Crògary Mòr and the Cave of Gold - North Uist

The old peat track up Bealach Maari looked inviting. As I strolled up the track the sun blazed intensely down, and so I stopped to take my shirt off. After a minute of savouring the cooling air the midges found me. I put the shirt back on. My destination was the summit of Crògary Mòr, five miles east of Vallay Island. I had wanted to walk over to Vallay, but the tides were not right for a daytime return, so I decided to get a view of the island from the summit of Crògary Mòr; at 590 feet one of the highest hills in the area. I was also doing something I love to do on a walk, following in the footsteps of an author. Alasdair Alpin Macgregor climbed Crògary Mòr in the 1920s, and wrote the following:

Not a halt do I allow myself until my brogues are feeling the rocky summit of Crogary Mòr, and the eyes of me searching for the cave of gold reputed by the isles-folk to contain of precious metal the fill of seven cow’s hides . . . And I see, too, where the moors of Eaval appear to slip over the horizon into the great North Ford. And the Isle of Benbecula lies beyond, like a ruby set in a sea of glittering sapphire. 

Erskine Beveridge also wrote about the treasure of Crògary Mòr:

A tradition is locally current to the effect that one of the MacQueens of Oronsay buried a golden treasure in a foal’s skin near the summit of Crogary More at a spot from whence the sun can be seen shining upon three forts at the same time. These conditions infer a hiding-place on the north face of the hill, within view presumably of Dun na Mairbhe, Dun Aonghuis, and Dun Rosail.

Hmmm . . . A secret location where the sun can be seen simultaneously shining on three prehistoric forts. Exciting stuff. Like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. Hopefully there would not be any deadly booby-traps waiting to spring on someone unworthy of the treasure (like me). And as for that treasure, there is a bit of a discrepancy in the descriptions. Would the amount of gold fill the hide of one foal, or seven cows?  And what exactly is a ‘hide-full’ in the metric system?

Crogary Mor seen from Loch Aonghais

The top of the hill was a steep, bald hump of bedrock. As I climbed to the summit I kept an eye out for the cave of gold, but saw nothing. On reaching the top I took out a map to pinpoint exactly where the three forts were that Beveridge mentioned. The one known as Dun na Mairbhe, dun of the dead—a good name for a zombie movie—could be seen a mile to the north on an island in Vallaquie Strand. Also visible was Dun Aonghuis a mile to the northwest, and Dun Rosail, two miles to the northeast.

But no matter where I stood on the hill the sun was shining on all three forts. Perhaps Beveridge was thinking of the wrong three. The bottom line was that I had to give up my hunt for gold. So for all you treasure seekers there, start plotting the locations of the duns of North Uist, all five-hundred. Then see if you can figure out another three that are visible from one spot on Crògary Mòr.

What I could see from the summit was the isle-studded sea; Vallay, Oronsay, and myriad islands beyond, including St Kilda on the far horizon. 

Looking northwest from Crogary Mor

The hill known as Maari, nearly as high as Crògary Mòr, lay a half-mile to the west. The pass between the two hills is called Bealach Maari, and at its southern end is a seven-foot standing stone. The stone may be a boundary- or way-marker, but it could have other roots. I say that because on the western slopes of Blathaisbhal, two miles to the southeast, there are three other standing stones. This trio is set in a linear alignment that points directly to the stone in Bealach Maari. Perhaps all of them are markers left to guide someone who knows the secret to the cave of gold. 

Hopefully I’ve inspired you to search for the hidden gold of Crògary Mòr. If you find it, kindly forward me one cow’s hide worth as a commission for the idea.

Stone alignment at Blathaisbhal - the hills Maari and Crogary Mor in the distance

An Island Dun

Sometimes when you're out for an island hike you encounter a surprise. A few years ago I made a circular walk on North Uist to see the souterrain of Taigh Talamhant (see the May 21, 2015 post). On the way back to the road I came across this amazing island fort in Loch na Caigainn, reached by a causeway. 

It was exciting to step across the causeway and enter the dun. It was a well defended in its day, with two flanking wings (walls) protecting the entry to the fort. Erskine Beveridge wrote about the fort in his epic book North Uist (1911). In it he mentions there was a Clach Ghlagain (rattle stone) in the causeway, that clanked loudly when stepped on to warn the dun-dwellers that someone was approaching. It was hard to tell which stone it was, because pretty much every stone clanked when I stepped on it.

Looking back to the mainland

Atop South Lee

At 922 feet, South Lee is the second highest mountain on North Uist. The highest, at 1138 feet, is Eaval, which lies three miles to the south. Both Eaval and South Lee are hard nuts to crack, as getting to them requires many long miles of bog-hopping. But they are worth the long march in. 

