Work on Shulishader steps access restarts

Work has resumed on a project to restore a historic access route to a popular island cove after it was put on hold due to lockdown.

The 88 Shulishader steps lead steeply down to a shore once used as a landing site for fishing boats and now popular for wild swimming.

Work paused as it was about to enter a major stage but now construction company Breedon is back on site in Point, Isle of Lewis.

The steep flight of steps down to the geodha (Gaelic for ‘cove’) will be repaired and made safe. They were cleaned up in the initial stage of the work and an access path of around 300 metres is being created from the township to the top of the steps.

Work on the access path was expected to be finished by the end of last week and the steps should be done couple of weeks.

The work is part of a £1million project to create a clear walking route from Stornoway along the Braighe and all the way round the peninsula of Point.

Once complete, Point and Sandwick Community Coastal in the next

Path will be 40km long and form part of the legacy of Point and Sandwick Trust’s community wind farm, as one of the key funders.

Point and Sandwick Trust gave £9,000 towards the work at Shulishader as part of the second phase of the coastal path. In addition, the trust’s

Work resumes on the second phase of the coastal path, at Shulishader.

community consultants, Alasdair Nicholson and Tony Robson, have been working with the Point and Sandwick Coastal Community Path committee on delivering their ambitious project.

A number of other groups and organisations have helped to fund the second phase of the path.

The Scottish Landfill Fund, administered locally by Third Sector Hebrides, committed £7,000 and the Shulishader and Newlands Grazings Committee gave £4,000.

As well as the access to the geodha at Shulishader, the second phase also includes marking out the walking route from the Braighe to Swordale on the Minch side of Point – a distance of around 1.2 miles (2km) – with route posts and installing several self-closing gates for access.

Matt Bruce, chairman of the Point and Sandwick Coastal Community Path committee, said: ‘We hope to continue to promote the path on its way around the whole of Point and Sandwick. Not all bits will be surfaced; some bits will be just moorland marker posts so that more people can experience the varied landscape and seascape that we have.’

Iain MacSween, clerk to the Shulishader and Newlands Grazings Committee, said: ‘It’s a great relief that it’s going to get going again.

‘We were all set to get going with the project just when the lockdown started so it’s been a bit frustrating.’