Walking the Outer Hebrides end-to-end - virtually!

[WhitstableDave]

I've decided to carry on writing up my treadmill treks, but with an approach that should be less time-consuming than for my virtual National Trail and Isle of Arran walks.

My plan is to use Street View on my treadmill to go from the southernmost part of the Outer Hebrides to the northernmost tip. Or, to be more precise - from Vatersay to the Butt of Lewis, a distance of 169 miles perhaps, but probably a lot more!

I've chosen the Outer Hebrides for a number of reasons: It's very easy to plot routes because there are so few roads to choose from; the scenery is incredibly varied and stunningly wonderful; and it's my favourite part of the UK, if not the entire world.

We've had walking holidays in recent years on the Outer Hebrides. In 2017, we spent a week on South Uist and a week on Lewis, and in 2019, we spent a day on Lewis and a week on Harris. So we've done about 20 day walks in all.

Walking from one end of the island chain to the other means that I'll pass many areas where we walked, or I'll at least be quite close to them. So instead of using Google Street View images to illustrate the route as I did previously, I can use my own photos and even reminisce a little.   

I began the virtual walk two days ago, beginning as far south on Vatersay as possible and ending a couple of miles before the famous airport on the beach at Barra. Having never been to Barra in real life, I had to leave my first bit of reminiscing 'till today.



This morning, I continued my walk past Barra Airport and soon reached the small ferry that would take me to Eriskay. As soon as the ferry arrived I recognised where I was - we'd been at exactly the same spot in August 2017.

Back then, we were staying in a cottage at the northern end of South Uist and had driven the length of the island before crossing the mile-long causeway to Eriskay. Eriskay is, of course, immortalised in the film Whisky Galore! and we parked by The Politician (which was closed if I remember correctly). A few highlights from our walk...

Wonderful sandy beaches, fantastic views and beautiful machair:



It's not that clear from the photo, but there's a 'stations of the cross' route here that we followed to the top of a hill:



This is the view from the top of the hill. The amazing beach is where Bonnie Prince Charlie is said to have landed (there's a small monument there). Behind that is the town, with the hills of South Uist in the distance:



In the centre of this photo is a group of seals that we were very excited to see because they were the first we'd spotted on that holiday. 



On the way back north, we took a considerable diversion to have cake and coffee at the world famous Pink Cafe! 



To be continued (every couple of days or so)...

[richardh1905]

A wonderful part of the world.

[WhitstableDave]

A wonderful part of the world.

Indeed it is Richard. 

In fact, while I was treadmilling my way across Barra I knew the island would have to be our next Scottish holiday destination, perhaps combined with a week somewhere on the Uists. 

[pdstsp]

Loved our trip to Harris and Lewis a couple of years ago - wonderful place.

[WhitstableDave]

Day 3 of my treadmill trek through the Outer Hebrides took me past the remains of Flora MacDonald's house and Kildonan Museum, both of which we visited in August 2017 during a walk in the area. While these two places aren't marked on the map, they're quite close to each other a little over halfway along this morning's section.



A monument to Flora MacDonald stands in the ruins of the house where she lived for a while:



Next we headed for the coast and walked north along the amazing beach for quite a long way...



...before heading back inland past lovely lochans and across cool causeways:   



I'm fairly sure we parked by the Kildonan Museum. We had a look around then headed back to the cottage.



We did another walk that day, but further north so a report will follow later. 

[WhitstableDave]

Day 4 of my treadmill trek south to north on the Outer Hebrides took me right to the top of South Uist and within a mile of the cottage where we stayed in 2017. Quite a lot of this morning's walk looked very familiar. The kink on the route was my detour to see the cottage and where we walked nearby. 



But let's not get ahead of myself... A few miles into today's walk took me past a walk my wife and I did near Grogarry and Drimsdale. The day was wet and the walk was in a very wet area, even for South Uist!



We passed this especially magnificent cow. You can just see a leg of her suckling calf: 



Very near the 12 mile mark on the map, I passed our first ever Hebridean accommodation - Corrodale Cottage. 



