Getting to the start of the Hebridean Way was the first obstacle. After a flight to Glasgow, 1 night in a hotel, a train to Oban, a ferry to Castleba, Barra Island, 1 night in a hostel in Castlebay and finally a taxi to the start of the Hebridean way, we set off!
We had read about the amazing ‘Caribbean like’ beaches (Katie assures me they have been used as Caribbean ‘doubles’ for film and TV) and the starting point of the Hebridean way is sandwiched between two incredible beaches. The stories were true and amazing beaches we to be a regular sight on the first half of our hike up the western side of the islands of Barra, South Uist, North Uist and Harris.
Day 1 – Vatersay to Eriskay, 9h, 25.2km, +701m, -728m
We set off walking back along the road the taxi had driven us down and had a few inquisitive seals in the bay for company. Eventually a left turn took us off the tarmac, up and over a few hundred metres climb with views of more amazing beaches and Barra Airport which is the only airport in the world where scheduled flights use a tidal beach as the runway. The road then took us to the ferry terminal and we caught a ferry over to Eriskay where we walked a few kilometres to the Am Politician pub. Dinner sorted we find a good spot on the beach nearby. Not the wildest camp spot, it did the job and eased us in to wild camping life.
Day 2 – Eriskay to Wild Camp, 8h30m, 31km, +126m, -147m
We were on the move by 0830 and had only been going an hour and fifteen minutes we happened upon a cafe. Second breakfast was too irresistible, an egg and black pudding (local specialty) bap for me. ?
We followed the coast all day, lapwings diving and making a racket everywhere! Weather had been good all day and we setup at a great campsite spot on the beach that night. First night trying the Firepit camping meals, Orzo Bolognese tonight, which was shot in! Watched the sunset before snuggling down for the night.
Note made to self: avoid camping on sand, it quickly gets everywhere!
Day 3 – Wild Camp to Wild Camp, 9h, 33.5 km, + 156m, – 207m
Long day today, quite a bit of road and beach pools some interior past 3 huge turbines. Weather was good again, sunny but some wind chill at times. Chatted to an old chap outside his house, he told us off his fishing takes and warned of coming rain!
Stopped at a supermarket for a late lunch, some supplies for tomorrow and I ate 3 magnums. It was cheaper to buy a pack of 3 than one on its own! ?♂️ Sneaky loo stop at a hotel we passed.
Saw cows lost on the beach who tried the water, didn’t like it, walked down a bit and tried a different bit of the ocean only to find it still tasted crap. We setup camp about 1900 and enjoyed another great sunset beach view with our second Firepot meal, Beef stew and pearl barley, which once again hit the spot.
Day 4 – Wild Camp to Lochmaddy, 9h, 35km, + 387m, -380 m
A lot of road today as we navigated island to island across causeways. A few off road sections thrown in and we stopped at the Langass Lodge for a coffee and cake. The final 8 km was all road and we made it to the shop in time to stock up on some supplies before heading to the Lochmaddy Hotel bar for a steak pie and a couple of beers.
Frustration had set in at the amount of road walking today, a little dehydration. Plus a couple of beers resulted in no desire or patience to walk far to find a camp spot, we settled for a patch of grass round the corner of the arts centre next to the Lochmaddy Hotel (they wouldn’t let us camp on their nice lawn). Less than idyllic but did the job. ?
Day 5 – Lochmaddy to Berneray, 5h, 18km, + 270m, – 287m
Made an early start, looking forward to finishing walking for the day around midday and having a relaxing afternoon in Berneray where we had a bunkhouse booked. After road initially retracing our steps a little to rejoin the trail at the junction to Lochmaddy, we then had some pleasant trails including bogs, ascents, descents and cracking views across to Berneray and over the sea to the next island of Harris. Honestly, even on a cloudy day, the sea looked tropical blue and the beaches are amazing.
Made good progress to arrive in Berneray in time for lunch at a cafe, where we chatted with an older couple called John and Anne (that story continues later…) and picked up some supplies from small shop attached to the cafe. We then had a lovely relaxing afternoon in the bunk house we had booked, showered, washed clothes and did some planning for the next few days. We had been lucky with the weather so far but knew from the forecast that our luck was soon going to run out.
John’s bunkhouse comes highly recommended and we had an enjoyable stay chatting to others staying there whilst cooking up a deserved meal!
