The Hebridean Way: Long-distance walking route through Scotland's Outer Hebrides

By Richard Barrett

Guidebook to the Hebridean Way, a 155-mile (247km) trail across 10 of Scotland’s Outer Hebrides islands. This waymarked, multi-day route is ideal for a fortnight’s exploration, using mostly low-level paths and crossing a variety of terrain, from dazzling white shell beaches to rugged hills and wild moors.

• The official waymarked route starts in Vatersay in the south and finishes at Stornoway in the north, via Barra, Eriskay, South Uist, Benbecula, Grimsay, North Uist, Berneray, Harris and Lewis
• 10 daily stages of 10–22 miles (16–35km) in length, with optional 30-mile (48km) extension from Stornoway to the Butt of Lewis, which takes two days
• Clear route descriptions with 1:50,000 maps and details of refreshments, public transport and accommodation
• Includes notes on geology, history, plants and wildlife, and a glossary of Gaelic and Norse placenames
• GPX files available for download

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cicerone Press
• Release date: Apr 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781783625079

Richard Barrett

Richard Barrett spent his working life as a professional marketer, but still found time for climbing, winter mountaineering and sea kayaking. He first visited the Harris hills as a teenager and became a regular visitor. He lived in North Harris for a number of years, where he and his wife ran a guest house and, although now a city-dweller, he still makes frequent forays to the Hebrides, reconnecting with the wilderness and catching up with old friends.

Book preview

About the Author

Richard Barrett first visited the Outer Hebrides in the early 1970s, before many of the smaller islands were connected to their larger neighbours by causeways and when most of the roads were single track. Having become immediately besotted, he spent most holidays walking all over the islands and for a number of years lived in North Harris, where he and his wife ran a guest house.

He spent his working life as a professional marketer with a number of multinational organisations in the UK and abroad, but still found time for recreational climbing, winter mountaineering, sea kayaking and latterly cycling. Today, he’s a city dweller, but still makes frequent forays to the Hebrides, reconnecting with the wilderness and catching up with old friends.

Other Cicerone guides by the author

Cycling in the Hebrides

Cycling in the Lake District

Walking on Harris and Lewis

Cycling Lôn Las Cymru

THE HEBRIDEAN WAY

LONG-DISTANCE WALKING ROUTE THROUGH SCOTLAND’S OUTER HEBRIDES

by Richard Barrett

JUNIPER HOUSE, MURLEY MOSS,

OXENHOLME ROAD, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA9 7RL

www.cicerone.co.uk

© Richard Barrett 2017

First edition 2017 Reprinted 2019, 2022 (with updates)

ISBN 9781783625079

Printed in Singapore by KHL Printing using responsibly sourced paper

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

© Crown copyright 2017 OS PU100012932

All photographs are by the author unless otherwise stated.

Acknowledgements

My thanks to the staff of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (the Western Isles Council) and Scottish Natural Heritage for helping clarify parts of the route that were yet to be waymarked when I walked them in 2015 and 2016. As ever, I should also thank Jonathan and the team at Cicerone, who were a delight to work with and whose sound guidance notes made delivering the manuscript and accompanying photographs a pleasure.

Updates to this guide

While every effort is made by our authors to ensure the accuracy of guidebooks as they go to print, changes can occur during the lifetime of an edition. Any updates that we know of for this guide will be on the Cicerone website (www.cicerone.co.uk/727/updates), so please check before planning your trip. We also advise that you check information about such things as transport, accommodation and shops locally. Even rights of way can be altered over time. We are always grateful for information about any discrepancies between a guidebook and the facts on the ground, sent by email to [e-mail] or by post to Cicerone, Juniper House, Murley Moss, Oxenholme Road, Kendal LA9 7RL.

Register your book: To sign up to receive free updates, special offers and GPX files where available, register your book at www.cicerone.co.uk.

CONTENTS

Map key

Overview maps

Route summary table

Trek planner

INTRODUCTION

How the Hebridean Way came into being

Planning your trip

Selecting a schedule

When to walk

Getting there

First and last nights

Accommodation

Facilities

Money matters

Baggage transfer

What to take

Planning day by day

Using this guide

Maps

Waymarking

Weather forecasts

Phones and Wi-Fi

Emergencies

All about the Outer Hebrides

Geology

Plants and flowers

Wildlife

The history of the Outer Hebrides

Economy

THE HEBRIDEAN WAY

Stage 1 Vatersay to Ardmhor

Stage 2 Eriskay to Howmore

Stage 3 Howmore to Baile nan Cailleach

Stage 4 Baile nan Cailleach to Lochmaddy

Stage 5 Lochmaddy to Berneray

Stage 6 Leverburgh to Horgabost Township

Stage 7 Horgabost Township to Tarbert

Stage 8 Tarbert to Aline

Stage 9 Aline to Laxay

Stage 10 Laxay to Stornoway

Additional stages to the Butt of Lewis

Stage 11 Stornoway to New Tolsta

Stage 12 New Tolsta to the Butt of Lewis

APPENDIX A Useful contacts

APPENDIX B Accommodation

APPENDIX C Common Gaelic and Norse name elements

APPENDIX D Further reading

Abandoned cottage at Eilean Anabeich (Stage 8)

ROUTE SUMMARY TABLE

Note: distances do not include diversions to overnight stops away from the path.

