Lewis Lines contains all the diary entries from the former AOL Northern Trip blog. This 2004 edition shows the entries for 2004. Lewis Lines 2005 is the 2005 mirror. Northern Trip was discontinued on AOL in October 2008, and moved to this site on Blogger.
The diary is presented in reverse chronological order, but the first entry can be found here.
Friday 31/12/04
Got this idea that my Hogmanay is going to be spent in front of the telly. Have not really organised anything, much to my shame. Saw one couple getting off the Stornoway bus outside the Cabarfeidh Hotel with a suitcase. Might have been an idea. Anyway, the library still hasn't got its Internet back, so after a coffee and a paper (Press & Journal is my rag)I went for a walk up Willow Glen to the War Memorial. It's bitterly cold today, made worse by a biting northwest wind. Willow Glen is a nice park. The War Memorial towers above the town as you approach it from the south. Views very nice, over the town, Point and Tolsta. Returned to town via the hospital and the Co-op. Need to buy 4 days' worth, again, as there is no busservice until Tuesday, January 4. Caught the 12.30 bus on Bayhead, to walk from Balallan to Kershader. Thumbed a car, whose driver promptly ignored my request to be dropped off at Kershader - he overshot by 7 km and dumped me on Eishal Junction. Driver drove at excessive speeds. Although it was nice and sunny, the wind was still cold. Fortunately, an elderly crofter pulled up beside me as I was trudging back, and I returned to Kershader at 2.25. Nothing gained by the lifts! Nice ceilidh on the telly before midnight, with Karen Matheson from Capercaillie.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Thursday 30/12/04
Time for another amble on the moors. Weather quite reasonable - it's dry! Set off along the road towards Habost, from where I headed south along Abhainn Ealaidh to the loch. Some of the stones had been washed off the weir. Proceeded across the fence and further south under the hill at the southern end of the loch. Once past the watershed gained sight of the next loch, Loch na h-Inghinn. Made short shrift of that, and headed up to higher ground at its southern extremity. Had a slightly obstructed view west towards Loch Sgiobacleit, but a nice prospect of Gravir, 2 miles to the east. After lunch, at 1.15, I came across Loch Tobhtaichean Amlaidh. A look at the map showed me that it was just under 4 km to Kershader across the moors; the road route via Gravir is 10 km. Headed northeast along the southern bank of Loch T.A. towards Loch nan Eilean. The jaunt along the shores of the latter loch was convoluted and punctuated by sharp ups and downs. These occasionally necessitated detours to avoid steep drops. Just after 2pm, I finally gained the hill at the loch's northern end. Decided on a slightly different return to Kershader, via the waterbutt. Take a bearing on the square block on the hilltop and keep ploughing through the bog. You will get there. Then keep to the left, and there is a track straight to the hostel.
Tuesday 28/12/04
A Saturday busservice in Stornoway, gratefully used by several people. It was bitterly cold with a steady procession of sharp hailshowers. With each shower, the streets were swept clean of shoppers. A thick layer of ice was left on the roads and pavements. The sun shines quite innocently in between. For lunch I decided on a break in routine, and go into restaurant HS-1, an annex to the Royal Hotel on Cromwell Street. A very acceptable chicken tikka baguette with soup of the day. Big chucks of chicken, seas of tikka. Yummy. Suitably fortified set off for the shopping, to head back on the 2.20 bus. Had hoped to take lunch at An Lanntair, in the town hall, but that's been shut down.
Christmas 2004
24/12/2004
Just the pre-Christmas shop to be done in Stornoway. Joined dozens of others ploughing through the Co-op on MacAulay Road. There is no busservice in Lewis until 28th, so need 4 days' worth of food &c.
25/12/2004
Strong winds and hail and snow showers made it too cold to walk.
26/12/2004
Had a lazy day in ...
27/12/2004
Lashing rain and gales today
New Year 2005
Just to reassure readers that I have not abandoned the journal. Stornoway library cannot provide me internet access as their server is down, and they are also waiting for a fibre-optic cable. Net result, I'm nearly a MONTH behind. Bear with me - I've got a riveting account of the January 12th hurricane, where unfortunately 5 people perished as they tried to flee the floodwaters in two cars. The sea washed the vehicles off the causeway, linking the islands of Benbecula and South Uist. It's the depth of winter now, and the weather is barely suitable for outdoor pursuits. I can cope with wind, rain, low temperatures and snow on their own. Not in combination.
Greetings from the Heathery Isle, Isle of Lewis.
