Hairteabhaigh of South Uist

I have an article in the latest issue of Scottish Islands Explorer about a walk to Hairteabhaigh, a remote ghost village on a far corner of South Uist. The journey was a six-mile loop walk from South Glendale that also passed the site of the schoolhouse of Glaic Ruairidh, immortalized in the poetry of Dòmhnall Aonghais Bhàin. 

See the following link to get a copy of the magazine:
https://www.scottishislandsexplorer.com/index.php

Cladh Choinnich - South Uist

Sometimes, while reading old books on the Scottish islands, you'll come across a short, and somewhat obscure mention of an historic site; a short mention that only serves to whet your appetite for more. But in many cases that appetite goes unrequited, because you can not find any more information. One such short mention is this from DDC Pochin Mould's West Over Sea:

Above Lochboisdale, to the northward, rises Beinn Ruigh Choinnich, the mountain of Kenneth's shieling; at its foot lies Cladh Choinnich, Kenneth's Field, the site of an old chapel.

Cladh usually means burial ground, and there is a Cladh Choinnich on the west end of Tiree associated with St Kenneth. Knowing some of the fascinating history of Kenneth, a contemporary of St Columba, I was very interested in seeing the site of another chapel and burial ground that may be associated with him. But my search for any more information only turned up a frustratingly brief CANMORE reference that says nothing remains of the chapel and burial ground. But, what if they missed something?  And so I put a visit to South Uist's Cladh Choinnich on my list of things to do.

I visited Cladh Choinnich last year as part of a two-day hike around Beinn Ruigh Choinnich (see the August 24, 2016 post). But the site can be seen by doing a three-mile out and back from the road west of Lochboisdale.

The walk starts at the first bend in the minor road that heads north from the B865, a half mile west of Lochboisdale. From there you will see a path that heads north next to the house at NF 7861 2023. The narrow path can be swampy, so the going is slow. After 15 minutes of walking you'll come to an old bridge at Aurotote that crosses the outflow of Loch a' Bharp.

Bridge at Aurotote

After crossing the bridge turn right and head east along the shore of the outflow. In a half mile you'll reach a large sheepfank that looks to have originally been a substantial farm.

After another 10 minutes of walking you will come to a cluster or jumbled stone ruins, almost completely covered with vegetation. You have reached Cladh Choinnich. 

Looking to Lochboisdale from Cladh Choinnich

There are several low, circular foundations, that may have been beehive type dwellings. In a heavily brackened area I found a low, rectangular arrangement of stones that could have been a chapel, or a burial ground enclosure. Or, for that matter, an ancient livestock pen. But something important was here at one time, something that is remembered in oral history, if not in written history.

Ruins at Cladh Chonnich

Cladh Choinnich

Enclosure?  Cladh Choinnich

For a sacred, but mostly forgotten place like Cladh Choinnich, with so little remaining, you need some imagination to picture it as it was 15 centuries ago. Which makes it all the more interesting. Adding to the delight of walking in to a place like this is that it is so far off the tourist trail that, chances are, you'll have it all to yourself. When I made my two-day hike around this corner of Uist I only encountered one other person, a shepherd out gathering his flock.

Since you've come as far as Cladh Choinnich, you might as well carry on a ways and climb Beinn Ruigh Choinnich. The summit is only a half-mile away (and 900 feet up). The view over South Uist and the Sea of the Hebrides is well worth the climb. But you might want to avoid doing it the first Sunday of August, as that's when the annual Beinn Ruigh Choinnich race is held. The 2016 race was cancelled, because on the first Sunday of August a terrible storm blew through the islands. The same storm that caused an oil rig to go aground off the west side of Lewis.

The record for the run from Lochboisdale to the summit of Beinn Ruigh Choinnich and back is 30 minutes. See the Ben Kenneth Hill Race website for more information.

Kyles Stulaigh - and more

After visiting the Stone of Sorrow, I made my way 250 yards northeast to a souterrain known as Tigh nan Leacach (the house of flagstones). There are the ruins of three circular cells here, and at the base of one is a passage that extends 33 feet underground. But its entrance is so clogged that there is no way to crawl into it these days. (See this CANMORE page for more on Tigh nan Leacach.)

Entrance to Tigh nan Leacach

The plan from this point on for my two-day trek was to carry on another mile through Bealeach a' Chaolais (the pass of the the narrows), to reach an abandoned settlement on the coast, Kyles Stulaigh. Then I'd spend the night there before returning to Lochboisdale the way I'd come. I had picked this destination because Kyles Stulaigh was briefly touched by history 270 years ago.

It was not an easy mile through Bealeach a' Chaolais. There is no trail, and the steep descent to the coast was through thick bracken and heather. At one point I had to get through a gate in a deer fence; a gate securely tied with about a hundred feet of knotted rope, and jammed shut with pieces of timber. It would take a knife and a saw to open the gate, so I tossed my pack across the fence and climbed over.

