Aline Wood and into Harris

Tuesday 22nd August 2017

After my first full day on the Hebridean Way I had been met by the harsh realities of the Lewis Moor as I was attacked my midges while the rain poured on me. The weather had deteriorated during the course of that first day so that when I got up for my second full day on the trail it was raining, as it had done for most of the night, and it continued to rain throughout the day with only a temporary easing during the afternoon. While being eaten alive by midges I packed up my sodden tent and set off along the Hebridean Way, a new long distance trail that has recently been opened and runs the length of the Western Isles from Vatersay in the south to Stornoway in the north. Since I’d already walked the length of the Outer Hebrides in that direction, two years before, I was doing the trail in the opposite direction starting from Stornoway and after my second night I had reached a point just east of the township of Balallan on the Isle of Lewis. Setting off along the Hebridean Way I soon came across a turf path, which is a simple method of constructing a path through boggy moorland by digging two parallel ditches and piling the turf in between.

I had encountered turf paths the day before and once again, on this long stretch around Loch Stranndabhat, I was walking on this uneven sometimes boggy path through bleak, featureless moorland in the pouring rain. Occasionally a blessed gravel path appeared where the ground was rocky and the trenches could not be dug and on those occasions I was able to walk a lot quicker than on the precarious and uneven turf. Through the rain I slowly made my way around Loch Stranndabhat until I eventually reached the main road, near Arivruaich, at the point where two years previously I had ventured onto the moor trying to follow the Hebridean Way, but after a short distance I find an abandoned digger and no sign of the path beyond, which was clearly yet to be constructed. It was good to now be able to see and walk along the constructed Hebridean Way following it all the way when previously I had been unable. After a short distance along the road I turned off onto an old section of road that moves quite a distance away from the modern road and provided me with a quiet and relaxing walk through the drizzly landscape.

A wooden boardwalk appeared as I approached the Aline Community Woodland that provided me with a wonderful walk through the wood beside the Abhainn Ruadh river. This well-made path took me onto a wide stony track that I remembered coming down two years ago, so I turned right and climbed beside the thundering waters of the river that was swollen by the rains. After crossing the river the path narrowed onto a recently constructed section that hadn’t been there previously and was a pleasure to walk upon through the light, almost negligible rain up the valley and past the conifer plantations that lie in small groups either side of the river. This was an enjoyable walk despite the grey, murky weather as I slowly made my way uphill on the excellent stony path eventually leaving the woodland and climbing to the top of Griamacleit. Two years ago I had followed surveyor’s posts down this hill, but now I had an excellent path to follow that snakes all the way up to the top of the hill where good weather provides excellent views north across the Isle of Lewis and south to the hills of Harris. Two years ago I had been able to enjoy the views from this point, but unfortunately I didn’t have much in the way of views on this occasion.

On the other side of the hill the gravel path slowly descends back down to a section of old road not far from the main road beside Loch Ghille Chiopain. Beyond that point, except for occasional bits of old road, I now had to walk beside the main road as I headed into the Isle of Harris, the hillier part of the long island that comprises the isles of Lewis and Harris, and through Bowglass and Ardvourlie with views to my left along the extensive fiord of Loch Seaforth. When I eventually reached the start of the Harris Walkway I was hopeful that this pre-existing trail had received a makeover following its adoption into the Hebridean Way as previously I had found it to be very boggy in places, particularly on this initial section. Sadly after an early promise I found that the path was just as boggy as before which is really annoying as the Harris Walkway could be an excellent trail if only it was properly maintained. The path climbed into the beautiful Harris Hills just as the weather began to improve with the rain finally stopping, though the views were still poor and marred any chance I may have had of seeing Clisham, the highest hill in the Western Isles. The boggy path climbed up through a pass between Cleit Àrd and Tomnabhal to eventually reach another section of old road.

After crossing the modern road I took a turning to the left onto the road that heads to Màraig and Rhenigidale where there is a great youth hostel and it was very tempting for me to divert onto the road that would take me all the way to this hostel. However, this is not on the Hebridean Way and would involve bypassing the path over Bràigh an Ruisg and beside Lochannan Lacasdail, a path that I was keen to do since I'd never been on it before. I was also running short of food and needed to visit the shops in Tarbert, so with huge regret at missing the hostel I turned off the road and took the path up to the top of the pass. The condition of this path underfoot was much better than on the earlier section of the Harris Walkway and the temporarily dry weather enabled me to really enjoy this path as it climbs to the top of the pass and suddenly reveals a stunning view down Gleann Lacasdail with the loch stretching out towards the sea at the southern end. Blue skies would have made this view better, but it was still a pleasure to walk along this gorgeous path all the way down the valley until I eventually reached the road at the southern end of the loch.

By now it was late afternoon, the heavy rucksack was troubling me and I was beginning to get really tired, so when I found a place to stop I pitched my tent, but as soon as I stopped walking the midges descended on me in droves. I was not going to be sorry to see the end of the midges on this walk as they had been plaguing me ever since I started to walk through Lewis and Harris. The usually strong Hebridean winds were absent which was encouraging the wee beasties to come out and have a feast on poor, weary walkers such as myself. After pitching my tent I walked the short distance into Tarbert where I got some food and headed back to the midges. Despite the poor weather, and the midges, this was a better day than before as once I had got over the tricky turf path at the start of the day I had the pleasure of walking along some excellent paths. The paths in the Aline Community Woodland are particularly good and make me wish that the whole of the Hebridean Way was up to that standard. The highlight of the day was being back amongst the wonderful Harris landscape after the dreary, flat Lewis moorland; it was just great being amongst the fabulous hills of Harris again.

Achmore and Balallan

Sunday 20th and Monday 21st August 2017

After visiting the Outer Hebrides in 2015 I immediately started to plan 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 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 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 me with 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 places 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.