Here are some photos I took from the top of South Lee a year ago. When seen from above, the countless lochs that dot the interior are an amazing sight. And every time I see them they remind me of that fantastic scene in 2001: A Space Oddessy. The scene where Dave Bowman enters the star gate and is flung though the universe; traversing strange planetary terrains, multi-colored terrains; psychedelically altered images of the lochs of Uist.

Lochmaddy seen from South Lee

Lochmaddy (left) and North Lee (right)

Causewayed island forts in Loch Hunder

Looking west across Loch Hunder

Looking to Eaval from South Lee

The mouth of Loch Eport seen from the eastern slopes of South Lee

Looking south to Loch Eport and Eaval

The Broken Bridge of North Uist - Lochmaddy

A wander around Lochmaddy is a regular experience on a Hebridean Cruise. In times past we could tie up to the Lochmaddy ferry pier for the night and then go for a walk. But these days they don't much tolerate boats tying up to ferry piers overnight, even when the ferry is not due. So a desirable alternate to Lochmaddy, four miles to the northwest, is Bagh a' Chaise (Cheese Bay). I've no idea why it's called that. Perhaps at low tide, on a hot day, it smells a bit cheesy. There are several 'odoriferous' place names in the islands - 'Stinking Goat Bay' on Great Cumbrae comes to mind.

But getting back to Lochmaddy, I've spent many hours over the years exploring the area around town on foot. But there was one walk I''d never had the time to do, and that is the Sponish Loop. It is a four-mile trek that takes you out to the Sponish Penninsula via a footbridge a half-mile north of town. From there you can visit a neolithic Camera Obscura (more later), before traversing the peninsula west to the highway, which you follow back to town. You can also do the walk the other way around (clockwise).

So last August, finding myself with a few hours to kill in Lochmaddy, I decided I would do the Sponish loop. Fortunately I decided to do the walk in the counterclockwise direction, for when I reached the footbridge it was roped off with signs saying it was broken and to use an alternate route.

The broken bridge

I would have been in a pickle if I'd done the walk in the other direction. I'd of had to backtrack all the way to town. I hope the bridge is fixed next time I'm there, as I would like to take a close-up look at Sponish House and see the nearby neolithic Camera Obscura. What the heck is a neolithic Camera Obscura you say? See this Walkhighlands page for a photo, and this CANMORE page for a description of Sponish House. 

Sponish House and the broken bridge

Uisinis Light - North Uist

Standing on a remote corner of South Uist is little Uisinis light. It was established in 1858 and automated in 1970. The nearest road to the light is at Loch Skiport, some 5 miles away; so to get to Uisinis requires either a long walk, a boat and a short walk, or a helicopter.

Location of Uisinis light

I have not made the long walk from Loch Skiport, though I hope to someday. My visit to Uisinis only required a two-and-a-half mile round-trip walk from Mol a' Tuath (the rocky north beach). Mol a' Tuath is a good anchorage, and is where they landed supplies for the light. There is a small shed there, and an overgrown track leads east to the light.

Mol a' Tuath and the shed

The shed - 1

The shed - 2

I first red about Uisinis in Keith Allardyce's book Scotland's Edge (1998). In it, the author describes a visit to the light with Iain Macleod, one of the attendants:

'...we reached a little shingled beach in a sheltered bay. Above the beach, Iain kept his 1958 Ford Dexter tractor, gleaming in a recent coat of blue paint, in a grand NLB shed.'

The author was then towed to the lighthouse in a trailer pulled by the tractor. The Ford has since been hauled away, and the shed is now anything but grand. The week before I’d seen the ruin of a tractor in a similar NLB shed on Barra Head, forty miles to the south; it was mouldering away, tilted on flat tires, with bits of faded blue paint barely showing under an ever-growing coat of rust.

Ford 3000 Tractor at Barra Head

From the shed it is a half-hour walk to the lighthouse. It is a bit of an anti-climax when the tower finally comes into view; as it is only 39 feet high. But being sited atop the cliff it is visible for nearly 20 miles. The keepers houses were dismantled when they automated the light, so there is not much of interest here other than the light itself, and its dramatic position atop the cliff, looking east to Skye over the Sea of the Hebrides.

Some day I hope to visit Uisinis again as part of a three day hike up the east coast of South Uist. I would start at Loch Aineort, and spend the night in Glen Corodale (see the March 14, 2014 post for a visit to Corodale). I'd then head up around Loch Corodale to spend the second night at Uisinis bothy. On the third day I'd swing by Uisinis light on the way out to the road at Loch Skiport. It would be a fantastic walk.

Here are a few photos of Uisinis from a visit made in August of 2015.