The 'locked' gate

From the gate another stretch of heather- and bracken-bashing took me down to Kyles Stulaigh. Just offshore lay the island of Stulaigh.

Kyles Stulaigh - Stulaigh Isle in the distance

Kyles Stulaigh, an abandoned township with the ruins of about four blackhouses, was occupied as late as 1911 - see this CANMORE page for more on the township. This small, remote settlement, was touched by history for a day in 1746.

After the loss at Culloden in April of 1746, Prince Charles went into hiding, spending nearly 10 weeks, from April 20 through July 4, in the islands. Those 10 weeks were hectic. Ever on the run, he moved from place to place, his only respite a three-week stretch at Corradale, five miles north of Kyles Stulaigh. (See the March 14, 2014 post for the description of a visit to Corradale.)

The prince left Corradale on June 6, and headed north to Wiay island. But a week later he was heading back south past Corradale to spend the night of June 14 at Kyles Stulaigh. To get a feel for how hectic his travels were, below is an extract from The Itinerary of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, by Walter Biggar Blaikie (1897). You can find a PDF of the Itinerary here - pages 34 to 36 cover his time on South Uist.

MAY 15 – JUNE 5: At Coradale in a forester’s cottage. Here the Prince remained for twenty-two days in comparative comfort and safety; he was visited by his friends and enjoyed shootings at which he was very expert. Learning that troops had landed in the Long Island and were hemming him in, he was obliged to move.

JUNE 6: Sailed to Island Ouia (Ord. Sur. Wiay).

JUNE 7-9: Remained at Ouia where they heard the troops were following them.

JUNE 10-12: The Prince and O’Neil went to Rossinish by land, and remained three days, until they learned that the boats of the militia were patrolling the place. Donald Macleod and O’Sullivan, hearing of this came in a boat, brought them away and steered for Coradale.

JUNE 13. Forced by storm to put in at Uishness Point, they spent the night at Aikersideallach (Ord. Sur. Acarseid Fhalaich) in the cleft of a rock.

JUNE 14. The enemy being within two miles of them they sailed to Ciliestiella (Ord. Sur. Kyle Stuley).

Kyles Stulaigh lay in a beautiful, sheltered nook on the coast, and to the north I could see Corradale, and farther off the lighthouse at Uisinis (see the October 3, 2015 post). Kyles would be a great place to spend the night, but being sheltered from the wind meant the midges were thick. And if I stayed here I would have to return the way I'd came. The thought of climbing back up the rough hillside was not appealing, neither was spending the night in midge-land. So I looked at the map and made a quick decision to return to Lochboisdale by following the coast to the south.

When the prince left Kyles Stulaigh he sailed south along the coast I was now following. Going by boat he probably had an easier journey than I did, as the coast consists of a series of lumpy headlands covered with bracken and heather. Deer trails made the going easier. Without them it would have taken twice as long. 

Deer trails through the bracken

I had to go inland three times to get across the heads of narrow ravines cut deep by peaty streams. The prince sheltered at the outlet of one of these streams on his way to Lochboisdale, but I don't know which one.

A ravine to cross

A sheltered inlet on the coast

Aside from thick bracken and ravines, there was a man-made obstacle at one point. Yet another deer fence, this one with neither a gate nor a stile. So I had to toss the pack over and climb it.

Up and over

The coastline seemed endless, but the views east were amazing. At one point I came across a baby seal snoozing on a boulder.

The lumpy coastline

Baby on the rocks

It was starting to get dark when I finally came to where the coast turned west at the mouth of Lochboisdale. As I was setting up camp Lord of the Isles, the ferry from Mallaig, came steaming by.

Lord of the Isles arriving from Mallaig

Campsite at the mouth of Lochboisdale

During the day's hike I had managed to eat most of my food. So after pitching the tent all I had left to eat was a bag of crisps and a red-tinny of Export. But it was refreshing after a long day of hiking.

The night was windy, which kept the midges away, and I slept well. A little after 7am I was woken by the loud chugging of an engine; the culprit was the ferry on its way back to Mallaig.

Morning ferry to Mallaig

Breaking camp was quick, and I was soon on the homestretch to Lochboisdale. After rounding one last ridge the big marina came in sight, and a few minutes later I could see the Lochboisdale Hotel, where my wife was probably still comfortably sleeping. Soon after passing Cladh Choinnich, an old burial ground and chapel site, the bridge at Aurotote came into view.

Lochboisdale Marina

Lochboisdale

An hour later I was soaking in a hot tub, and in the afternoon we went for fish & chips at the Politician Pub down on Eriskay: a great way to end a two-day trek to see an historic, and rarely visited corner of the Hebrides.

The Broken Bridge of South Uist - Hairteabhagh

I've only made the walk to Hairteabhaigh once - a remote ghost village on the southeast corner of South Uist. The journey there is a six-mile loop starting from South Glendale; or a five-mile out-and-back from North Glendale along a route that crosses what's marked on the OS map as "Broken Bridge". I like loops, and the bridge sounded interesting, so I chose to get to Hairteabahg via the route from the south, and return along the north to see what the broken bridge business was all about.

