Pabay Mor in Song

When first he rounded Pabay Mor

And met the mountain waves alone

There was fear till there was fear no more

Wild Atlantic son

This is the first verse of Pabay Mor; a beautiful song that eloquently invokes the ever-present challenge of the sea in the lives of the Hebrideans. I have been to this beautiful island several times over the years, and have experienced first-hand the severe sea-change often encountered when rounding the island to leave the sheltered waters of Loch Rog. One second the boat is lazily motoring forward, the next it is plowing through heavy seas.

Here are links to two versions of Pabay Mor. Have a listen, I think you'll like them. Below these links are a few images of beautiful Pabay Mor.

Mealasta, Pabay Mor, Little Bernera

Episode 5 in the Continuing Adventures of Hjalmar Bjorge

Hebridean Cruise - May 20 to 29, 2017

After our longer than expected walk to the Ardveg we motored out of the shelter of Hamanavay Bay to head north. As we passed the lonely island of Mealista, which faces the full brunt of the open Atlantic, Mark throttled back the engines to take a look at the beach landing. I have tried several times over the years to get ashore on Mealasta, but it is so exposed that a heavy swell always seems to be bashing the landing spot. 

Mealasta Island seen from Scarp

With the engines idled back we took a good look at the inviting golden sands. But it was not to be, that rolling swell, so often seen in the past, was still bashing.

Mealasta Island Beach

So we carried on north to sweep around Gallan Head, once the site of an RAF communications center. The base was abandoned in 2010, and the property acquired by the Gallan Head Community in 2014. Once around Gallan Head we entered the waters of West Loch Rog, where the anchor was dropped into the turquoise waters off Traigh an Teampull (Chapel Beach) on the west side of Pabay Mor: an island name that means something like the big island of the priest. Although it was a bit cloudy, there were still several hours of daylight left, and in short order we were ashore on the white sands of Chapel Beach. 

Pabay Mor Landing - Photo: Liz Hamilton

Appropriately, sitting in the little glen above the beach, are the remnants of a small chapel dedicated to St Peter. There's little left, as it was used for target practice by the British navy around the year 1506.

St Peter's

A gentle walk up the glen from the chapel took us past a large loch dotted with lily-pads and encircled by a moat of mud. Can you guess the loch's name?  Yep...  you guessed it, Loch an Teampull (Chapel Loch). Here we did our good deed of the day by rescuing a sheep half sunk into the mud, unable to rescue itself. Grasping its horns, one of us on each side, we huffed and we puffed and we pulled it out of the muck. But did we get a thanks? Nope. It just scrambled away as fast as it could, wagging its muddy behind at us. I wanted to start singing Born Free.

Born free - one very lucky sheep

In the south side of the glen we came to Briominish Village, the only settlement on the island, and until 1800 home to the Pabay branch of the Macleods. (See the November 30, 2016 post for more on Pabay and the Macleods.) The people of Valtos, on the adjacent shore of Lewis, still graze their sheep here, and the owner of the island has fixed up some of the old houses.

Inspecting the ruins of Pabay Village

Old Pabay houses updated (a bit)

No visit to Pabay is complete without climbing to the airy summit of Beinn Mhor, all 226 feet of it. Now that may not sound like much, but it's high enough for a grand view over all the islands of West Loch Rog, and across to the mile-long white sands of Riof Beach on Lewis.

Atop Pabay

Hjalmar Bjorge afloat off Pabay Mor

With our exploration of Pabay complete, the hook was lifted and Mark motored a mile south to drop the still-wet hook off the sparkling white sands of Riof Beach. A delicious three course meal prepared by Chef Mark was followed by calm night at anchor.

In the morning Mark gave us the forecast. It was not looking good for the Flannans; winds were still a problem, and the sea outside the shelter of the loch was still jumpy and lumpy. With any significant swell the Flannans are a no-go. So the plan was to head around the top of Great Bernera to nestle into Kyles Little Bernera, a sheltered anchorage between Great and Little Bernera. Then we'd spend a few hours ashore on Little Bernera before heading to Carloway for the night. It would be on the following day we'd decide whether to try for the Flannans.

I love Little Bernera; aside from the beauty of the island, it's historic in both Celtic Christianity and Hebridean literature. Its chapel of St Donnan was once an active outpost of early Celtic monks, and since those days the cemetery on the site has became a cherished place to be buried. The island's fame in Hebridean literature comes from William Black's use of it in his 1873 novel Princess of Thule. See the September 2, 2013 post for more on St Donnan's and The Princess of Thule.

St Donnan's

After paying our respects to St Donnan's we followed the shoreline north across the sandy machair. I took everyone this way to see the fantastic white sands of Traigh Mhor (the great beach). Just offshore from the beach we could just make out a solitary beehive cell on a tiny island called Eilean Fir Chrothair, and next to it another small island, Cealasay (church island). Both Cealasay and Little Bernera had monastic establishments, and it may be that the cell on Eilean Fir Chrothair was used as a place of retreat when a monk wanted to get far from the madding crowds of Little Bernera. See the June 30, 2015 post for more about the cell on Eilean Fir Chrothair.

Traigh Mhor

Beehive Cell - Eilean Fir Chrothair

After our jaunt on Little Bernera we boarded the inflatable, then Mark and Anna took us up to storm the beach at Bosta on Great Bernera; yet another white sand beach. Compared to the deserted islands we'd been on, Bosta beach was a bit crowded. But that did not deter us from joining all the holiday-makers as we landed next to the tide bell. Neither did it deter several of our party from taking a refreshing swim. The tide bell is an interesting structure, which you can read more about here.

