The Western Isles - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 311

SCALPAY SCALPAIGH
A high-flying, single-track bridge, erected in 1997, now connects Harris to the island of Scalpay
(Scalpaigh) - from the Norse skalp-ray (the island shaped like a boat), off the east coast of Harris.
Scalpay is the place where Bonnie Prince Charlie is thought to have tried unsuccessfully to get a
boat to take him back to France after the defeat at Culloden. On a good day, it's a pleasant and
fairly easy three-mile hike along the island's north coast to the Eilean Glas lighthouse, which
looks out over to Skye. This was the first lighthouse to be erected in Scotland, in 1789, though
the present Stevenson-designed granite tower dates from 1824.

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ACCOMMODATION NORTH HARRIS

Rhenigidale (Reinigeadal) SYHA Hostel 4 miles off the
A859 W gatliff.org.uk. Simple hostel in an isolated coastal
community - there's a (request-only) bus connection, or

else it's a magnificent six-mile (3hr) hike over the rocky
landscape from Tarbert: ask at the t ouris t o ce for directions.
No advance booking and no phone. £12 /person

South Harris (Ceann a Deas na Hearadh)
The mountains of South Harris are less dramatic than in the north, but the scenery is
equally breathtaking. There's a choice of routes from Tarbert to the ferry port of
Leverburgh , which connects with North Uist: the east coast, known as The Bays
(Na Baigh), is rugged and seemingly inhospitable, while the west coast is endowed
with some of the finest stretches of golden sand in the whole of the archipelago,
buffeted by the Atlantic winds.

The Bays (Na Baigh)
Paradoxically, most people on South Harris live along the harsh eastern coastline of
The Bays rather than the more fertile west side. But not by choice - they were evicted
from their original crofts to make way for sheep-grazing. Despite the uncompromising
lunar landscape - mostly bare grey gneiss and heather - the crofters managed to establish
“lazybeds” (small labour-intensive, raised plots between the rocks fertilized by seaweed
and peat), a few of which are still in use even today. The narrow sea lochs provide shelter
for fishing boats, while the interior is speckled with freshwater lochans, and the whole
coast is now served by the endlessly meandering Bays Road , often wrongly referred to as
the “Golden Road”, though this, in fact, was the name given to the sideroad to Scadabay
(Scadabhagh), coined by a local councillor who disapproved of the expense.

The west coast
The main road from Tarbert into South Harris snakes its way west for ten miles across
the boulder-strewn interior to reach the coast. Once there, you get a view of the most
stunning beach , the vast golden strand of Luskentyre (Tràigh Losgaintir). The road
continues to ride above a chain of sweeping sands, backed by rich machair , that
stretches for nine miles along the Atlantic coast. In good weather the scenery is
particularly impressive, foaming breakers rolling along the golden sands set against
the rounded peaks of the mountains to the north and the islet-studded turquoise sea
to the west - and even on the dullest day the sand manages to glow beneath the waves.
A short distance out to sea is the island of Taransay (Tarasaigh), which once held a
population of nearly a hundred, but was abandoned as recently as 1974. Beyond lies
Scarista (Sgarasta), where one of the first of the Hebridean Clearances took place in
1828, when thirty families were evicted and their homes burnt.

Seallam!
Northton (Taobh Tuath) • Mon-Sat 10am-5pm • £2.50 • T 01859 520258, W seallam.com
There's loads of information on local history, geology, flora and fauna to be found at
Seallam! , a purpose-built heritage centre close to the village of Northton (Taobh Tuath),