Looking south from Luskentyre towards Ceapabhal and Taransay

An Cliseam (799m), the highest summit in the Western Isles (Stage 8)

INTRODUCTION

A sunset from Tràigh Scarasta in South Harris (Stage 6)

Opened by Scottish Natural Heritage in 2017, the Hebridean Way stretches 247km (155 miles) along the length of the Outer Hebrides from Vatersay (Bhatarsaigh) in the south to Stornoway (Steornabhagh) in the north. The route crosses 10 islands linked by six causeways and two ferries – and if these numbers do not appear to add up it is because the so-called ‘Isles’ of Harris (Na Hearadh) and Lewis (Leòdhas) share the same landmass. The route traverses a variety of different terrains, passing over rugged hills, along dazzling white shell beaches and across seemingly empty moorland.

The stunning landscape, varied geology, exceptional wildlife and numerous antiquities of the Outer Hebrides are truly awe-inspiring. The Outer Hebrides retain a distinctive culture too, with Gaelic often spoken as a first language in many communities.

Unlike many other long-distance paths, there is considerable variety along the way. The terrain can change rapidly. In the morning you can be walking across a wild moor, then in the afternoon along a blindingly white beach beside turquoise seas. There are also cultural differences. The islands at the southern end of the chain are predominantly Catholic and their communities are considerably more relaxed about religious observance on Sundays. Their leisure centres and supermarkets open on Sundays, which is in total contrast with the mainly Presbyterian islands of Harris and Lewis, where communities are far stricter in observing the Sabbath.

Getting there and getting about means that the Hebridean Way is not the easiest long-distance path in terms of logistics, although there are plenty of tips and advice packed into this guidebook. But it is a jewel that you will remember every time you see a map of the UK.

At the moment, the Hebridean Way is a work in progress. The route currently finishes at Lews Castle in Stornoway. However, once further funding becomes available, there are plans to extend the route all the way up to the Butt of Lewis (Rubha Robhanais), with options running up both the west and east coasts of Lewis. Once they are constructed, these extensions will be incorporated into future editions of this book. But for the moment, two additional stages are included between Stornoway and the Butt of Lewis, making best use of existing paths.

How the Hebridean Way came into being

The hills of North Harris from near the summit of Carran (Stage 7)

A quick look at a map shows that the majority of settlements in the Outer Hebrides are on the coast, surrounded by a fertile patch of land for growing crops and grazing cattle but with safe access to the sea, which remained the main form of transportation until the early 20th century. In 1804 and 1805, William Bald produced detailed maps of Harris and South Uist (Uibhist a Deas) respectively, showing numerous paths linking the coastal villages; but the only tracks or roads marked are one linking Leverburgh (An t-Ob) with Rodel (Roghadal) on Harris, and another running the length of the fertile, low-lying grassland (machair) on South Uist.

By the time the first one-inch-to-the-mile Ordnance Survey maps were published in the second half of the 19th century, most of today’s main roads were shown, many of them built as part of a relief programme during the potato famines of the late 1840s. Landlords also paid for the construction of other roads. But it was not until the 1960s that many of the narrow paths linking the more remote villages were converted by local government into single-track roads, finishing with the construction of the road to Rhenigidale (Reinigeadal) in North Harris in 1989.

WILLIAM BALD: TEENAGE MAP-MAKER

In 1804, as a 15-year-old assistant to the eminent Scottish cartographer John Ainslie, Fife-born William Bald (1789–1857) surveyed and mapped the Isle of Harris for its owner Alexander Hume MacLeod. The following year, he surveyed South Uist for Ranald George MacDonald of Clan Ranald, producing an elegant map that was so accurate it was used to delineate the estate when it was sold over 30 years later. Recognising his young protégé’s talent, Ainslie gave 17-year-old Bald the responsibility for surveying the Western Isles of Scotland.

Bald’s map of South Uist shows the main road starting at Kilbride, just east of Pollachar, and sticking close to the coast all the way to Kilaulay (Cill Amhlaidh), with just one indistinct section near Loch Bì. But by the time the Ordnance Survey mapped South Uist in 1890, the current road is shown as being more important than the old road, which is now incorporated into the Hebridean Way.

When Bald turned 21 in 1809, his apprenticeship with Ainslie ended and he moved to Ireland to become the Director of the Trigonometrical Survey of County Mayo, producing a map that is regarded as a masterpiece. But his interests were developing in a different direction. From the 1820s, he concentrated on civil engineering, working in Ireland and Europe and taking part in the construction of the Antrim Coast Road. Bald died in London in 1857 and is remembered for his important contribution to both cartography and engineering.

Walkers on Tràigh Rosamol (Stage 7)

All this road building on the Isles has been both a blessing and a curse for today’s walkers trying to make their way through this sometimes difficult terrain. In certain instances where new roads have replaced old routes, such as along the west coast of South Uist and through Lochannan Lacasdail in North Harris, walkers now benefit from broad, well-drained paths through stunning countryside. But in many areas, such as the Bays in South Harris, roads were simply constructed on top of existing paths, so today walkers have to take to the tarmac.

This was exactly the problem that faced Peter Clarke, who, in the first years of the 21st century, set himself the challenge of walking 370km (230 miles) from the Butt of Lewis to Heillanish Point, the most southerly point of Vatersay, using existing paths and old tracks wherever possible. In his book, The Outer Hebrides: The Timeless Way, he describes the excitement of rediscovering some of these long-forgotten stretches of path, the interest of walking through islands rich in antiquarian sites, and the joys of exploring an area of outstanding natural beauty. On the downside, he found that he had to walk half of his journey on roads.

Dr Clarke’s unsuppressed enthusiasm for the route led to it being included in the outdoor access strategy of the Western Isles Council; but it was not until 2012 that additional funding was received from the European Rural Development Fund and Scottish Natural Heritage.