The Western Isles - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 300

Back (Am Bac)
The dead-end B895 that runs along Lewis's east coast, north of Stornoway - an area
known as Back - boasts excellent golden beaches and marks the starting point of a
lovely coastal walk to Ness.

Griais Memorial
The legacy of Lord Leverhulme's brief ownership of Lewis is recalled by the
striking Griais Memorial to the Lewis land-raiders, situated by Griais Bridge, above
Gress Sands. It was here that Leverhulme's plans came unstuck: he wanted to turn
the surrounding crofting land into three big farms, which would provide milk for
the workers of his fish-canning factory; the local crofters just wanted to return to
their traditional way of life. Such was Leverhulme's fury at the land-raiders from
Gress (Griais) and nearby Coll (Col), a mile to the south, that, when he offered
to gift the crofts of Lewis to their owners, he made sure the offer didn't include
Gress and Coll. The stone-built memorial is a symbolic croft split asunder by
Leverhulme's interventions.

6

The path to Ness
Further north, beyond Tolsta (Tolastadh), is the finest of the coast's sandy beaches ,
Garry (Gheardha), and the beginning of the footpath to Ness. Shortly after leaving
the bay, the path crosses the Bridge to Nowhere , built by Leverhulme as part of an
unrealized plan to forge a new road along the east coast to Ness. Further along the
track, there's a fine waterfall on the River of Stones (Abhainn na Cloich). The
makeshift road peters out, but a waymarked path continues for another ten miles via
the old sheiling village of Diobadail, to Ness (see p.304). It's very boggy, and badly
churned up in places, so make sure you've got proper footwear.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE BACK

By bus There's a regular bus from Stornoway (Mon-Sat hourly; 40min).

ACCOMMODATION
Broad Bay House T 01851 820990, W broadbayhouse
.co.uk. This place has raised the bar exponentially both
in terms of standards and price, with quality furnishings,
patio doors leading to private decking areas, free wi-fi, free
bike hire and exceptionally good home-cooking. £180

Seaside Villa T 01851 820208, W seasidevilla.co.uk.
At the other end of the extreme, this is a simple, comfort-
able B&B with no pretensions at all. Comes wi-fi, th fr ee wi-fi,
a real peat fire and a friendly Gaelic welcome. £66

The road to Barvas (Barabhas)
he A857 crosses the vast, barren peat bog (see box, p.304) that characterizes the
interior of Lewis, an empty, undulating wilderness riddled with stretchmarks formed
by peat cuttings and pockmarked with freshwater lochans. The whole area was once
covered by forests, but these disappeared long ago, leaving a deposit of peat that
continues to serve as a valuable energy resource, with each crofter being assigned a slice
of the bog.
Twelve miles across the peat bog the road approaches the west coast of Lewis and
divides, heading southwest towards Callanish, or northeast through BARVAS
(Barabhas), which has a handy shop. Just beyond Barvas, a signpost points to the
pleasant Morven Gallery (Easter-Sept Mon-Sat 10.30am-5pm; free; W morvengallery
.com), which hosts exhibitions by local artists and photographers and has a handy café,
serving great coffee, where you can hole up during bad weather. Three miles further
up the road, you pass the 20ft monolith of Clach an Truiseil , the first of a series of
prehistoric sights between the crofting and weaving settlements of Ballantrushal
(Baile an Truiseil) and Shader (Siadar).