Day 6 – Berneray to near Seilebost, 7h50m, 19.5km, + 612m, – 605m
Up early to shower, breakfast, coffee before getting the first ferry over to Leverburgh on the island of Harris. Whilst waiting we met Megan, a spritely 70 year old lady walking the Hebridean Way on her own over 14 days and raising money for an animal charity she had setup and helps run.
The trail soon took us on to the moors and over a pass before heading down to Scarista. From there the route took us on to a huge expansive beach before returning us to the moor where we followed an old boundary wall that separated the moor from the farming croft land. Much of the time the path was actually along the top of the old wall and apart from that was fairly indistinct. We had been to-ing and fro-ing with Megan all morning and ended up spending the rest of the day walking and talking with her.
We stopped for a bite to eat at the top of a climb with an incredible view down to Horgabost which we soon reached once we got going again and Megan left us here where she was staying at a B&B for the night. We had decided to keep going another 4km before finding a camp spot for the night. Well, the next 4km turned out to be the toughest 4km of the whole walk and took us 2 hours to cover! Lots of ascent and descent through heather and rocks with no discernible path. Luckily the views were awesome and it was dry. The next day we were glad we had tackled this stretch today as the weather turned wet and would have made that section even tougher.
We found a secluded spot in the dunes with a view over Luskentyre Sands and tucked into a Chilli Con Carne Firepot meal, another winner. ?
Day 7 – near Seilebost to Tarbert, 6h36m, 22.5km, + 555m, – 519m
We were keen to get to the town of Tarbert today where we had the promise of a warm place to stay thanks to the couple we met in the cafe the other day at Berneray who had a spare bedroom where they were staying and were kind enough to say we were welcome to stay. When we had been planning the next few days back in Berneray and seen the looming wet weather forecast, it was an offer we couldn’t refuse! So we were up at first light and on our way along ‘The Coffin Route’, not kidding!
The coffin route has a long-standing reputation of being a coffin road from the east of the island to the west. The old burial grounds were on the machair of the west, there being insufficient depth of soil on the rocky east side.
The rain had started pretty much as soon as we got up and persisted throughout the day although it was rarely that hard. The path was well defined and much less boggy than others we had followed, which made for quick progress, and we had soon lost sight of the sandy east coast of Harris.
We were in Tarbert by 1400 where we went to the Gin Distillery cafe to dry out, grab a bite to eat and sup a G&T. Our hosts for the evening John and Anne were arriving a little late so we grabbed some supplies from the shop and had a pint in the Hotel Hebrides Bar.
We were very grateful for a dry, solid roof over our head that evening and managed to dry out some wet gear ?. John and Anne were great company and we had an enjoyable meal with them.
Day 8 – Tarbert to Rhenigidale, 2h30m, 9km, + 250m, – 250m*
*distance, time and +/- bit of a guess since paused and forgot to restart watch!
We were taking an alternative route today to the Rhenigidale hostel for a number of reasons.
- The weather was due to be wet again today so we had planned a route that meant we ended up somewhere with a roof over our heads.
- Although the Hebridean Way officially ends at Stornaway, there is an option to continue for 2 more days to the Butt of Lewis. Having originally planned to do this, after reading the guide and discovering about a day and a half of that was all on road, we decided against it and that left time for this extra stop off at the hostel
- The Rhenigidale Hostel was quite unique and in a beautiful area (even in grim weather!).
It was a bit of a gamble as it was a Bank Holiday so accomodation was hard to come by but the hostel had a no bookings policy, just turn up and hope there was room!
The trail took the Old Postman’s Route from Tarbert and there was a good path. It was pouring down but we had a fun walk up and over then some steep switchbacks down into a bay before a gentle climb round the headland and descent to Rhenigidale. On the way we passed a party of 12 who had just left the hostel which gave us confidence that there would be space for us when we arrived! We later found out they had arrived at the hostel the previous evening quite late and there had not been enough space for them but they had all crammed in and slept wherever they could find space. We were glad they did not return later that day!
Spent the afternoon trying to dry things off in front of the fire, chatting to people as they arrived. All in all, a good bunch; Sue from Devon (whom we had spotted at the cafe on Berneray where we met John and Anne, and was obviously identified by her bright pink cycling jacket. She was cycling the length of the Hebrides and taking various side trips to explore and wild camp), a couple from London, a German chap who was staying a couple of weeks (and did so every year!), some bikers and an annoying older lady who I decided looked like the Night King from Game of Thrones.
