33 - Benbecular to Clachan

Saturday 27th May – Benbecular to Clachan - afternoon amble - 12 km, 62 m ascent

Rising at 5:00 am; meusli and a cup of tea and ready to move; midges were gathering ready for their breakfast; I thought 6:10 was a bit early for staking my position at the ferry, but why not? I was first in the queue in the “Unbooked” lane, which is what I wanted, and conveniently placed to use the facilities and complete my breakfast with bread-roll and marmalade. I was fitted onto the ferry with no problem – there was space for more, despite there being only three instead of four ferries in the course of the day due to extreme tides. The ferry departed at 8:25 am promptly. Gloom was moving up from the south-west with the ferry taking me towards it. In the west, the almost uniform ceiling of cloud was rippled slightly to match the sea – the two sheets of grey converging in matching shades and lack of colour to meet at an indistinct sea-horizon – the sea reamining very still, without any waves, resembling the surface of a small calm lake. In the south-west, North Uist formed a dark line, ruler straight at the bottom, gently waved with smooth hills of uniform shades of grey above. In the north, the cloud layer cut across the top quarter of the South Harris hills. In contrast, in the east, the mainland and the Isle of Skye remained cheerfully bright and clear.

Calm waters, approaching Berneray

Arriving at Berneray, around 9:25 am, I drove south, stopping near the Loch Portain junction to admire the reflective still waters of the sea inlets – the views soon swallowed up as low cloud became sea-level fog.

Parking at Clachan junction by the stores(811641), it was 10:30 am and I wondered about my wait for the next bus south at 2:00 pm. I intended to commence walking northwards from the nearest point of my Benbecular circuit. 12 km seemed an appropriate distance for a half day. On the other hand, three hours waiting for a bus felt too much for my patience, but drizzle turning to rain encouraged me to contemplate a cup of tea and then lunch in the van. I realised a special event was taking place – lots of tractors passed, travelling north – thirty to forty of them, including restored old ones and a classic McBrains coach of the 1950’s era. Then a day-time owl – quite large, cream and pale beige with a patchy mottled appearance – passed in the same general direction, not following the road though. I saw these short-eared owls hunting in daylight several times on North Uist.

Loch Portain

My left Achilles tendon was aching quite a lot and the back of my Brasher boot had been aggravating this. It was possible the boot back was the cause of the problem. I’d consulted a Physiotherapist about this a few months previously, but since I could jump and hop bare-foot, she thought it was not something to be concerned about. I’d wondered about road walking in trainers if it was dry, but it was far too wet for them, and my Meindl ‘mountain boots’ too heavy and jolting on my joints on the road. So Brashers, over-trousers, cag but no fleece was my selection. After my 11:30 am lunch and a downpour, it started to brighten, so, at 12:30 pm, I decided to set off south walking slowly and find out if I could get a lift. The bus would be along at 2 pm anyway, but I felt better to be out enjoying the scenery – 100 step/min x 65 cm, approximately 4 km/h. It was 1:30 pm before I got a very short lift, and then another 10 minutes to get another one. A rather ropey looking Type 3 VW camper was rolling gently past. The driver waved and indicated that he was stopping but it wasn’t clear that the brakes were doing much good. He commented on the van having poor brakes. I thought I’d probably survive travelling at 30 mph along this flat stretch of road to Benbecula, but why hadn’t he fixed them? The couple in the front turned back to talk to me, asking questions about what I was doing. She liked the idea of a seventh decade list and thought they should have a “Things to do before having children – list”. She appeared to understand what I said and spoke quite fluently, but he had to translate everything she said. I couldn’t understand her speech at all. I thought perhaps she was from Eastern Europe, but just before alighting, I discovered they were from Fife!
view map

At 1:50 pm I was at Gramasdail junction heading north. The W16 Eriskay bus passed travelling south at 2:10 pm, on the dot. Then two people in a Safari-style Land Rover passed, waving madly. I had no idea who they were, but their friendliness was cheering. Were they perhaps the couple that I chatted with at the South Kilbride campsite, thinking this is as far as I’d walked? 

Approx 2 pm From near the south of the causeway looking west

 Walking onto Grimsay Island, I was so busy looking at the cloudscape, the landscape and the seascape, that I paid little attention to the cries of the blackheaded gulls, the lapwings and the singing of skylarks all around me. Interesting raindrifts hung below heavy clouds – fortunately downwind – with the sweeps curling away shallower at the bottom; very white clouds forming and disappearing again over hills with a dark grey backdrop of overcast cloud beyond. As I crossed the straight causeway section north of Grimsay, cars were howling along at motorway speed – the fastest I’d seen since leaving the A9. I felt compelled to stand well back, by the causeway wall, past the gravel, for each vehicle.

Approx 3 pm From near the north of the causeway looking east to Eabhal

Reaching the Cladach Chairinis junction (842597; 3:23 pm), the rain was blowing straight at me, head on, getting stronger and heavier. It stayed like that for the rest of the walk. Arriving back at my van (4:50 pm), I considered that the best part of the walk was crossing the causeways with views of sea, islands, water-flows and reflections; the worst being the driving rain coming head-on. The forecast for the morrow was not much better, and being a Sunday, there would be no buses, so I anticipated a circuit of Berneray, followed by a transit of North Uist on Monday.

I stopped at a parking area by the Barpa Langass chambered cairn for a quick and convenient meal – pilchards, couscous, half a yellow pepper – sliced, quartered tomatoes, and a biscuit. I’d had my boots quite loose for the road walking, but my left arch was aching badly and my left Achilles tendon was hurting. An evening in slippers, with no foot restriction or pressure, was a help.