Festive period 24/12/04 to 05/01/05
Happy New Year and hope everybody had a nice Christmas.
I've not been very busy at all over the festive period, in between running up and down to Stornoway for supplies every other day or so, and not going out because of inclement weather. On Christmas Day, it was very cold with wintery showers. Now, I don't mind the cold, but with a strong wind, that's asking for hypothermia. On average, the weather comes in three day cycles:
- gales, with rain and relatively mild temperatures (10-13C)
- showers, wintery and low temperatures (3-8C)
- quiet days with moderate temperatures (7-9C)
The wintery showers consist mainly of hail, which can be painful if driven along by wind.
Walks consisted of the odd hike across the moors south of my current base, Kershader. I'll give further details once the computer in Stornoway library is back on-line. This comes from the library in Tarbert, Harris, 40 miles south of Stornoway.
Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23/12/04
Found myself going up and down to Stornoway these two days, rather than being out and about. It's called bad planning, unfortunately. As I've said before, Lewis's main town is not exactly the Venice of the North, but it's looking slightly less drab than normal,due to the Christmas decorations being up. They were lit on December 2nd. Christmas is very close now, so town is very busy indeed with hoards of islanders jostling around in shops, frantically trying to get the shopping done. The driver on the Balallan to Stornoway bus always plays BBC Radio 2, and I'm already fed up with the Xmas songs. The weather has been persistently greyish. And very wild, particularly on the night 22nd to 23rd December. A gale was forecast for evening and early night, and boyo, did it blow. Good god above. The roof was making a racket, I thought at least all the tiles would come off. Rain was swept along the road - seen horizontal rain now. This was a mere force 10, I think. Come morning, the sun was out, and there were a few showers on the horizon. Quite innocent really. But by the time I came out of the library, at 12 o'clock, the clouds had taken over and rain was coming down again. Nonetheless, I went for a little walk, this time heading north out of town, past the Western Isles Hospital, and the hamlets of Lacasdail and Newmarket. In Laxdale, there is a well, which was improved and put in use by King Edward VII in 1902. Went off into the Tolastaidh / Tolsta road. Then climbed over a gate and walked across the saltmarsh to as close to the shoreline as I could get. And walked the same way back, after lunch.
On return to the hostel, somebody had been a bit zealous in the cleaning, in throwing out my old copy of the Stornoway Gazette which contained all the info about bus services in the islands over Christmas. Bit inconvenient.
Tuesday 21/12/04
Started forth at 11 am, under cloudy skies and a blustery wind. Headed southeast out of the village, onto the moors. I thought I was heading south, but when I finally caught sight of the first loch, Loch nam Breac, this assumption turned out to be incorrect. I changed course, heading southwest for Loch Leathan, the Broad Loch, and was met with a strong gust of wind on reaching its eastern shores. There was intermittent rain, but nothing too bothersome. Next heading was due south, Loch Tobhtaichean Amlaidh, the very long loch. On approaching this, I heard a strange sound, which turned out to be thin shoals of ice creaking on the water. This had gathered in a bay by the force of the wind. There were actually small patches of ice and snow still remaining after the weekend's snow, in spite of the relatively high temperatures since then. It's about 6-8C today. Tramped down the eastern shore of Loch T.A., which has a fairly convoluted shoreline. Stopped for lunch at grid ref 354170, which is just off the southern bight in the loch. It was getting steadily more windy, but still mostly dry. Could see Loch nan Eilean a little way to the east. After lunch proceeded to walk around the southern shore of Loch T.A., until reaching the three rocky islets in its southwestern bay. From there on, it was a straight course northwest in the general direction of Roineabhal, until reaching Loch Ealaidh. This was known territory, and the only problem was crossing the fast-flowing and deep stream flowing into the loch at its southern extremity. And the high degree of saturation of the ground. It remained wet right through to the last gate opening up onto the road. Sank up to my ankles into mud at that point, so had to wash my boots in a puddle before returning to the hostel.
