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| The Outer Hebrides are an incredible place to
visit despite the long drive, and Tarbert made a good base for getting out
and about on Lewis and Harris. Mountains? you got ‘em. 800m peaks right on
the doorstep. The An Clisearm horseshoe makes an excellent day’s ridge walk
with panoramic views out to Skye and the Uists to the south, and Lewis
stretching out to the north (it was a bit too hazy to see St Kilda). |
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| Scrambling is a mixed bag. We managed to find a
3* choss show on Gillaval Dubh (followed by a pretty good ridge walk) whilst
CJ claims to have found a good scramble on Mula Mac Sgiathain .Climbing?
You got it. Sron Ulladale is the biggest lump of granite in the UK
with big multi-pitch routes of all grades. We went to plan B though as
I was advised by a guide that the easier routes are likely to be vegetated. So, plan
B was the sea cliffs on Lewis, and there’s plenty to do in the easier
grades, its not all E-silly. The attitude of the hotel proprietor at Aird
Uig epitomises the relaxed atmosphere of the Hebrides. Alex thought he was
going to bollock us for parking in his car park, instead he just wanted to
know where-abouts we were going to climb as he keeps an eye out on climbers. |
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We took bikes with us, primarily to cut down on
the walk-ins for places like Sron Ulladale but even confirmed MTBers like
myself found cycling on the roads up there a pleasure. The Golden Road is
particularly good. Its simply not possible to get your head down and crank
the speed up as the scenery is just too good. And talking of scenery, the
beaches are truely amazing. Miles of soft golden sand and no-one in sight.
OK, I lied, there was someone else on Sheileboist Beach but we did need
binoculars to see them. |
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| Wildlife was everywhere. If we wanted to see
seals we just looked out the window of the cottage. We also saw an otter,
golden plover, gannets diving, golden eagles (Tim got up close and almost
personal with one when it took off 50m from him and flew right over his
head), mountain hares, a cuckoo and a very rare sighting of a corncrake – it
ran across the road in front of us as we were cycling. Don’t expect a
quiet walk on the coast though, the oyster catchers make their presence
known in their usual noisy manner, and there’s lots of them. What there
wasn’t lots of was “wee bastards”, which was a big relief. |
| Regrets? My only regret was I hadn’t packed
shorts. |
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| More pictures at
Harris 2010 pictures |
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