Through West Harris to Berneray

Thursday 24th August 2017

I woke at the start of this day to perfect conditions beside Luskentyre beach on the Isle of Harris with bright sunshine and blue skies that promised me an excellent day’s walk, but the reality proved to be a lot tougher than I anticipated. Two years ago I walked through West Harris following the road almost all the way from Leverburgh, but now I was following the newly opened Hebridean Way in the opposite direction along a course that keeps off the road for most of the day. I didn’t know what this stage of the trail was going to be like, and it didn’t start very well as I couldn’t find it. There was no signpost marking the point where the Hebridean Way heads off into the hills so I had to use the GPS waypoint from the visitouterhebrides.co.uk website that took me through an unmarked gate and uphill towards a wooden post bearing the Hebridean Way logo but no footpath linking them, and this was to be the pattern for the whole of the day. I love to walk on a good, well-made footpath, but I didn’t get that on this walk, and instead I had to make my own way between the wooden posts that stretched across the bleak, rough moorland.

Initially I was climbing very steeply with stunning views behind me across Tràigh Losgaintir, that is the Luskentyre sands, a tidal saltmarsh that includes beaches considered to be some of the best in the country. They were looking fabulous in the sunny weather but I was more concerned with struggling to get up the hillside keeping to the rock outcrops, interspersed amongst the heather for easier walking until eventually the gradient eased and I followed wooden posts across a rough terrain that was very tough to walk upon even though the gradient was never again as severe as at the beginning. Heather and tussocky grass dominated as I dropped down into Gleann Sheileboist, up over the headland, down into Gleann Horgaboist, uphill again and across a broad, complex, undulating landscape slowly making my way south-west. The whole time was spent constantly looking for these wooden posts as there was no sign of a path on the ground, and I didn’t always find them. Sometimes I just had to blindly set off in what I thought was the right direction until eventually I spotted the next post hopefully in the direction I was going.

This form of walking was very tiring and took many hours to do even though the distance was not great. The good weather slowly deteriorated during the day, clouding over at lunchtime so that the good views that I had enjoyed in the morning were soon a distant memory, and by the time I finally came back onto the road it was raining. At first it had been an interesting challenge to pick the best route between the posts, having a moment of elation on reaching a post before searching for the next one and selecting the best route through the complex terrain that would take me to the post. But, after a couple of hours I eventually lost interest in that game as the strenuous walking dragged on into the afternoon. Later in the walk the Hebridean Way followed a line of old dykes (heather covered earth walls), that must have been created many years ago to channel water away from the farmland.

At this time of the year these dykes were covered in purple-flowering heather that stood out against the predominately grassy landscape, but also made it impossible for me to walk on top of the dykes so I had to try and walk below, which was usually boggy and not easy. Eventually the route turned downhill through farmland to reach the road near Scaristavore where I encountered two people walking the Hebridean Way in the opposite direction. They were full of horrors about the trail to Leverburgh and I was not complementary about the path that I just been on. Signposts direct walkers onto the beach, but the visitouterhebrides.co.uk website advocates keeping to the road. Following the signposts I headed out onto the dunes in worsening weather at double-quick time as I was in no mood to linger. When I was at this point Two years ago the weather had been great and I was able to spend some time on this fabulous golden beach enjoying the views, but now I was thankful to reach a sign that took me back onto the road.

After a short spell of road-walking I took a clear path that heads uphill towards the pass between Maodal and Bolabhal Sgarasta, but after a wickedly short distance this good path disappeared and I was left to fend for myself with occasional posts once again attempting to guide my way. Occasionally a turf path would appear to provide me with slightly dryer, but precarious, walking over the pass and it wasn’t long before it started to rain heavily so when the turf path disappeared I felt as if I'd been abandoned to the terrible weather with no sign of a post to guide me or any other indication of the route. Through the pouring rain I made my way across the saturated ground into Gleann Uachdrach desperately trying to head in the right direction despite the poor visibility until eventually through the murky weather I glimpsed a bridge over the Abhainn Horsa-cleit and beyond the turf path reappeared to take me through the boggy ground as the rain gradually eased while I passed Loch na Moracha and eventually reached the road. This traverse over the pass was a nightmare, in heavy rain, on turf paths that are never going to be dry, when the weather is this bad. By the time I dragged myself into Leverburgh it was late, and I was weary after many hours of strenuous walking through rough moorland on non-existent paths.

