The Road to Balallan

Sunday 14th June 2015

When I awoke at the Rhenigidale Youth Hostel on this day it was to fantastic sunshine. I had been in Scotland for almost two weeks and I had not seen such good weather in all that time; I could hardly believe it could be this good. The weather had been very poor on the first week of my holiday, but for this second week of my holiday there had hardly been any rain with the weather simply getting better day by day until the fabulous weather that I was now enjoying on my second weekend in Scotland, unfortunately the weather would deteriorate as I moved into my third week. Due to its isolated location, when I left the hostel I had only two routes to choose from. There was the old postman’s path west to Tarbert that I had taken the day before or the modern road north, and since north has been my ultimate objective throughout this holiday then it was along the road that I started the day. I would end up spending most of the day walking alongside roads, which should have made for a poor day, but the day held far more interest that you would have thought.

The road out of Rhenigidale was pleasant to walk along in the warm weather as I passed several small lochs before descending steeply to Loch Mhàraig, an inlet of Loch Seaforth, before climbing to the main road below the imposing bulk of An Cliseam, the highest hill on the whole chain of islands that make up the Outer Hebrides. I walked up An Cliseam when I was on the Isle of Harris in 2011 and as I now walked past this hill under glorious blue skies I longed to abandon my trek up the length of the Outer Hebrides and once more walk up An Cliseam exploring all the fabulous hills of Harris. Instead I resumed my walk along the Harris Walkway that I had started the day before by taking a track that comes off the road below the radio masts on Gormul Màraig. This is the final section, the northern tip of the Harris Walkway, but unfortunately it isn’t in a very good condition and is a poor reflection on the excellent sections of the walkway in South Harris. At one time I’m sure this was a great, well-made track, but it is now in need of maintenance as poor drainage has made the route very boggy in places. The poor state of the path was compensated by the stunning scenery with the awesome Harris hills looming spectacularly to my left while the long, narrow Loch Seaforth glistening in the distance to my right.

Eventually, and tragically with relief, I finally reached the end of the Harris Walkway beside the road above the valley of Gleann Sgaladail where I now had no alternative but to walk beside the road over the bridge that spans the Abhainn Sgaladail. After passing the Scaladale Centre I was able to walk along the remains of the older narrow road from before the present straighter, wider, two-lane road was built. This enabled me to keep off the road until I reached the car park at Bowglas where I could stop, have my lunch and consider my next direction. On this holiday I had taken my inspiration from two different sources, and was consequently always picking between two different routes up the Hebrides. Peter Clarke’s book, "The Timeless Way", describes a walk along the length of the Western Isles and suggests taking a track from Bowglas across the northern slopes of the Harris hills before descending to the bogs of the Morsgail Forest past Kinlochresort. However, by this point in my holiday I was beginning to feel like I just wanted to get to my destination, the Butt of Lewis, as soon as possible, so instead I decided try and find the route of the new long distance path currently under construction, the Hebridean Way.

That meant staying on the road into the Isle of Lewis, which you would expect would mean crossing the sea channel between the islands but that is not the case. Not far from Bowglas, and with a spectacular view south down Loch Seaforth I crossed a small bridge over a tiny stream and suddenly I was greeted with a sign saying welcome to the Isle of Lewis. The reasons why they are considered as two islands are lost in history, but suffice to say that I was now on my ninth and last inhabited island of my Hebridean trek. On the outskirts of the Aline Community Woodland I discovered a wide, gravel path under construction that plunged into the wood climbing the steep hillside. Convinced that this was the new Hebridean Way I eagerly set off up the path wondering where it would lead me, despite starting to get a bit concerned with the path’s unrelenting climb. I was afraid this path would abandon me at the top of a hill beside a new communications tower, and eventually it did bring me to the top of Griamacleit with spectacular views overlooking the wood and the Harris hills behind me, but it was also the end of the path. The contrast between the hilly Isle of Harris behind me and the much flatter moorland of the Isle of Lewis was clearly to be seen from this excellent vantage point and more than compensated for me being abandoned by the path.

After looking out over my surroundings for a while I eventually saw a series of red and white survey posts heading back down the hill that seemed to indicate the continuation of the path, so with renewed confidence that I was actually on the Hebridean Way I followed the pasts down the heathery hillside back into the Aline Woodland. A rough walk through felled woodland beside the Abhainn Ruadh brought me to a makeshift bridge over the river and the top of a pre-existing woodland path known as Steep Stag Hill. This good track was a pleasure to walk along as it took me through the woodland beside a river almost as far as the road where I took another path, the West Board Walk heading north, which brought me to the car park for the Aline Community Woodland. Soon after leaving the woodland I went onto a section of the old road where a new path is being built to link it with the pre-existing paths in the Aline Woodland. Excited that I had found the route of the new Hebridean Way I set off along this old road enjoying the sense of isolation as this old road keeps a sizable distance from the modern road and made for a pleasurable walk through the stunning Lewis moor until I eventually reached the township of Arivruaich.

On the outskirts I saw a sign that actually mentioned footpath construction and so after my success in the Aline Community Woodland I excitedly set off along this new path, only to have it stop a short distance from the gate. I attempted to follow a route beyond but came across so many barbed wire fences for the crofts of Arivruaich that I eventually made my way back onto the road and dejectedly set off along the road to Balallan. Following this failure I had lost my heart for further exploration and since I could see no further sign of construction I concluded that there wasn’t any yet. As I made my way into Balallan I decided that despite a large amount of road walking the sunshine and stunning views had made this a great day. The great weather continued into the evening as I took a peat road out of Balallan to a spot where I could camp beside Loch na Craoibhe with stunning views across the Lewis moor.

