The Machair Way

Saturday 6th June 2015

After a wet and windy night spent at the Kilbride Campsite where I surprisingly got a good night's sleep despite some people in the campsite thinking my tent was going to blow away in the night. With the windy weather continuing I set off along the grass verge between the road and the sea along the south coast of South Uist. A faint path in the verge led me to the Pollachar Inn where a signpost pointed north beside the west coast of the island along the Machair Way. For the whole rest of the day I would be following this trail, unfortunately this was the only sign for the Machair Way that I saw on my walk beside the coast so I had no help in finding my way. At first I had a clear path to follow with the sun shining brightly and a strong wind coming off the sea that made the walking more difficult but with stunning views out to sea that were more dramatic due to the wind-churned waves. On the land I encountered several occasional artefacts of an earlier age starting with a standing stone near the signpost that had directed me onto the Machair Way.

Apart from the strong winds the weather was good most of the day, but occasionally heavy showers came over that forced me to put my waterproofs on only for the rain to stop soon after and with the sun coming back out again I soon had to take those waterproofs off. This was really annoying by the end of the day and ultimately didn’t endear me to a walk that was long and tiring despite being on the flat grasslands of the west coast of South Uist that are known as machair. These grasslands are highly fertile so are used extensively for farming with cattle on some sections or ploughed for crops in other areas. In the summer the machair is covered in flowers and when I was in South Uist four years ago I had a spectacular display of wildflowers particularly clover, buttercups and daisies. That was just a month later in the year but was a much better display than I got on this walk which was disappointing for me as I think more flowers on this walk would have enlivened the long trek.

As I made my way north it was difficult to decide the right way to go as there was no coherent path along the way. Occasionally I would be able to follow a farmer’s track but all too soon this would swing back inland and I had to find a pathless route through the dunes or on the western edge of the machair. Whenever I felt prompted to go down onto the beach I was buffeted by strong winds and assailed by the stench of rotting seaweed that at times was overpowering and forced me back inland. After several hour's walking I thought I must be near an archaeological feature marked on maps as an Aisled House, or a wheelhouse. I couldn’t find any trace of it, but an internet search now says there is little trace of it on the ground so it’s probably not surprising that I missed it. Instead I followed a track that headed inland across the machair to Daliburgh where a Co-op provided me with food for lunch and for the next few days.

The weather was good at this time and I had a lovely, sunny walk on this extensive diversion, but on my way back to the coast I had the wind right in my face so ultimately this also wasn’t very pleasant. The diversion had taken me more than an hour and when I finally resumed my trek north with a much heavier rucksack I was a lot more tired and hardly stopped when I reached a well-signposted roundhouse that is marked on maps as Taighean Cruinn Cladh Hàlainn. This sunken ring of stones did little to excite me and as I headed away from it I was actually more excited by the prospect of coming to the northern edge of my first map, even if my excitement was dampened by the knowledge that I had another four maps to go. After finding my way through a golf course (fortunately the strong winds had kept the golfers away) I found a better track that took me through the dunes and north beside the coast. The afternoon progressed much as the morning had with a clear track to follow for only some of the time and often I had to find my own way.

I felt like I had been walking for hours but was making little progress on the map and this was getting me frustrated as the time seemed to be advancing quickly but my destination seemed to be still a long way away. After an age I realised that the path I was following was turning west towards the rocky promontory of Rudha Aird a’ Mhuile. I had walked around this headland four years ago and was in no mood to extend my walk now so when I could I turned and headed inland on a clear track until near Loch Bhornais I turned north again along another clear track. I had had enough of this walk by now and just wanted it to end as quickly as possible. Instead of trying to stay beside the coast, even when there wasn’t a track to follow, I decided I would stay on tracks all the way even when they veered far from the beach. So it was that with wearying legs I struggled on with an increasingly heavier rucksack and yet a grim determination to reach the youth hostel at Howmore even if it killed me.

Despite the weather throwing another heavy rain shower at me that forced me to put my waterproofs on again (and had me shouting at the rain!), I soldiered on until eventually I reached a road near Stoneybridge. On paper I thought this was going to be an easy day with a gentle stroll along the flat machair grassland, but the strong winds and the lack of a clear path had made it very tiring. This walk took me a long time so that by the time I collapsed in the Howmore Youth Hostel I was really tired, but happy to see at the hostel the Italian guy who I’d last seen in Castlebay on the Isle of Barra. He’d had a much easier journey than me as he hadn’t walked the whole way. The weather on this walk was both good and bad. Bright sunshine had accompanied me for much of the day, but so had strong winds that occasionally brought heavy rain. By the time I reached the hostel I was so weary I was in pain and could barely stand straight, though oddly as soon as I took my rucksack off I felt as light as a feather and immediately bounded off to the local post office only to find that it had shut several years ago. This was a long, tiring walk beside a smelly beach against strong winds. I’m sorry I didn’t enjoy it.

