17 - Continuing around the west of Benbecula

Sunday Afternoon - 14th May – Continuing around the west of Benbecula

Setting off again at 2 pm, I got twinges from the small of my back - alongside my lower spine. That’s the trouble with sitting – it’s bad for me. Shortening my stride, at a slightly higher frequency (more steps per minute), adjusting into a smoother motion with less jots, I checked my rhythm – 116 steps per minute. From this point on, measuring my step cadence became a regular habit on days with greater distances to cover. At 2:15 I was at the next junction (805536), a sign pointed right for “Rueval footpath” and so I turned right. Until the end of the recycling facility, the route was along a tarmac road, but it then changed to a rough stony vehicle track – first gear or maybe second, for a resilient vehicle with good ground clearance. Just after the start of the second loch (826528, a post marked the route of ascent on the left.

Northern 180 degree panorama from Ruabhal, Eabhal in the distance

Twenty minutes of easy walking up the slope and I was on the top. If the Earth were flat and the air clear, there would be nothing to block my view of Newfoundland to the West or of Iceland to the north-west. However, with the Earth’s curvature, I only saw as far west as the Monach Islands, twelve miles off, shining a white line of sand, like coral islands, to the west-north-west. North Uist spanned from 320-degrees to 100-degrees (roughly NW to E), with Eaval’s door-stop wedge predominant at 40-degrees. The hills of Harris lay beyond the flatness of central North Uist, with Clisham, a feint high dome, just visible at 30-degrees. The trace of mainland Scotland and of Skye, extended from 60-degrees to 120-degrees, where it faded into the blur hanging down from a grey-bottomed cloud. Benbecula’s lacework of land and water spread in full view all around, and South Uist covered the arc 160-degrees to 245-degrees, with the comparative ‘giants’, Hecla (alias Thacla) and Beinn Mhor, in grey silhouette almost due south.

South from Ruabhal - the path up, with Hecla and Beinn Mhor in the distance

My intention, if the ground looked reasonable, was to walk north to meet the little yellow road on the map about 300 m east of Gramadail (823555). Looking at the map and then trying to compare it with a view with binoculars was barely possible. Standing up to look north, I was knocked all over the place, and even sitting down, I couldn’t hold them still enough. I had spare dry boots in the van, so the prospect of soggy-bog was not enough to put me off, so long as I exercised caution. Therefore, this meant I had no good reason not to cut directly northwards across the open country, using my compass to take me through the 250 m wide line of land between Loch Olabhat and Dubh Loch, and the maze of part-linked-up lochs that obstructed most directions around Ruebhal.

NW from Ruabhal, my labyrinthine route.  Eabhal on N Uist beyond.

 As I descended the first part of the slope, I was overtaken by a raptor, gliding with the wind, wings held in a shallow V, long tail slightly arched. It’s difficult to be sure, identifying a bird, flying directly away, all features dark against the sky, but my bet was that it was a Hen Harrier. Once at the bottom, a distant wind turbine lined up with my bearing, so I had an easy to identify direction marker and the ground was much easier going than I expected – short dry grass and short dry stubs of heather, back to the wind, partially sheltered by the hill. Only towards the end of the route did it become lumpy and boggy, so it might be inadvisable at a wetter time of year. The recent “drought”, meant the water only came half way up my boots. For the last half kilometre, an assault course of lumps and bogs were easy to avoid by veering to the left to join a virtual track – i.e. one marked on the map, but where the cartographer forgot to mark it on the ground. A vehicle had been here and there, and there were plenty of dry and fairly smooth links to follow.

At 4:20 pm I was at the little road (822555), from whence I trod my weary way back along the roads: Gramasdail, Uachdar, passed golf course and airport, Baile a’ Mhanaich to Aird and my van by 5:55 pm – a route with very little of interest. In hindsight, I would have been better to have turned south (810557) to continue along the A865, then turn west (805536) along the track and road through Slaibh na h-Airde to Airde (766544) – ¾ km further but it must be better than the B-road through Baile a’ Mhanaich.

I’d been out for 10 hours, covered just over 28 km, made best use of fine and dramatic weather, and could relax as the wind strengthened, the waves got larger and the sense of “storm arriving” escalated.