Sunday 19/12/04
At the late hour of 12 o'clock I once again made my way towards Loch Ealaidh, which you can reach by clambering over some gates on the boundary between Kershader and Habost. There was this cat which was sunning itself on a wall at Habost. It did not want to be touched, the old tom was just after some warmth in the cold winds...Then it's a bogslog over the hills to the loch. My stones were still lying in the water at the weir. It had snowed (yesterday as well), and there had been a hard frost overnight. The hills in the distance were capped in white, a beautiful sight. Frost makes it easier to walk the moors, all the water is turned to ice. The only downside of this weather is the temperature. Even though the thermometer told me it was +6C, the windchill was significant. Had lunch at the southern end of the loch, then headed southeast. I reckoned that at 1.40 I could reach Gravir before nightfall. The valley I had chosen beautfully led me to the western extremity of the long-named loch, after which I could see Glen Odhairn ahead. As I was 60m up (200ft), I had a good view of the way ahead, but once I had descended to the valley bottom my orienteering was badly fouled. At 3 o'clock, I thought I was heading nicely east, towards Gravir, when I encountered this loch. Now, I headed past 2 of them when still high up on the hillside, so was not expecting anything significant. But this was a big loch. And those mountains looked familiar - they're the ones you can see from Lemreway. Hm. And the sun was half left, not half behind me. I.E., I was going south instead of east. And the loch was Loch Choin Bain. Cut northeast across country and regained the main valley 15 minutes later. It was a bit wet, and the light was beginning to fail. Fortunately, the first houses of Gravir Glen were nearby, so I splotched through the bog and made my way up to the metalled road. Things were straightforward from there. The road down Gravir Glen was not gritted, but the B8060 from Gravir Village was, and then I did not have to worry about the ice I had encountered in the glen. Between Eishal Junction and Caversta, I noticed the snowcapped mountains on Harris being backlit by the clear skies in the east, as stormclouds were approaching from the west. This was at 10 past 4, 35 minutes after sunset. An absolutely gorgeous play of light, well after sunset. Something you cannot capture on camera, because of insufficient light. Not something I'm likely to forget. Returned to Kershader at 5 o'clock, with still some light remaining.
Saturday 18/12/04
On Saturday I headed for Stornoway, just for a change, to do my weekend's shop. A fall of snow and sleet had left the roads in a treacherous condition. The little bus could not race at its customary 50mph, and the Harris bus also encountered some problems. I was not the only one with the idea of going shopping. At Balallan the Harris bus was full to the rafters, and the passengers getting on at Balallan and Laxay had difficulty finding seats. The majority of them were teenagers, so it was lively, shall we say. Stornoway town centre was busy, the library's computer system had packed up, so could not update journal then. After a shop at the large Co-op on Macaulay Road, I headed back to Kershader at 2.20, and this time the bus was not as packed, fortunately.
Friday 17/12/04
This Friday morning, I set out into the moorlands again. Went down the usual track about half a mile east of Kershader and found myself just off Loch nan Eilean at midday. Where to go from there, I wondered. Well, after much hemming and hawing (and having lunch out of the chilly wind), I decided to go west for a change. Went over the ridge to the west of Loch nan Eilean and tried to find the next big loch, Loch Tobhtaichean Amlaidh, yep a nice mouthful. Went along its northern tip to proceed in the general direction of Loch Ealaidh. And I even found it. Not difficult going by my moorland standards, it was wet, but what do you expect. At first I didn't realise I was at the right loch, as I thought I ought to head for Loch Airigh a'Phuill, the little lochan to the east, but that proved unnecessary. Headed down the glen, killing a bit of time by throwing stones onto the weir at the outflow of the loch. Could not reach the road by a straight route, because of the curse of fencing. I nearly found myself walking through people's backyards! Returned to the hostel at 3 o'clock, well on time.
Thursday 16/12/04
Went to town today, in order to pick up my weekly packet of papers. My regular prints include The Press and Journal, the Highland daily newspaper; The West Highland Free Press, a very radical weekly rag that has been close to my heart for the 8 years that I've read it. I do not understand why they support windfarms, when 88% of the Lewisians are opposed to them. And there is the Stornoway Gazette, small town paper, also printed weekly. The things you read in there really my you smile. As I said, it's small town fry. The other day, they asked what a lunar halo was. I obliged by sending them an explanation - which they printed. Yippee, I'm in the paper. Oh, also bought a very nice book with a story about a man going back to his roots, his ancestral blackhouse in Carloway. Only to find a skeleton under the floor.