Wonderful views from the garden:



As I mentioned in a previous post, following a walk to Flora MacDonald's house, we went for another walk later that day. We went from the cottage to a nearby bay which is a vast beach at low tide and walked to the causeway between South Uist and Benbecula (all the while hoping the rain would pass us by!):



This is the aforementioned causeway. We walked across it as the tide came in, and by the time we made our way back the sea had completely covered the sand. (We didn't see any otters here  .):

[Mel]

What a fabulous way to reminisce   

[WhitstableDave]

What a fabulous way to reminisce 

Thanks Mel. I'm loving it! 

[WhitstableDave]

I did a real walk this morning from Canterbury to home, but when I got back I still wanted to add a bit to my Outer Hebrides treadmill trek so I did a walk across Benbecula - south coast to near the north coast. At a touch over 6 miles, that was just about right!   



There really is nowhere like Benbecula - the island is dotted with lochans and there seems to be more water than land. Even the bits that look like land are mostly soggy bog! Perhaps I exaggerate, but not much. Anyway, I love the place. 

Today, I (virtually) passed the spot where we began one of our most memorable Hebridean walks. Our aim was to get to a small island called Flodaigh which is in the north-east of Benbecula. We began by ascending Ruabhal, which at 124m is the highest hill on Benbecula...

...and then we needed to find our way across the boggy, trackless, lochan-covered land ahead. Actually, that bit was the easy part, because when we reached a road on the far side, we were faced with a barbed wire fence that we eventually managed to scale with the aid of some rocks.



I forgot to say why we wanted to get to Flodaigh... It was supposed to be a great place to spot seals and dolphins. We stayed for quite a while and did see some of each, but we didn't get any decent photos. It rained a lot that day, which kind of goes well with the landscape!



We returned across the bog by a different route and stopped for lunch by a ruined house with Ruabhal behind. There was no track that we could see and we wondered how the inhabitants used to come and go. (By the way: we think my wife's waterproof gear makes her look like Tinky Winky.)



Tomorrow I'll be crossing the causeway to North Uist on my way north...

[WhitstableDave]

Day 6 of my treadmill trek across the Outer Hebrides took me from a mile before the causeway to North Uist to near the top of a huge sandy bay, which I think is called Bial a' Chaolais.



Again, we did a walk near to where I was today, albeit a short one. I think we were driving to do a walk on Berneray - an island at the northern tip of North Uist - when we saw a sign to a couple of sites near Langais. So we stopped to investigate.

First, a little way from the road, we came to a chambered cairn called Barpa Langass - that's me in the entrance, just to give an idea of the size of the cairn of course. 



Then we scaled Beinn Langais (91m) to take in the views:



And from the summit, we descended through the heather and bracken to visit a stone circle called Sornach Coir' Fhinn. 



Incidentally, the Hebridean Way passes close to these places - well worth a visit!

[Mel]

That chambered cairn     Looks definitely can be deceptive 'cos, until you said you was stood in the entrance, I really didn't think it looked that big!


Could you get in it?

[Islandplodder]

You could go in until a few years ago, but a bit of the roof fell in and they decided it was unsafe.  It was a bit cramped and creepy though.There are quite a few chamber cairns on the islands, but that's the most impressive one!It's nice following your walks Whitstable Dave, looking forward to the next one.

[WhitstableDave]

Thanks! 

As Islandplodder says, the cairn was awaiting repair (and that's what the sign said too). I couldn't get any further than the doorway.

Next stop will be one of the most incredible beaches we've ever seen: Traigh Bhalaigh. More ancient remains too! 

[WhitstableDave]

(Oops, I got the name of the beach wrong in my last post; I should have said Traigh Ear.)

Day 7 of my treadmill trek around the Western Isles took me to the top of North Uist and very close to one of the most stunning places I've ever seen: the Grenitote Peninsula - which is the peninsula to the north of Grenitote on the map! 



Now that's the kind of place we like. 



The beaches are vast!..   



...and there was hardly anyone else anywhere. 



At the northern tip of the peninsula we came across Aird A’Mhorain Cemetery, where a plaque informed us it is the 18th-century family enclosure of the MacLeans of Boreray (a small island to the north):



Our map showed the site of a neolithic-medieval settlement which, for reasons I've forgotten, we found hard to find. It was worth the searching though and we also found an ancient rubbish tip nearby that was full of shells:



Coming soon - a lap of Berneray. 

[Islandplodder]

Nice pics again.  It's amazing getting the beaches to yourself like that, isn't it.