This whole day was a nightmare, so by the time I had crossed the Sound of Harris on the ferry to Berneray I was beyond exhausted. As I picked the ticks out of my legs from the day spent walking through tall heather I decided that I needed a rest the next day. The weather was good the following day and I had a relaxing walk around the beautiful island of Berneray, up Beinn Shlèibhe and down the gorgeous west beach whose white sands must rank as the best in the country. My walk through West Harris had been like walking through hell with the lack of a path making it very strenuous and time-consuming, however in ten years’ time I’m sure the route of the Hebridean Way through West Harris will be a lot easier as a path will have been trampled into the ground making the route much clearer, but right now this is a very difficult stage of the trail. I was completely worn out by this stage and appreciated the chance to recover on the delightful island of Berneray, so that after my day’s rest I was thoroughly refreshed and able to resume my trek along the Hebridean Way.

The Harris Walkway

Wednesday 23rd August 2017

It had started to rain before I went to sleep and it was still raining when I got up for this walk. Overnight a tremendous storm had passed overhead bringing flooding to many parts of the Western Isles, and it was still raining when I packed up my tent while midges continued their onslaught. I walked the short distance to the small ferry terminal at Tarbert on the Isle of Harris and wondered whether it was worth resuming my progress along the Hebridean Way. I considered backtracking to the youth hostel at Rhenigidale and waiting out the rain, but then I got a glimpse of the weather forecast in the tourist information centre and I was told it was going to be sunny. This seemed highly unlikely, but on that basis and while it was still raining I set off out of Tarbert along the road soon turning off onto the waymarked path for the Hebridean Way, which coincides at this point with the route for the well-established Harris Walkway, a trail that was opened in 2001 whereas the Hebridean Way was opened just this year.

I was keen to follow this new trail even though I’d already walked sections of it before, two years ago, including the Harris Walkway, which helped with navigation as I could retrace my steps even where the signage was not so helpful. It wasn’t long before the rain stopped and gradually during the morning the weather slowly improved as I made my way along a great path that runs beside Loch Ceann Dibig until I reached the road at Meavag. Just before reached the small harbour I crossed a river that was heavily swollen by the overnight rain, resulting in heavy torrents crashing down the hillside and under the bridge that was standing on. After an extended section of road walking during which the sun came out I reached the delightfully named Loch Phlocrapoil where an excellent path heads west across the fabulous rock and heather Harris landscape.

These paths gave me a fabulously enjoyable walk in the improving weather with fantastic views over the glorious West Harris scenery. Despite the heavy overnight rain this well-made path was relatively dry and is a resounding testament to the people who many years ago built this ancient path. Following a section between Loch na Cro and Grosebay along a quiet road I headed back out along this awesome walkway along paths that snaked past beautiful Loch Mhic Neacail and climbed steeply to afford me with some stunning views across this fabulous landscape. After the poor weather that I had suffered during the previous couple of days I felt I was really fortunate to have good weather for my walk through this fabulous landscape. Two years ago I also enjoyed walking along the Harris Walkway in improving weather, but since I had done that walk in the opposite direction I was now seeing different parts at its best as the afternoon progressed. When the path slowly started to descend towards the township of Kyles Stockinish I turned right and headed north along another great section through a gap in the rocks beside a derelict building until eventually I reached a road.

After turning left towards Ardvey I turned right off the road at a T-junction and onto a path over Cnoc Biorach where I encountered my first person also walking the Hebridean Way. Since I was going in the ‘wrong’ direction I had assumed that I would come across loads of people heading north with their backs to the prevailing wind, but until this point I had seen no one. After a long chat about our experiences on the trail I set off once again and turning right at Ceann a’ Bhàigh I started to climb over the coffin route. This was the path that coffins used to take from the rough, unyielding lands of the south coast over the hills and down to the cemeteries on the grassier lands of the north coast. After an initial boggy section the path became very well-maintained as it climbed past the swollen Loch Creabhat and over the top of the pass to reveal the fabulous view of the Luskentyre sands in the far distance. Two years ago I camped at the northern end of the coffin route overlooking the sands, but now the grassy patch where I had previously camped was covered with a beautiful display of many differently coloured wild flowers so it would be a travesty to camp there.

There is an excellent view at that point across the sands with the island of Taransay in the background and I was keen to get a closer look, so I made my way down to the main road and up the minor road towards Luskentyre until I reached a spot right next to the sands where I could pitch my tent with a great view across the estuary as the tide slowly came in and enveloped the sands. This day saw me walking along some fabulous paths in some tremendous weather. When the day started I had been feeling really down about the terrible weather that seemed to have plagued me for the last year, but the turnaround throughout the course of the day was amazing. I was able to enjoy walking along fabulous ancient paths that people in the Outer Hebrides have walked along for hundreds of years and is now part of, not only the Harris Walkway, but also the Hebridean Way. The landscape on the Isle of Harris is some of the best to be found anywhere and I was overjoyed that I was able to experience it once again in great weather. From a saturated, midge-infested camp spot I was now camped in a great location, in the dry and finally clear of midges.