The Herald - The Herald Magazine
The walk Harris Walkway (Frith-Rathad na Hearadh)
Location: Harris Map: OS Landranger 14 Distance: 20 miles (32km) Time: 10 to 12 hours Terrain: Footpaths THE clouds were low on the hills and overnight thunderstorms had left the track squelching underfoot, but I was in good, boisterous company.
After having to endure my efforts at the Gaelic language about 50 pupils from the high school in Tarbert on Harris had joined me on the first section of the Frith-Rathad na Hearadh, the new Harris Walkway.
The walkway project was originally planned by local author and historian Bill Lawson, and taken on by Harris Development Ltd, now the North Harris Trust. From the north-east slopes of Clisham, Harris’s highest mountain, to the Atlantic shore at Seilebost, the Harris Walkway runs for 20 miles through incredibly dramatic scenery. You can walk it in its entirety, making use of the bus service at the end, or you can enjoy it in bite-sized chunks.
The walkway isn’t so much a new footpath as a linking up of a series of old paths, green roads and ancient tracks that range through the rocky landscape of Harris. Some, such as the paths that run north from Tarbert towards the Lewis boundary, were old post roads, used in the days when the mail was delivered on horse-back. Others, like those in the low-lying Bays area of the east coast, were originally created for children walking to school.
The final section of the walk through the Bealach Creag an Eoin even follows a track once used by burial parties coming from the Bays to the machair of the Atlantic coast – a coffin route. It says much for the rock-carved landscape of Harris’s eastern coast that every corpse had to be carried to the more benevolent west coast for burial. The cairns that you see along the way were once used for supporting the coffin while the bearers took a well-earned rest.
The village of Tarbert makes a good base for the Harris Walkway. Buses serve both the start and the finish of the walk, there’s a range of accommodation and the village forms a natural link between two very contrasting landscapes. To the north the route follows long glens through the mountains, with an option of following the quiet coastal road to Rhenigidale then taking the cliff-side path to the head of Loch Trolamaraig. From there a footpath zigzags up the slopes of the Sgriob, before dropping down to Urgha Beag, just east of Tarbert.
In contrast, the remainder of the route gives a very different experience. Viewed from the map the area south of Tarbert appears to contain more water than land – a sieve of lochans and islands, treeless, rocky and lowlying. Somehow the walkway manages to weave a route through this watery landscape all the way to Stockinish before turning north again to meet the old coffin route to the machair of the west coast. FINISH CAMERON MCNEISH START Route: Start from the A859 just E of bridge over the Scaladale River (GR: NB186096). From the cairn by the roadside follow the green track S past Caisteal Ard and Gormul Maaruig. The track biefly rejoins the A859 before following a minor road to the bridge over the Abhainn Mharaig. From here a track runs S to Urgha Beag from where it’s a short distance to Tarbert. From Tarbert a combination of roads and paths run through Cadha, Diracleit, Kendibig, Miabhaig and Drinishader. From the head of Loch Plocrapol another track and minor road combination runs to Grosebay, from where a green road runs over the hills behind Cluer and Stockinish. Follow the line of the Sgurran Ruadha dyke N until you meet the road again on the zigzags of the Uamh Ard. Follow the road to the junction of the Stockinish road then turn right up the signposted track and follow it to meet the A859 near Seilebost (GR: NB090971).