Wanderings on North Uist - South Lee

Have you ever planned a long, overnight hike, in remote country to see an historical site?  Did you plan this trip months in advance, and have it be the centerpiece of a fortnight's holiday? And to finally reach your destination, did you set out on foot, crossing miles of bogs, with 35 pounds of gear on your back, looking forward with every step to seeing something you've only read about, a place rarely visited, the only photos of it nearly a century old?

And when you finally reached this much anticipated place, did it disappoint? Was it nothing like you pictured it?  Did you say to yourself, "Oh well, at least I had a good hike in the islands".

That's what happened to me last May. I'm addicted to finding old beehive structures: the stone corbelled cells and chambers that dot the Western Isles. One of the most unique such cells is built atop the ruin of a fort on the southern slopes of South Lee, a hill on the island of North Uist. The fort is called Dun Caragarry, and the only photos of it, and its beehive chamber (that I know of), were taken by Erskine Beveridge nearly a century ago (they can be found in his epic book North Uist, and on this CANMORE page).

It was last May, near the end of a full day of hiking around the base of South Lee, that I found what I thought was Dun Caragarry. It was a stone structure, but much smaller than I envisioned it would be, with a small pile of stone in it that barely rated being called a beehive. I was so exhausted after marching across miles of bog, and then climbing up several hundred feet of bracken infested hillside, that I convinced myself I'd found the site I come to see. After taking a few, uninspired photos, I went on my way to find a campsite for the night. Below is the structure I found, which I thought was Dun Caragarry (also see the May 24, 2015 post).

Dun Caragarry outbuilding

Dun Caragarry outbuilding - it too, has a small remnant of a beehive type structure

When I returned home a few weeks later, I compared these photos to the ones Erskine Beveridge took. It was readily apparent that what I'd found was not Dun Caragarry. A little more research revealed that Dun Caragarry had a small outbuilding 50 feet below it. That was what I'd found. I'd been so close, if I'd only climbed another 50 feet up the hill I would have found the real fort and its beehive.

After realizing my mistake, I thought it would be a long time before I'd have another chance to visit that remote part of North Uist. To do so meant dedicating another week of island-going, staying in North Uist while waiting for descent weather, and setting out once again to walk across miles of bog to repeat a hike I'd already done. But, as things turned out, three months after that missed opportunity, another chance arose; one that would allow me to visit the real Dun Caragarry without 35 pounds of gear strapped to my back.

I was on the ship Hjalmar Bjorge a month ago, and after a visit to St Kilda we anchored off the Monachs. A stiff northerly made the anchorage uncomfortable, so we motored over to Lochmaddy. After a couple hours wandering around town (where I enjoyed some of the best fish & chips in the islands at the Lochmaddy Hotel) the skipper, Tim Wear, ran me the short distance across Lochmaddy harbour to the base of North Lee. The ship would then head down to Loch Eport, where I would meet them in a few hours.

The distance to Loch Eport from Lochmaddy is about three trackless miles. But that's as the gannet flys. The route I had in mind would be five miles, as I wanted to reach the top of South Lee, try to find the real Dun Caragarry, and then drop down to the shore to be picked up at Acairsaid Falach, a small, hidden harbour in Loch Eport.

Lochmaddy seen from the slopes of North Lee - Hjalmar Bjorge at right

The skipper (Tim Wear) and first mate (Craig) head back to Hjalmar Bjorge after dropping me at the base of North Lee

The Route to Loch Eport

Having climbed North Lee many years ago (see book 2, chapter 15) I decided to bypass it, and head directly for Loch Lee, which lies in the pass between North and South Lee. This would allow me more time to wander around the various tops of South Lee before searching for Dun Caragarry. From the shore of Lochmaddy an easy bog walk took me south along a fence to a stile that marked the route of the 10.5 km Beinn Lee Hill Race. (See this link). A little further on I came across a series of marker posts that shows the runners the way down from the top of North Lee.

Where the Beinn Lee hill race route crosses the fence 

Guide posts down the slopes of North Lee 

I did not follow the posts. Instead I traversed up to Loch Lee, which lies in the pass between North and South Lee. At one point I got a glimpse of Hjalmar Bjorge motoring down to Loch Eport.

Loch Lee

Hjalmar Bjorge on the way to Loch Eport

From Loch Lee it was a straightforward climb to the summit of South Lee. The spectacle of the hundreds of lochs that dot the interior of the island was amazing. I believe some of the psychedelic scenes from the movie 2001 - A Space Odyssey, where Astronaut Dave Bowman passes through the star gate, were filmed here.

Another fantastic sight was the view down to the causewayed duns in Loch Hunder (also see the  Sept 21, 2014 post).

Causewayed duns in Loch Hunder

Duns in Loch Hunder

To the south stood the mountain of Eabhal, and I could also see that Hjalmar Bjorge was already at anchor in Loch Eport. I was scheduled to be down to the shore for uplift in an hour, so it was time to search for Dun Caragarry.