Eriskay

Friday 5th June 2015

When I got up on this morning it was chucking it down with rain and it was still raining when I got off the bus at North Bay, the point that I’d reached on my Hebridean trek the day before. I had planned on spending the morning exploring the northern end of the Isle of Barra around the village of Eoligarry, but in the view of the weather I just walked along the road. I was already beginning to feel fed up with walking along roads at this point on my holiday and unfortunately it would not get any better. Despite the rain this wasn’t a bad little walk along the road as Barra is a beautiful island with many wild flowers growing beside the road including bright yellow marsh-marigolds in the drainage ditches and bluebells under the trees. I was disappointed to be leaving the Isle of Barra so soon and was particularly disappointed that the weather had not been better for me. I had hoped to walk along the enormous beach of Tràigh Mhòr that is so big it has a permanent airfield on the sands, but when I got to the southern tip I found that the tide was in so I just headed straight to the ferry terminal and sheltered there from the rain for an hour until the ferry came.

It was still raining when the ferry left Barra, but when I got off the ferry on the Isle of Eriskay it had stopped raining and the sun was coming out. After a horrible morning the afternoon was fabulous as Eriskay basked in bright sunshine that was glorious to behold even though it was windy. Not far from the ferry terminal is an impressive beach called Coilleag a’ Phrionnsa (the Prince’s Strand), where Bonnie Prince Charlie first landed on British soil. This is a fabulous beach so as soon as I got off the ferry I took my waterproofs off and wandered along the beach enjoying the sunshine and continued around the headland to more gorgeous beaches on this north-western corner of Eriskay. I took loads of pictures and spent ages just gazing in awe at the view out to sea across the Sound of Eriskay to South Uist and back towards Barra. In the sunshine these beaches seemed extra special and I didn’t want to leave them, but eventually I climbed up into the town (Am Baile) and had my lunch.

Since I had not explored the northern end of Barra I now had plenty of time to explore Eriskay, so after having lunch I wandered through the town and climbed up the hillside past a football pitch that has been recognised by FIFA as one of eight unique places to play the game in the world, even though the pitch is rather bumpy. The stunning views continued as I climbed up to the road and followed it south eventually taking a track on the left to a water treatment plant. Behind the plant there is supposed to be a line of wooden posts that mark a route across the hillside, but just as on Vatersay I found that they were few and far between with no clear path. I had no intention of following the marker posts all the way as I had my eyes on Beinn Sgritheann, the highest point on Eriskay, so after following the seemingly randomly-located posts for a while I abandoned them and made my own way steeply up a rake to the top of Beinn Sgritheann.

The views from the top were simply amazing as Eriskay is a small island so I had sea all around me which reminded me of when in a movie a person who is stranded on a deserted island climbs to the highest point. The blue skies made the sea a gorgeous deep blue colour that made the view even more astonishing and mesmerising, but the strong winds prompted me to not linger at the top so I soon started to head down the hill in a north-easterly direction towards Rosinish Point. This was a thoroughly enjoyable descent in great weather with amazing sea views ahead of me across the spot where the SS Politician sank on 5th February 1941 while carrying more than 250,000 bottles of scotch whisky. After passing the abandoned village of Rosinish I came down to the beach opposite the island of Calvay which is almost joined to Eriskay by a crescent shaped sand spit. This is where the SS Politician went down, but unfortunately there’s no sign of it now, or its whisky.

Since there was no whisky galore I made my way onto an old road which led me onto a modern road past modern houses and back to the township of Eriskay. I couldn’t believe how good the weather was for this walk once I had gotten off the ferry. The contrast was astonishing, where Barra had been wet, grey and miserable, Eriskay was sunny and warm with blue skies surrounded by a deep blue sea. At the end of the day I reluctantly left the island of Eriskay and walked across the causeway to the island of South Uist. Weather does play an important part in how enjoyable the walking is going to be, but ultimately all it does is improve the views and the pictures that I take of that view. The weather cannot add what isn’t there, but on this day the Isle of Eriskay was able to show itself in the best light returning stunning views that are hard to beat anywhere in the country.