Forsnabhal

[Gordon Ballantyne]

It had been an early start from Ratagan to catch the early ferry from Uig to Tarbert.. I overdid it on the time safety margin and arrived to be first in the queue at Uig.
Breakfast on the ferry was grand and I felt good as I drove up past Clisham for Carishaider.

The Otter Bunkhouse at Carisaider

The forecast in the coming week was pretty horrendous for getting across the Minch, never mind attempting St Kilda - far less the stacks, so Plan B was activated - the Lewis Marilyns.
I arrived at the Otter Bunkhouse a mite early, so decided to stretch my legs up the road to visit the masts of Forsnabhal.
It only took 20min to walk up the tarmac road and then ascend the "Stairway to Heaven" to look around the comms masts and terminal building.

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Stairway to Heaven - Forsnabhal

Comms masts on Forsnabhal

Comms terminal building on Forsnabhal

Suineabhal was clear but Mealaisbhal and Cracabhal had cloud caps.

Suaineabhal from Forsnabhal

The wind was fairly brisk but not too cold so I headed back to the car and drove back to Carishaider and the Otter Bunkhouse. Even I could remember the combination for the door lock, to meet an eccentric old Dutch guy who had been coming to this area for about 30 years and was able to coach this virgin Lewisoch. Unfortunately his eyesight was pretty poor so his dishwashing was a bit hit or miss. Nonetheless - he had prints of the paintings he did back in Holland during the winter from the photos he took in the summer, which were pretty good.
The other occupants were a Primary Head teacher from Englandshire and a member of the Royal Household. ( we tried to pump her for royal dirt, but she didn't cough, even when bribed by a dram ! ) Actually it sounds like the start of a joke - the Dutchman, the Headmaster and the Royal Equerry.......
The bunkhouse was fairly moderns and Donald, the owner dropped in to welcome us. The bunkhouse had a great view across Loch Roag - but in spite of this idea situation we didn't see any otters. Just a few gulls and ducks.
On the way back from Forsnabhal I diverted past theTimsgarry shop and down the road to the sewage works at the end of Loch Suaineabhal to see if I could cross the burn which would shorten the walk to Suaineabhal. Unfortunately, with all the rain, the weir at the dam was running too high to cross and the stepping stones further down marked on the map only gave access to a fishing stance with no means of crossing the deepest part of the burn. This meant attacking Suaineabhal from the bunkhouse side later. The storm forecast for friday meant that I enjoyed full teuchter breakfast at John Glenesk's house at Geisaider next day. Simon then took me out to Aird Uig to Fiona's cafe to see how the community had converted and old unused RAF base into a wee village.

Foina's cafe at Aird Uig

The talking telescope at Aird Uig

The painted hoosie at Aird Uig. ( Better than RAF concrete ! )

[Sgurr]

We saved this for a day of low visibility. Here "stair-railing" takes on a quite literal meaning. From the top we could see Beinns Zero, Zilch, Nul, and Nix. Below R admiring the view

[Hills4dogs]

Hi
Just noticed this is tagged as climbing Feiriosbhal (Lewis) not Forsnabhal
Simon

[Sgurr]

I knew where you were, and even we did despite the low visibility.