Day 9 – Rhenigidale to Wild Camp, 8h20m, 28km, + 683m, – 702m
We woke to clear weather and had a skip in our step as we climbed along the road leading away from Rhenigidale. The most enjoyable road walking so far with fantastic views out across Loch Seaforth.
After walking the length of the Loch, we came across a mobile cafe on the road which over looked the Loch. We had miscounted the number of lunches we needed so this was a welcome sight and perfectly timed. Sue appeared just as we arrived too so we had lunch with her.
Soon we were heading up to the top of a hill called Grimacleit where I had been hoping for some nice views but half way up it began raining so we put our heads down and marched on through a mozzy infested pine forest bog.
We knew from here that we had a couple of sections across moor now and we found they were slow going, often following a bearing and not much obvious path. The rain had stopped and we were lucky to miss a few other showers so soon dried out nicely!
We soon arrived where we had planned to stop for the night but it was quite early in the day and no decent camping spots in sight so we decided to continue on. We had walked a further 6km before we found a great spot in an old shielding with views across a loch.
I finally had a chance to get the drone out which I had been carrying all this way and we enjoyed the views whilst having dinner and hatching another itinerary re-plan! We had been planning another stop between where we were now camped and Stornaway, but figured we could get to Stornaway in one go tomorrow, grab dinner in Stornaway, then get a bus to new tolsta and camp on the beach there (halfway between Stornaway and the Butt of Lewis).
Day 10 – Wild Camp to Stornwaway, 9h40m, 35km, + 541m, – 603 m
It was a beautiful day and we got cracking early, determined to execute the new plan! The terrain was generally much easier to navigate and less boggy today which was nice and we made good progress. Having left the mountains of Harris in the distance, Lewis by contrast if really quite flat and soon we could see Stornaway on the horizon. It seemed to remain on the horizon for some time, the final 2 or 3 hours being along a road, albeit a reasonably quite one so it wasn’t too bad apart from the tired bodies and sore feet! ?
We made it to Stornaway in good time and enjoyed a well earnt fish & chips dinner before grabbing a bus up to Tolsta and found a spot by the dunes to camp.
Day 11 & 12 – The Butt of Lewis and Stornaway
The following morning we got the first bus back to Stornaway and grabbed some breakfast before pitching up and dumping some stuff at a campsite just out of town.
We too a bus to the Butt of Lewis where we happened to bump into Sue yet again so we hung out there with her for a bit and took some photos.
We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the campsite and the next day spent some time exploring Stornaway and stocking up on the essentials; whisky, gin and black pudding.
Some Stats!
The Hebridean Way (including Rhenigidale Hostel alt. route – +distance and elevation)
- 260km
- + 4565m/ – 4565m
- ~ 30,000 calories
Days
- 10 days walking
- 2 days sightseeing
- 4 days travelling
Nights
- 8 nights camping
– 7 wild
– 1 campsite - 2 Hostels
- 1 Bunkhouse
- 1 kind hearted hospitality (self catering cottage with John and Anne who we met in a cafe 2 days prior)
- 1 AirBnb
- 2 Hotels
Travel
- 2 Flights
- 6 Buses
- 1 Train
- 4 Ferries
- 3 Taxis
Lots of wet feet, soggy socks, smelly socks, amazing views, sunshine, wind, rain, dolphins, seals, caterpillars, Hebridean sheep, Highland cattle, deer, birds (inc. maybe Golden Eagle), beers, black pudding, haggis and a bit of whisky. Oh and 1 sea otter. 4 tired feet.
Would I recommend the Hebridean Way?
Yes and No. There is a lot of road walking which sucks because it makes for sore feet and quite often it actually didn’t feel very safe which didn’t make for fun walking.
At times the route is a little contrived, taking big detours to avoid a short road section for example and doing so over moors with no real path. And we had it relatively dry!
The Hebrides are beautiful and we did really enjoy the trip. I would definitely return and would recommend a lot of the route but perhaps not all of it. There are plenty of areas we walked past but didn’t have time to detour to that we would come back to including the island of Berneray round walk.
#hebrideanway #hiking #scotland #wildcamp #camping #outerhebrides