Wednesday 15/12/04
Today's forecast was a lot better than the day before, the day even started sunny. Just after 10 o'clock headed up the road in an easterly direction once more, but this time stayed on it as far as the Caversta turning, beyond Garyvard. The sun was still quite low at 10.30 - just for reader's reference, the sun rises here at 9.10am and sets at 3.35pm. London times (for comparison) are about 8am and 3.50pm. That's the difference that 7 degrees latitude make. Said hello to barking dogs, who promptly shut up, then headed away from the road to make a shortcut across the moors in order to gain the Marvig road junction, about a mile north of the Eishal junction. Weaved my way around some lochans, then got into a seemingly never-ending maze of fencing. At one stage I undid a gate, which promptly fell over flat into the mud. Don't know how I got to the road, but it was a bit difficult. Lots of fences, lots of streams. Walked up the road to the junction for Cromor / Marvig, then headed east through a very rocky landscape. The approach to Marbhig / Marvig is quite pretty, you walk right next to a loch, and you see one house at the other end. Then, when you reach that house, the view opens up right across the village, to the Point district east of Stornoway and Payble. Got this info off a local gent who was mending a fence around his vegetables. Headed further up the road, south, towards Calbost, which is a one-horse town in a pretty valley. There is a strand at the other end of it, but did not go to see it. The weather was closing in at this point, cloud from a weatherfront spilling in from the west. The wind also picked up, a rather cold (8C) westerly. After a quick lunch in the heather, I continued up the hill and was treated to a nice shower at 1.40pm. On reaching Gravir, I saw a dog harassing a sheep. The sheep bowed its head to show the dog its horns. The dog, a young collie, obviously didn't know what to do now, although it had been yapping at the sheep's neck. Not sure if this was play or something serious. Usually dogs get shot if they worry sheep. Gravir is quite a long, strung-out settlement along the shores of Loch Odhairn (Ourn), and it took me the better part of 20 minutes to reach the junction where I found myself yesterday. Marched up the road west, and with one break for tea, gained Kershader at 3.45, just as it got dark.
Tuesday 14/12/04
It's raining today, but that's no excuse for sitting inside. Headed up the road in an easterly direction, then went south up onto the moors. It's a route I've taken several times now, following the peat-track as far as it goes, then past a small outcrop and up towards Loch nan Eilean. My decision to walk along its eastern bank rather than the western one turned out to be a bit of a mistake. (A) it's longer (B) more difficult. Several larger streams empty into the loch, one of which had a wrecked boat lying across its mouth. One flowed out over rocks, and I went flying when I didn't bother to properly judge the awkward steps. Put my foot in the water on a slippery stone, projected myself forward and ended up face-down on the rocks. Thrust out one arm to prevent real damage. Objective achieved, but sprained my shoulder. Rather painful, and found myself in some degree of pain for the rest of the day. Cursing silently, I went on towards Glen Gravir, which I reached at about 1.30. The glen is just over a mile long, wherupon it reaches a road junction. South goes to Lemreway and Orinsay, east goes to Calbost and north to Stornoway. Headed out of the village, smiling at the Gaelic roadsign Grabhair, which in English could be construed rather unpleasantly. In Gaelic, the 'bh' is a 'v' and the second 'a' is not pronounced. Chatted to a gentleman who was pushing a bicycle up the road in the opposite direction. He told me that he was coming back from Kershader, having bought an icecream. Sure. Reached Kershader shortly before 4pm, just as it got dark.
Monday 13/12/04
The usual Monday shopping trip to Stornoway, which passed off under a very dark sky. The light in the Town Hall clock tower went on at half past twelve, although sunset is not until 3 hours later. Had to walk back from Balallan to Kershader, the 5 mile jaunt is becoming very familiar.
Saturday 11/12/04
I continue to curse the weekend busservice down here, which is not really good. The first bus goes at 7.54, which is too early for walking purposes. It's still dark at that hour. So I went on the 11.39, which didn't leave me a lot of time for walking - 4 hours to be precise. Remember, it gets dark quite early up here - 3.45 is the very latest you can be out and about off the road.
Walked out of Balallan at 11.50, heading west towards Ròineabhal, but not intending to climb the hill. As I knew the terrain, I could maintain quite a good pace and managed to cover the 4km to the valley south of the hill in 1 hour. It is not easy walking country, but I've grown used to it. It's quite a nice walk up to the top of the pass, but after that it gets a wee bit wet. The country opens up once you head west towards Loch Langabhat, and it's a long descent. It's important to know where you want to go, as this is potentially confusing country. Theastabhal is the next hill (do not pronounce the leading 'th'),and it has a hidden outpost. It only becomes clear once you go down the slope. Don't become confused by the vast myriad of lochans to the north of Loch Langabhat. Use it an orienteering tool, rather. What is confusing is the low hill by the lochside. I kept up at quite a high contour, and by 2 o'clock went round the southern side of Theastabhal to head out towards Airidh a'Bhruaich, southeast of there. Once on the other side of the hill, things became very boggy and difficult, but I decided not to head into the village, but instead steer an easterly course for Balallan, visible in the distance. There are two lochans along the way (sorry haven't got the map with me), and then you hit the fences again. I nearly had a grouse dinner - a lame one was sitting in the heather, but I couldn't bring myself to wring its neck. By 2.45 it started to drizzle, and it became steadily more gloomy. Having negotiated a couple of awkward fences, I finally came out onto the main road at the eastern end of Airidh a'Bhruaich at 3.15. Walked up that road to Balallan, only to stumble across a party of stalkers who were blasting off at something in the moors. Finally got into Balallan by 4pm, when it was quite dark already. After the drink at the Claitair Hotel, it was 4.40 and fully dark. The rain was belting down and it was not a very nice 75 minutes to Kershader. Particularly not if you get wisecracks offering you lifts in the opposite direction. What's the use of that, eh?
