Hebridean Way Stage 9: Seilebost to Tarbert

Summary

This is perhaps the finest section of the Hebridean Way - crossing Harris on an old coffin track and winding through the rocky, and lochan-dotted landscape of east Harris via clear paths and single track road to eventually reach Tarbert, Harris' capital with all services.

Grade

Bog Factor

4.5/5

Rating

Terrain

Tracks, good paths, short boggy section, minor roads.

Getting there

Start

Stage starts where previous stage comes down to coffin track near Seilebost - nearest road access 400m north along track at NG080968.

Public Transport

Tarbert and Seilebost (slightly off route) are linked by bus.

Start Grid Ref

NG081964

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Services

Seasonal cafe just off route at Bays Centre, Leac a'Li. Tarbert has shops, cafe, takeaway van, hotels, B&B, toilets and coin operated showers in the main car park (not open Sundays).

Walk Statistics

Distance: 23.5km / 14.5 miles
Time: 6 - 7 hours
Ascent: 642m (Profile)

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Explorer 455 - South Harris

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Walk Description

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Stage 1

On reaching the track south of the A859 near Seilebost at the end of the previous stage, turn right and continue along the track passing a building. After rounding the head of Loch Carran, turn right onto a rougher track which gently climbs over a low hill pass with increasingly good views over Luskentyre Sands behind. This is an old coffin road used by islanders from the east to carry their dead to the burial grounds in the west. It was immortalised in Peter May's novel The Coffin Road. In the 19th century many islanders were forcibly cleared from the more fertile land on the west coast to make way for profitable sheep and for those that established crofts on the rocky thin soils of the east this route would have been their final journey.

Stage 2

Continue on the coffin road to eventually reach a house at an inlet of the sea with the road bridge beyond. Turn left here over the footbridge (signed Leac a Li), pass the shed and go through a gate and climb up next to the fence. At the top don't go through the wooden gate but keep to the left of the fence to continue over the rocky landscape. Ignore the stile on your right and descend to cross a footbridge and pass a lochan. At a path junction turn right towards Leac a Li. When a concrete sheep fank is reached keep straight ahead through the gate and up the road. Soon a crossroads is reached, the Bays Centre staight ahead has a cafe open in the summer months. Otherwise turn left along the road, heading uphill.

Stage 3

Continue up the road for around 400m, crossing a cattle grid, until a signpost indicates a right turn for Stocanais and Greosabhagh. Take this and go through the pedestrian gate, bearing left of the rocky knoll to come alongside the fence. Follow the fenceline - keeping it on your left until reaching a pedestrian gate which indicates where to bear left slightly uphill to reach the next marker post. The route climbs a little and comes alongside another fence. Follow this on what becomes a delightfully grassy path. Head through a pedestrian gate and keep ahead when the fence goes left, reaching another marker. A lovely path now heads downhill, passing through a gap in a fence and later a gap in a wall as it cuts through this rugged and rocky landscape.

Stage 4

The route comes alongside another fence, this time kept on your right, before the route climbs a little and passes a derelict house. Eventually a signposted junction is reached - turn left, signed for Greosabhagh. The beautiful green path continues for a delightful couple of kilometres, winding between crags and past lochans, crossing several footbridges. Eventually it descends to Ghreosabhagh where it reaches the road.

Stage 5

There is now a 2.25km section of single track road. Turn left along the road and right at the next road junction to pass through Ghreosabagh. Continue until a path on the right opposite a lochan signed for Tarbert. The good path climbs through the heather and rock to reach a t-junction with a lochan on the left. Turn left signed for Plòcrapoll soon passing a bench and crossing a footbridge before emerging at a gate and the minor road.

Stage 6

Turn left along the road, which has attractive sea views. Ignore the turning on the right after 1km, continuing for another 2.5km beyond this until the slipway at Miabhaig. After the slip turn right at the signpost, climbing uphill towards a new house. Head around the left side of the garden ground to reach a track beyond, and turn right along this and then left down to reach a footbridge near the sea. A grassy path now climbs again, passing to the right of a bungalow to reach a tarmac drive, bearing right then leaving the tarmac to pass left of a house.

Stage 7

The old grassy path now passes a ruin and climbs a low hill with a bench with a stunning outlook over the sea. From here the path descends to pass below a crag, just above the sea. After a gate there is a view ahead to two more houses - the path keeps left of these and climbs behind them. At the next bay and house you join an access track. Go straight across at a tarred drive to keep on the old path, rejoining the tarred lane and then reaching the main road. Turn right along the road for a little over a kilometre.

Stage 8

Ignore a tarmac lane off left, but very shortly after it bear left onto a faint grassy track (signed). This climbs towards the telegraph poles, and then descends to cross a small footbridge below a little bungalow. This section is poorly marked - ignore the blue marker posts and instead turn left along the track. From the end a boggy path leads straight ahead, eventually joining another track by a house - turn left along this. Part way along the track is an agricultural shed in a fenced area that is locked - the Hebridean Way bypasses this on boggy ground on the right to rejoin the track beyond. Soon the route gives views over Tarbert and descendes to meet the main road - turn left and then right to head into Tarbert, which has a grocery shop, cafe, hotel and other accommodation. Next stage: Tarbert to Scaladal.

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