I became interested in seeing Hairteabhaigh after reading about a walk there in Martin Margulies' Mhor and More (2011). I've had the pleasure of hiking with Martin when we ascended Eabhal last May (see the May 28th post).

I started the walk at the far end of the South Uist road, a mile past the Eriskay causeway. From there a hill path leads from South to North Glendale, which I followed to its highest point on the west shoulder of Marabhal. I left the path there and headed east to traverse the southern side of Loch Chearsanais and Loch Marulaigh.

It was hard going in places, soft-soggy bog and a few streams to cross. After a while I reached the path that comes in from North Glendale, and a short ways on I came to Hairteabhaigh. A half dozen house ruins dotted the landscape, centered on the bay of Hairteabhaigh and the small tidal island of Eilean Dubh.

Hairteabhaigh

Hairteabhaigh

Hairteabhaigh was created in the late 1700s by crofters forced out of the better land on the west side of the island. They farmed about 150 acres, and built several fish-traps in the bay near Eilean Dubh. Hairteabhaigh was abandoned in the 1800s, but was resettled for a while in the 20th century. No one lives there today, and the only sign of activity was the sheep wash you can see in the previous photo.

The tide was out, and I was hoping to cross over to the small island of Eilean Dubh. But the tide flats were a miasma of sandy mud, and did not look safe to cross.

Muddy tide-flats between Hairteabhaigh and Eilean Dubh

From Hairteabhaigh I considered carrying on anther mile east to Rubha na h-Ordaig (Big Toe Point), the southeast end of Uist. But I had promised my wife I'd meet her on the highway near the Eriskay causeway in two hours, so it was time to start back.

The path west was in good shape, and when I reached the Marulaig River I could see that the bridge was not just broken, it was missing - with only its cement-stone supports still standing. Fortunately the river was low, and it was easy to wade across.

The Broken Bridge

A couple of miles later I reached the junction with the North/South Glendale path at the west end of Loch Kearsinish. A left turn took me south, and 45 minutes later I reached the Eriskay Causeway, where my wife was patiently waiting for me in the car. Someday I hope to return to Hairteabhaigh and continue on to remote Rubha na h-Ordaig, the big-toe of South Uist. For more on Hairteabhagh see this CANMORE page.

Gamekeeper's Track

Often, while hiking through remote areas in the islands, you'll come across quad bike tracks. Typically made by gamekeepers, they are laid out to avoid steep terrain and the worst of the bogs. They are by no means the shortest route distance-wise, but time-wise they are often your best bet. 

On South Uist a series of these tracks cross almost the entire east coast from south of Corodale north to Uisinis. A couple years ago I followed one to remote Glen Corodale, where I wanted to spend the night on the spot where Prince Charlie hid for three weeks in 1746. Several sections of this track cross some steep terrain. To get up these challenging sections the gamekeeper has built several long, wooden ramps. At the top of the steepest ramps, a sturdy iron spike, with an eye-bolt at the top, is set in the earth; so if needed, the quad bike can winch itself to the top.

In the first photo you can see the quad-bike track as it winds up and down (and up and down), the seemingly endless series of ridges between Glen Corodale and Glen Hellisdale. The second photo shows one of the wood ramps. Next time we'll see what's at the end of the track in Glen Corodale.

Gamekeeper track to Corodale (see white arrows)

Quad bike ramp below Beinn Mhor on the way to Corodale

Wet Camera

Last month I was hiking in Glen Uisinis on the north east side of South Uist. The weather was miserable with a steady drizzle and a low fog shrouding the hilltops. I visited the three souterrains marked on the OS map. But they were disappointing to see as they were encased in a dense covering of soggy heather and tall bracken. It was still a good hike as I found a great viewpoint looking over Loch Corodale. And the walk ended on another good note when I came across the Uisinish bothy.

The bothy was a welcome sight. I was soaking wet, as was my camera. The effects of which you can see in this photo of the bothy. Many of my photos from that day have that blurry look because I only noticed the wet lens after going into the bothy to dry off.

The bothy looked a great place to spend the night, and I would have done that except a cozy bunk awaited on the Halmar Bjorge, which was anchored two miles away in Uisinis Bay (last photo). 

A Wet Lens view of Uisinis Bothy

Inside the bothy

Earth House of Spiders

Tigh nan Leacach, the house of flagstones, lies high in the hills of South Uist near Loch nan Airm (the loch of weapons). It is  a souterrain or, as labeled in early maps, an 'Erd House' (earth house).

Tigh nan Leacach

Its inner chamber is 25 feet long, and I wanted to crawl in to see it. But as I started in I came across this outer defensive shield. Could Shelob be waiting inside for supper to show up?  Not crazy about spiders in dark places I retreated. I was also a bit large to fit through the narrow opening.

Come into my parlour