abhainn Ròg. Once I’d realised my mistake I decided that from then on I would keep strictly to the Hebridean Way and not veer from it at any moment, however the signage is not great so I had to make frequent use of GPS waypoints to ensure that I kept to the route that doesn’t always keep to the coast, but often takes a route along farm tracks through the machair. The weather was quite good for this walk with long spells of sunshine that made for a pleasant day, despite the strong winds coming off the sea, with easy going tracks that enabled me to keep up a swift pace while appreciating the surrounding machair. There are few fences to interrupt the extensive views over the machair plains that are sympathetically farmed to benefit the environment with large tracts just left to go wild. After many miles I reached a signpost that directed me onto the beach that for most of the morning the Hebridean Way had been staying away from.

Now I took a sandy track through the dunes and onto the beach where despite the strong winds I had a wonderful stroll under blue skies over the white sands. Behind the dunes is a gold course that must rank as being one of the most spectacular, undoubtedly windiest, course anywhere in the country. It is this that had forced the Hebridean Way off the machair and onto the beach or along the edge of the dunes. After walking many miles over the machair, this was a nice change of scene, but I tired of it long before I eventually reached the marker that took me off the beach and past some ancient roundhouses. The day before, when I’d stopped at the Co-op in Creagorry, I had tried to buy enough food to take me all the way to Castlebay, but it wasn’t long before I realised that I had forgotten to buy the oatcakes that I eat with both my breakfast and my lunch. In 2015 I had diverted from the coast to the Co-op in Daliburgh, which is something that I had been trying to avoid this time, but without consciously making the decision my feet failed to keep to the trail and instead I headed towards Daliburgh. Looking at how much further I had to walk I realised that I had been making such good time I could afford to waste an hour walking all the way to Daliburgh before heading all the way back.

Returning to the point where I left the Hebridean Way I took the turning that I had earlier missed to resume my trek along the Hebridean Way swiftly making my way south through the machair battling against the strong winds until I mercifully turned the corner onto the south coast of South Uist and put the winds onto my back. Two years ago I had taken a route between the sea and the back of the Polochar Inn, but the Hebridean Way goes around the inn following the road, presumably to stop people walking past the inn as I did two years ago. In order to keep strictly to the Hebridean Way I now followed the road and headed along the coast past the camp site that I had stayed at previously (showing that I must have been walking significantly quicker than I had two years ago) and all the way along the road until I reached the Eriskay causeway. The good weather finally failed just before I reached the causeway with a short, heavy downpour that saturated me before I could get my waterproofs on. The strong winds continued on the mile long crossing of the causeway with more showers following so that by the time I reached Eriskay I just wanted to find somewhere to shelter from the wind.

Climbing over the mound to my left as soon as I reached the island I dropped down away the road onto a heavily overgrown spit of land that looks out over the Sound of Eriskay and there I threw up my tent. This walk could best be described as a march where I tried to take advantage of the smooth surface under foot to cover as many miles as I could even though the walk the previous day had already worn me out. My feet was aching at the end of that day, but they were thankfully much better when I got up in the morning; however the long walk here did nothing to help. I was once again really tired when I reached Eriskay with my legs and feet now in agony. I had gone into this holiday expecting it to be easy because I wasn’t going up any mountains, but instead I was finding it to be really tough, which surprised me. I had pushed myself on this walk, and although it had been enjoyable it had taken a heavy toll on me, so that I was relieved at the thought that the end of the Hebridean Way was now only a couple of days away.