The Braxony tour of the Outer Hebrides started in Lewis staying with uncle Iain. We had a fantastic couple of days in very exciting stormy weather. We then headed down to Harris which greeted us with beautiful beaches and sunny weather. We stayed at the most fantastic B & B I have ever come across: The Old School House, located in Finsbay, where we were treated to feasts of Tarransay venison and local wild muscles, which even contained pearls. A really wonderful place to stay and a foodies dream.....
After Harris we headed down to Berneray, N. Uist, Benbecula, S. Uist, Eriskay, Barra and returned to Oban via Tiree and Coll.
We had a few lovely walks on this trip a couple on Harris were particularly good so I thought I would include them on the blog.
On the way down from Lewis to North Harris just before Tarbert we turned off the A859 to the left onto the B887. A tiny, windy picturesque road which winds for about 15 miles to the western side of Harris, passing directly through the front garden of Amhuinnsuidhe Castle, (1864-7). The settlement of Huisinis consists of only four houses overlooking a white sand beach with views to the Atlantic. Nearby, and to the north, lies the uninhabited island of Scarp, the location of an experimental rocket postal service by the German rocket scientist Gerhard Zucker in the 1930s. The experiment apparently failed due to the inability to obtain the correct fuel. The rocket exploded on launch and the scattered and singed remains of the mail was subsequently collected by the Harris postmaster, marked that it had been "Damaged by explosion at Scarp, Harris", and delivered by more conventional means. ( singed envelopes from the exploded rocket can still be seen at the island museum).
After parking the car at Huisinis and admiring the beach there we headed off from just past the jetty, with a easy stroll across the grass. The path soon leads round the edge of the coast, climbing steeply over the hill, where hands are sometimes needed to scramble over the rocks. Once over the hill, the path flattens out again and eventually gets to the beach; one mile of the most beautiful sand and clear turquoise waters are found at the end of it. The beach was completely deserted and looks directly across the north end of the sandy, shallow and notoriously treacherous Caolas an Scarp (Sound of Scarp) which separates the island of Scarp from the mainland of Harris.
The path leading around the coast towards the beach.
The path heads over some fairly impressive cliffs, which makes ideal bird watching territory.
There were lots of cormorants fishing below us on the rocks.
Looking along the path towards the beach.
J. on the deserted beach
Looking across to the island of Scarp
Looking across to Scarp. Although the island is uninhabited some of the old buildings have been renovated as holiday homes.
Seal cloud?
oyster-catcher eggs
Starfish
Boulders at the North end of the beach
dead Gannet
Live gannet diving - (It's amazing how they just plunge into the sea, beak first at breakneck speed)
Old rope
That's a really nice beach but why aren't developing it into a resort? The coastline is absolutely beautiful and are perfect for visitors.
ReplyDeletephuket holidays
Developing it as a resort would spoil it - that's the good thing about Scotland. Anyone is free to visit these places, but the people who care about the natural environment and love wild beauty know where these places are, and those who don't care so much either have not bothered to find out or can't be bothered to get themselves there!
DeleteBetter call Donald Trump...
ReplyDelete