The Harris Walkway

Saturday 13th June 2015

I woke up at the start of this day overlooking Luskentyre Sands, which has been voted the best beach in the UK, so I couldn’t resist a quick trip back down to the edge of the vast sandy bay before setting off. Beside the road, on the southern edge of the sands, near the township of Seilebost, is a sign marking the start of the Harris Walkway, which was to be my objective for this walk. However that was the only time that I found any sign that specifically mentions the walkway even though there are plenty of signposts along the route. Once I had packed up my tent I set off along a track that soon became a well-constructed footpath and passes through the Bealach Eòrabhat along a track known as the coffin route. This was the route taken by those who carried coffins from the unyielding lands of the east coast to the cemeteries of the west coast of Harris. The weather was undecided during my traverse of the coffin route with attempts at rain interspersed with flashes of sunshine, but by the time I got to the other side of the pass the sunshine had won out and so it remained, but a strong, cold, northerly wind continued throughout the rest of this glorious day.

On the other side of the pass, near Bayhead, I turned left over a hill and followed blue ringed posts that I presumed marked the route of the Harris Walkway. These signposts were a little odd, not because the places were in Gaelic (e.g. Ceann a’ Bhaigh instead of Bayhead), but that the distances were in kilometres, which is hardly ever seen in Britain where miles are the standard unit of measure on signposts. These signs took me onto the Golden Road, which follows the craggy south-eastern coast of Harris, near the head of Loch Stocanais. A short walk up the road towards a cattle grid brought me to a footpath that was an utter delight. With the sun beginning to peak through the clouds and the stunning Harris hills for a backdrop I had a fabulous walk along a clear, beautifully made path through the rock-filled Harris landscape. Harris is easily the most spectacular island in the whole chain of the Outer Hebrides, even if you don’t include the beaches of West Harris that I had walked past the day before.

The rugged, rock-covered hills are, to me, more appealing than the softer beauty of the beaches. There is a lot more to see amongst the hills and they invite exploration enticing me to climb these rock-bound monsters. I was in awe of the amazing surroundings and longed to stay in this area for the rest of my holiday so I could explore them to my hearts-content, but instead I continued along the path past delightful wildflowers including spotted-orchids. I really enjoyed walking along this wonderful path as it took a cleverly-made route through the craggy hills with views over the Stockinish Bay while the sun shone brightly overhead. Near Stockinish I turned left at a junction of paths and headed over the hill on a footpath that was just as much of a delight to walk upon, passing Loch Mhic Neacil and through more great scenery. Unfortunately this great path ended in a mud-churned field where a solitary, sorry-for-itself horse was stood at the far end.

I am not keen on animals, but I did feel sorry for this horse as whereas I could open the gate at the far end to get out, the horse couldn’t escape. After expressing my regrets to the horse I passed through the township of Grosebay and walked along a road through more of this undulating, rocky Harris landscape that is dotted with sheep, heather and lochs. Eventually another path led me to the delightfully named township of Plocrapool beside the large lake of Loch Phlocrapoil. After a quick lunch I headed north along the road with stunning views across the East Tarbet Loch and with weather that continued to be so good I couldn’t believe the views I was seeing out to sea. After passing through Drinishader I reached Meavag where I finally turned off the road onto another good path that follows the coastline of Loch Ceann Dibig until eventually I climbed up a tarmacked drive onto the main road through Harris.

After a short walk along the road I managed to find a route on an old track that kept me off the road all the way into the ferry port of Tarbet. This is where I came into the Outer Hebrides on my previous visit, in 2011, and after stocking up on food I headed along the same route that I had taken four years ago along the road to Lochannan Lacasdail. At that point I left the road and, as before, climbed the steep hillside following a path that is known as the Postman’s Road, the route that was used to get the post to the tiny settlement of Rhenigidale before the modern road was opened in 1991. It is a tiring route, especially when you are carrying all the food that you are going to be eating while staying at the hostel in Rhenigidale. A long climb eventually brought me to the top of the pass between Trolamul and Beinn Tharsuinn, and was the highest point on this holiday that I had climbed while carrying my full rucksack. On the far side of the hill is the “zig-zags”, a seemingly never-ending series of hairpin bends, and I counted eleven turns as I descended one hundred and fifty metres straight down to sea at the head of Loch Trolamaraig.

A smaller climb negotiated the rocky terrain on the other side of the sea loch before descending to a beautiful track that closely follows the coastline past the abandoned village of Garry-loteger before finally reaching Rhenigidale two and half hours after leaving Tarbet. This route to Rhenigidale was reminiscent of the paths that I had been on earlier in the day through craggy South Harris that were constructed many years ago and are a memorial to the genius that constructed them. If the new Hebridean Way can come close to matching these age-old tracks, and I would hope that it uses most of the route of the already established Harris Walkway, then it will be a long-distance path to rank with the best in Britain. The joys of the Harris Walkway is in using these old paths and while the weather has added to this walk it was the fabulous scenery and the excellent footpaths that made this the best day of my holiday.