"On The Road Again"

Yesterday's walk, though not far in distance (13 miles) was, nevertheless the hardest since the crossing of Lewis Moor an age ago. Today's was intended to be longer at 15½ miles, mainly on roads via Reinigeadal, another favorite stop for Peter Clarke. The day was to turn out quite differently, though!

We woke to a wonderful sunny day with a spectacular view of Loch Seaforth and another huge and superb breakfast cooked by Irene. As we ate we wondered which of our overnight stays we would give our "B&B of the Walk" award to. At the moment it was between Edna at Ness and Irene here at Loch Seaforth. And the amazing thing was that they went to school together.

As I set off the sun was still shining and I wondered at the beauty of Loch Seaforth. I walked out onto the main road and headed south, past the Scaladale Centre at Ardvourlie and the castle, not visible from the road and closed to the public anyway.

I continued to the junction with the Harris Walkway and turned onto this good, green and grassy, though rather wet, path running between Cleit Ard and Gormul Màraig. It was uphill at first but then levelled out and rejoined the A859. I'd intended following the LDWA GPS route along the minor road to Reinigeadal and then follow the track to Tarbert. However, just after the junction of the main and minor roads I saw a grassy route heading almost due south and found that this was another section of the Harris Walkway. I checked and double checked the "proper" OS map (rather than the printouts I normally rely on) and decided to take this route

Yes, I was going to miss Reinigeadal and knew that Peter Clarke wouldn't forgive me. I supposed that the LDWA walker who'd put the GPS route on their website went there mainly because the hostel there is a convenient stop if you're walking from Bowglass to Leverbergh in three days; I was going to do it in two. So sorry, Peter!

The second part of the Harris Way began like the first, uphill to begin with, then levelled out and, rounding a bend, I saw what for me was, so far, the view of the walk - the long valley quite some way below me in which the breathtaking Lochana Lacasdail nestled (do lochs "nestle"?). For me it was another "High Cup Nick" moment, the stunning blind ended valley that I'd come across near Dufton on my Pennine Way walk in 2000 (see here). As then, I sat on a rock, on my own this time, had coffee and butties and gaped in awe as the scene shifted with the sun going in and out.

Eventually I moved on and made my way down to the road at Urgha and there I saw a less beautiful thing, but one which intrigued me nonetheless. It looked as if the local Council has built a garage inspection pit by the roadside for people to work on their cars, change their oil, etc. and by the detritus in the bottom, it seemed to be well used! I saw several more of these in the Usists and Benbecula.

I carried on along the road and passed through Tarbert, as our accommodation tonight was a mile or so south at Direcleit, everywhere in the town itself being full. Tarbert is quite a pretty little place. It's apparently the only town on North Harris and is no bigger than the tiny village of White Waltham in Berkshire where I was born and bred. As I approached, the ferry to Uig on the Isle of Skye berthed and the town and ferry together made a fine sight as I climbed the hill out of town and on to my destination. I supposed that I was now in South Harris and there was no-one around to contradict me!

I continued and turned left to Direcleit and the Ceol Na Mara Guest House - very nice but The Boss wasn't too pleased because we'd been put in a rather small attic room! Tonight we were having a night out and it turned out to be the only one of the holiday! We planned an early dinner at the Harris Hotel followed by a concert by the Scottish folk singer Elsa Jean McTaggart at the Harris Community Hall. We'd seen posters advertising her tour all the way from Ness and it was a good coincidence that she was hitting the bright lights of Tarbert tonight!

So today's planned 13½ miles was just short of 12. But I was happy with that as tomorrow's was "the big one" - the longest distance of the 14 daily walks.

But it was still mid afternoon so we drove back into town, filled up with diesel at £1.55 a litre (the record so far) and had a very pleasant afternoon tea at the small, bustling and excellent First Fruits Tearoom close to the ferry terminal. Back at Ceol Na Mara I cleaned my boots in preparation for tomorrow's 26 mile trudge to Leverbergh.

Dinner at the Harris Hotel was very good and it's the pleasantly old fashioned, comfortable sort of place that I like. Then we were off to join in the mobbing of Elsa Jean McTaggart; well, maybe "mobbing" is rather a strong word. When we arrived a gentleman took our money for the tickets I'd ordered by phone (little did we realise at the time that he was Gary - Elsa Jean's manager, backing musician, husband and driver of the camper van in which they mostly live). When we entered the hall there was only one other person there but by the time Elsa Jean's sister did a few warm up numbers the crowd had swollen to about 25. Apparently this is quite normal for their islands tour. Elsa Jean was excellent - a very good musician with a lovely voice performing her own songs, witty and informative repartee between them and ably backed by Gary. At half time we had drinks and she joined us, introduced herself to every one there and chatted away over a coffee. How could we not buy one of her CDs? It was a very pleasant and different night out.

Back at the B&B we immediately went to bed for a good sleep before tomorrow's schlep to Leverbergh

A Few Photos From Day 06 (just click on them for the BIG versions):
Day 06 - Leaving Bowglass, 24/06/11	Loch Seaforth
The Harris Walkway, Near Bowglass	Abhainn Scaladail
Abhainn Mharaig	Loch Mharaig
Fungi At Lochannan Lacasdail	Tarbert With The Uig Ferry
South Harris Sky, Late Evening