Tide Bell and swimmers

Those of us not brave enough to swim headed up the beach to take a look at the restored Iron Age Round House. An unexpected bonus here was that a local guide gave us a great tour and explanation of what it was like to live in the house fifteen hundred years ago.

Bosta Round House

A pleasant, 10 minute walk, took us back to a jetty opposite Little Bernera, where we boarded Hjalmar Bjorge to make the short crossing to anchor in Carloway Bay for the night. At that point there was a bit of tension, in my mind, anyway. The following day would be make it, or break it. Would the Flannans be possible, or not?  If not we'd be starting the long journey back to Oban in the morning.

Hjalmar Bjorge in Kyles Little Bernera - Photo by Liz Hamilton

Pabay Mor - Loch Roag

Pabay Mor, in Loch Roag, was one of my first Island 'Consolation Prizes'. But it would be hard to find a better one. It was the year 2000, and I had tried to get out to the Flannans with Seatrek. But they had more lucrative business opportunities going on, and so my 'penciled in' Flannan trip was cancelled. But they did offer to drop myself, two friends, and Freddie (a Baile-na-Cille dog) off on the island of Pabay Mor.

Briomanish Village - Pabay Mor

Pabay was cleared of its people around 1820. It was briefly re-settled in 1840, but was cleared again in 1849. The village consists of about seven old houses and a kiln. Four of the houses still have roofs and are occasionally occupied.

In the distance in the next photo you can see the township of Valtos on mainland Lewis. The Valtos crofters have the right to graze their sheep on Pabay.

Pabay was a MacLeod island until 1800, and prior to that the Pabay MacLeods held a lot of territory in the Uig area. The following abridged excerpt from chapter 17 of book 2 tells how the Pabay Macleods lost control of their land on mainland Lewis.

In the fifteenth century the sons of MacLeod of Pabay Mor murdered the family of John Roy Macaulay, following a dispute over the ownership of a cow. Thirteen-year-old John Roy was away at the time, living with his foster-father in Mealista, on the west coast of Lewis. MacLeod of Lewis, not happy with the behavior of the Pabay MacLeods, ordered that in recompense they take young John Roy into their custody with a promise to keep him safe.

But John Roy's period of safekeeping did not last long. On a snowy November day the MacLeods took him on a hunting trip, and at Kenneth’s hut (NB 112 164), an old shelter near Kinresort, he was tied to rocks in the snow and left to the elements.

The ruin of Kenneth's Hut

John Roy’s foster-father had a premonition something was amiss. He hiked to Kenneth’s hut and found the near-dead boy. After resuscitating him with some warm milk, he carried him over seven miles of hills and bog to Mealista. Several years later John Roy would have his revenge when he pursued the eldest son of MacLeod to the shores of Uig Bay, killing him just before he could reach the sanctuary of St Christopher’s chapel. MacLeod of Lewis, in compensation for all John Roy had suffered, granted him some of the lands of Uig that belonged to the Pabay MacLeods. 

The most historical structure on Pabay is Teampall Pheadair, St Peter's Chapel. It dates to at least the 1500s, and lies above a beautiful white-sand beach a half-mile north of the village. 

St Peter's Church and beach

As you can see in the next photo there's not much left of St Peter's. A note on the CANMORE page for the church suggests it may have been bombarded by canon fire during the Scottish Crown's campaign against the MacLeods of Lewis in 1506.

What's left of St Peter's

At the north end of Pabay you will find a giant lobster pond. Lobsters caught at sea in creels were held here until market prices in England merited shipping them south. 

Lobster Pond and Freddie of Bailenacille

I have been fortunate to have spent many hours on Pabay in 2000, and again during a visit in 2011. I look forward to possibly returning again during our Hjalmar Bjorge cruise this May.

Pabay Mor - 3

After visiting the arch and the lobster ponds I made my way to the south end of Pabay Mor. (As with most day trips to the island, we were dropped at the north end, and picked up near the village ruins at the south end.)

After reaching the south end of Pabay Mor I spent some time in Briomanish, the island's only village, which was once home to Clann Thormaid, a branch of the Macleods. These Macleods were often at odds with the Macauleys of Lewis, and they had quite a bloody feud - which you can read about in Massacre of the Macauleys by the Macleods of Pabbay in Donald MacDonald's book Tales and Traditions of the Lews. As you can see in the photos, the current owner of Pabay has fixed up a few of the old blackhouses.

Pabay Village

Some of the Pabay houses that have been fixed up

Looking over Pabay village to mainland Lewis

Pabay Mor - 2

At the north end of Pabay Mor a narrow channel, Kyles Pabay Beg, divides Pabay Mor from the tiny island of Pabay Beg. Branching off from the Kyles is a tidal lagoon once used as a lobster holding tank; lobsters caught in creels at sea were held here until the market price in England merited shipping them south. A small secondary holding pond can be seen at the upper left of the first photo. The construction date is unknown, but a similar pond in Loch Risay, on nearby Bernera, was built around 1860, and is thought to have been one of the first of its type.

The lobster ponds

Looking north towards the Kyles and Pabay Beg

Pabay Mor - 1

Pabay Mor is a beautiful little island in West Loch Roag. Last time I visited I was set ashore on the small white-sand beach below St Peter's Church. There is not much left of the little church, and there is some thought that it may have been the target of canon fire in 1506.

St Peter's Church - Pabay Mor

From the church ruin I wandered north to see the natural arch that I'd missed seeing on my previous trip to the island.

Looking seaward through the arch

The Pabay Arch seen from the sea

After herding some shaggy sheep over the arch I took a look at the massive lobster ponds that lie nearby, which we'll see next time.

Sheep taking a shortcut over the arch