Eabhal - with Halmjar Bjorge at anchor in Loch Eport

After enjoying a beer at the summit of South Lee, I headed down towards Dun Caragarry, which is marked 'Dun' on OS Landranger map 18 at NF 922 640. It was slow going, as the hillside was cloaked in a dense covering of bracken and heather. I eventually came to a rocky ridge, and the sight of defensive stone-work on the side of the ridge confirmed I'd found the fort.

Dun Caragarry

I climbed up to the center of the fort, and there I found the beautiful little beehive chamber I'd come to see. The top of its roof had collapsed, and looking down into it I could see that it was built atop a six-foot deep hidie-hole in the ground. I would have crawled into it, but the stonework looked fragile, so I settled for pulling out a few of the ferns growing in it in order to take some decent photos.

Beehive chamber in Dun Caragarry

From the fort there was a great view down to the mouth of the loch, and it was easy to envision that this was once a strategic outpost guarding the entrance to the inland sea of Loch Eport. Some 50 feet down the hillside I could see the outbuilding I'd mistakenly thought was the fort a few months before.

Outbuilding seen from Dun Caragarry

From the fort it was a battle down the hillside through thick bracken, brambles and heather to reach the shore of Loch Eport. I reached the shore a half mile east of Acairsaid Falach (Hidden Harbor), so I had to bash my way west through more of the bracken jungle to get to there. Just as I reached the harbour I saw Tim and Craig in the inflatable, and in short order I was back on the ship.

Eabhal seen from the north shore of Loch Eport

Acairsaid Falach  - The Hidden Harbor

I had been incredibly fortunate. Events had conspired to let me rectify a mistake, and find one of the hardest to reach, and most beautifully situated beehives in the islands. This wasn't the first time I'd been given the chance to make a long, one way hike in the islands while on a boat trip; and opportunities like this are one of the many reasons I enjoy small boat cruising. Try it, you'll like it.

Beehive chamber in Dun Caragarry

Wanderings on North Uist - Eaval & Dun an t-Siamain

For myself, Eaval was a tough nut to crack. Although it is only 1100 feet or so high, the approach to the foot of the hill requires miles of bog-hopping. In the summer of 2013 I was dropped on the shore near Burival, also known as Little Eaval, intent on climbing Eaval. That cut off a mile of bog, but I was only given three hours ashore, and when turn-around-time came I had only managed to climb to about 700 feet. I promised myself I'd return someday to make it to the top.

That promise was kept last week. But instead of repeating the approach to the hill from the north, I decided to climb it from Cladach Chairinis, three miles southwest of the summit. I made the climb in the company of Martin Margulies. Martin wrote the book Mhor and More about his walks on the Uists. Martin had advised me on the route to take on an visit to Glen Corodale I made three years ago (see the March 2013 issue of Scottish Islands Explorer).

From the road end at Cladach Chairinis, Martin and I headed east across the bogs; the sight of Eaval guiding us along. Without the mountain as a guide, the way back would be more of a challenge.

Across the bogs to Eaval

After two miles of bog- and loch-hopping we came to Loch Obasaraigh, where we got a close up look at its ring fort and dun before starting the climb.

Ring-fort and dun in the loch. The ring-fort is to the left (mostly submerged)

Dun & Ring-fort seen from 500 feet up the slopes of Eaval

It was a windy, gray day, but we were lucky in that there was no rain. Three hours after leaving the cars we reached the summit of Eaval.

Martin at the summit of Eaval

It was good to get to the top, especially as it had defeated me two years before. The next photo shows the view north: Burival (AKA Little Eaval) in the middle distance, South and North Lee in the far distance. (The northern approach to Eaval follows the shoreline at the base of Burival.)

Burival, South Lee and North Lee

After enjoying the view (and a snack) we descended to the southwest to the shore of Loch Dun an t-Siamain. I wanted to see if I could walk out across the causeway to the large dun that gives the loch its name.

Dun an t-Siamain from the slopes of Eaval

On reaching the shore we could see that Dun an t-Siamain was massive, as was its causeway made of giant boulders (one wonders how they got them in place). It was an easy stroll across the causeway to the fort.

Dun an t-Siamain

The approach across the causeway

Looking back to the shore - notice the large defensive wall where the causeway meets the fort

From the dun we started our way back to Chairinis. As we found out, without Eaval to guide the way, it is easy to get disoriented in the maze of bogs and lochs. After a wrong turn we managed to make our way back to the cars. Six hours afoot had left us with a thirst, but the proprietor of the nearby Temple View Hotel refused to serve us beer (since we were not residents), so we had to settle for tea and coke. It had been a great day on the hills, and I hope to hike with Martin again. You can read about his adventures on the hills of Uist in Mhor and More, published by the Islands Book Trust.