Friday 10/12/04
Decided on a slightly longer than normal trip to town, as a couple of things needed doing. The bulb in my torch blew the other night, which is not desirable. I need a torch when walking along the roads after dark, if only to let cars know I'm there. So a new torch was duly acquired. Also got the weekly lot of papers, and found that the Stornoway Gazette even printed my explanation of the lunar halo that somebody saw a week ago from the east of the island. Nipped into the museum for a bit to look at the distant and not so distant history of Lewis, which was quite interesting. Finally a trip to the Co-op, which had not bothered to stock up since the day before, so I was stuck for potatoes and quite a few other bits and pieces. I had to make do with a different type of potato for the weekend, growl. Returned to Kershader on the bus, and this time I didn't have to walk the 5 miles - the 14.20 from S'way has a connecting service into South Lochs as it happens.
Thursday 09/12/04
Was woken in the night by ferocious winds juddering the windows and doors. When I looked out of the window at 9pm, it was blowing a full gale. The sheep nearly blew out of their woollies, the grass lay flat and Loch Erisort had white riders on the water. Walked out at 10 o'clock, just after the bus had left, and headed east along the road. The wind made walking difficult at times, and also tried to wrest my mapcase from me. No such luck. A dog came out to greet me, I said hello, and it went on its way again. Passed through Gearraidh Bhaird / Garyvard, and turned left at the Cabharstadh / Caverstay turning. Reached the road end at 11 o'clock, and was left to my own devices to find a way onto the moors. Bit tricky; there are lots of fences about, and no gates. The first opening left me being buffeted on the edge of a precipice, and having to negotiate some loose wires. Not advisable. So, I backtracked and managed to get into a field with very friendly sheep. My mapcase looks to those animals like a bag of feed, one of them even came right up to me to nuzzle the case. Nah, no luck love. Better go to your ram, he's right behind you... Squeezed through a very narrow opening beside a broken gate and gained the moors. The wind is a hindrance, which makes it force 8. As it is forced up over the hills, it will finally go down towards the loch below at quite a speed. On one of the summits I was nearly blown over, which means it's force 10. Force 9 just makes it impossible to walk. Headed through the hills, at first close to the coastline until the lochan at 371205, then in an eastsoutheasterly direction to a small lochan at 384197. The distance is a little under a mile, but it took me nearly an hour. After that, I finally reached a metalled road at Torasdaidh at 12.15. Wasn't quite sure which way to go, but turning right was the right decision, as this got me onto the road to Cromor - stress the last syllable. Headed northeast battling with the wind. Cromor has streetlights, powered by solar power. The road leads along the inlet of Loch Thorasdaidh, which you'll see on both sides. I headed west at the phonebox, intending to go to Crobeag. Someone let some plastic bags fly out of his hands, they ended up in the sea. Had quite some bother climbing over gates, as the wind was determined to blow me off. Reached the end of the road at Crobeag, and followed the track down to the shore. At low tide, this provides a causeway across to Eilean Chaluim Chille / Columba'sIsland. The tide was in, so I couldn't go across. Found a sheltered spot for some lunch. Whilst sitting there, I noticed that the wind was blowing the crests off the waves, a sure sign that it is approaching stormforce 10. At 1.30, I recommenced my battle with the elements, as I found myself heading straight into the teeth of the gale. For 2½ miles, up to Eishal Junction, I was walking with great difficulty. There is a walkway across to Marbhig / Marvaig, but I wanted to leave that until a day with less wind. Finally reached the junction at 2.45, and the remaining 3½ miles were a lot easier. Reached Kershader at 4pm, just as it got dark. Yep, the sun had set at 3.35. No, didn't do a lot after that. The total distance was about 15 miles, but the wind had made it just that little bit harder!
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