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The Outer Hebrides offer great Outdoor Safety opportunities to explore the outdoors Staying safe whilst walking is mostly a matter “Lewis is blessed with some of and walking provides you with the of common sense: the finest coastal walking in chance to get close to the nature, • Check the weather forecast before you set out. Britain, with countless sandy history and heritage of our islands or • Take appropriate clothing – these walks may beaches and mile after mile just to get out and enjoy the fresh air. cover some rough, wet ground, so wear your of impressive sea cliffs. This boots. A jacket is always advisable. short route combines both and There are lots of different types of walks to • Take extra care as some of these walks also provides a good chance choose from including coastal walks and are along steep cliffs. This walk is not for to spot whales, dolphins and wildlife walks. History lovers can choose – windy days! basking sharks on calm days.” for example – to walk the Bonnie Prince Charlie • Carry water and a bite to eat. trail in Uist, while a selection of hiking trails • Always tell someone where you are going take in historic sites and monuments providing and when you expect to be back. ample points of interest. • Always bring a compass and map with you. Butt of Lewis Whether you are looking for leisurely strolls along island beaches, or challenging hikes Scottish Outdoor Access Code through rugged mountain terrain, walking on In Scotland we have some of the best access laws our islands gives you a chance to really connect in the world – we have the right to walk on most with the outdoors and keep fit at the same time. land provided we behave responsibly and respect the rights of others. Full information on access rights and responsibilities can be found at www.outdooraccess-scotland.com If you keep to the following guidelines you won’t For more information and to download go far wrong: other walking routes, visit: • Do not disturb livestock or wildlife. www.visitouterhebrides.co.uk • Keep dogs under control, especially at lambing time. • Leave gates as you found them. • Take all your litter home. www.visitouterhebrides.co.uk/apps www.visitouterhebrides.co.uk www.visitouterhebrides.co.uk 16 15 scan here. scan For more information information more For 6 Hebrides. Outer the of self-guided trails through through trails self-guided of 14 routes are part of a series series a of part are routes Our walking and cycling cycling and walking Our 13 Walking Walking Route 12 5 2 hours 2 Time: 11 5.5 km / 3.5 miles 3.5 / km 5.5 Distance: Walking 4 NB 518 648 518 NB 3 Reference: Grid End and Start 10 9 OS Explorer Map 460 (North Lewis) (North 460 Map Explorer OS Map 8 (Stornoway and North Lewis); Lewis); North and (Stornoway 8 Map 2 Landranger OS Reference: Map 1 of Lewis of 8 Easy Category: Butt The The Butt of Lewis In brief In 7 7 1 = Other Walking & Cycle Routes Cycle & Walking Other = The Route Gannets These beautiful and startlingly Plasticene Rocks white sea birds glide 4 Near the Butt of Lewis effortlessly over the waves, Lewis is blessed with some of the Lighthouse, the cliffs grow diving into the sea like more and more spectacular. streamlined darts after passing finest coastal walking in Britain, with The Lewisian gneiss found fish. Tens of thousands breed countless sandy beaches and mile throughout the Outer Hebrides on the deserted islands of is incredibly ancient – some North Rona and Sula Sgeir, after mile of impressive sea cliffs. outcrops are over 3 billion some forty miles north of here. years old. Over huge spans of geological time the rocks at the From mid-summer onwards This short route combines both and also provides a good Butt of Lewis have been dolphins and minke whales are chance to spot whales, dolphins and basking sharks on This is Luchruban - for crushed, twisted and contorted regularly sighted along this calm days. The Pygmy Isle hundreds of years thought to be until today they appear like coastline. Look out, too, for the 3 As you walk along the inhabited by pygmies. Regular layers of squashed plasticene. astonishingly bold rabbits that Much of the walking is on short cropped turf above the cliff clifftops take care not to get too finds of peculiar small bones by live here who think nothing of tops. Although relatively dry by island standards, there is close to the edge – some intrepid visitors to the island As you make your way along running at full speed down usually the odd muddy section along the way, so boots are sections are unstable and seemed to support this peculiar the clifftops, gannets can be terrifyingly steep rock slabs advisable. There is not much of a path but occasional prone to collapse. After a while legend – until eminent natural seen offshore. amongst the sea cliffs. wooden marker posts show the route. you will notice an area of lush, historians identified the remains tussocky vegetation that stands as those of seabirds and small Note: this walk follows the edge of high sea cliffs – Please in sharp contrast to the close mammals. lazybeds – old cultivation take care at all times! It is not suitable on windy days and it cropped grass you are walking Tradition has it that the island Lighthouses ridges where crofters grew is not suitable for vertigo sufferers! on. Approach this, and the was the site of an ancient reason for the lack of grazing chapel and the remains of a and Lazybeds their oats, barley and becomes obvious – what building still exist close to its potatoes. Listen out for 5 Pause a while at the corncrakes as you continue once widespread throughout appears at first sight to be part highest point. Luchruban may famous red brick lighthouse – along the road. Their The Cunndal Britain but nowadays of the headland is actually a well have been an early built by the prolific Stevenson distinctive rasping call is easy restricted almost entirely to the sea stack that has become Christian hermitage. Memorial family in 1862 – and on a to hear, but these plump flower rich machair meadows separated from the main cliff. breezy day admire the views 1 Park at Eoropie Play Park, summer visitors skulk in long of the Hebrides. out to sea. The waves here at then go through a small gate grass and are almost the northern tip of Lewis are and take the grassy path Corncrake impossible to spot. Instead of dropping down to the often random and towards the beach (Tràigh attractive sandy beach, go treacherous, tides and Take a few minutes to walk to Shanddaigh). Surfers can through another gate on your currents intermingling after St. Moluag’s chapel before often be seen riding the right and head up towards an travelling up each side of the heading back to your car. One waves here; the Atlantic obvious cairn. This is a island. of the earliest Christian sites coast of Lewis is now memorial to the men lost here on the island, this lovingly recognised as one of Britain’s on 5th March 1885, when the Heading back along the road restored stone building was a best (if coldest!) surfing local fishing fleet was caught in notice the long, parallel ridges famous pilgrimage site in the destinations. a terrible gale. Two boats in the grassy fields on your 16th Century for the sick and attempted to seek shelter at right. These are feannagan or insane. If you are here in summer, Cunndal, just north of this point. look out for bumblebees. Both boats and twelve men – This is a hotspot for the all from Eoropie - were lost. Great Yellow Bumblebee, Eoropie Beach N Cross the machair until you Machair reach a small slipway. This 2 Continue northwards, is Cunndal itself, the slipway following wooden marker tucked in behind a small posts through the machair. projecting reef, offering a rare This exceptionally rare spot of shelter on an otherwise habitat is almost entirely wild and exposed coastline. confined to the Hebrides and Head right for a short north west Scotland. It is distance, cross a small burn, formed when sand from then pass through a gate onto nearby beaches blows onto the hillside beyond. Now it is peat soils. Tiny fragments of a case of simply following the seashells in the sand add coastline as you make your calcium to the barren, acidic way around the headland. peat soils, resulting in lush There are numerous small fertile strips around our promontories here that can coastlines which have long be explored if you have the been used for growing crops time, or you can take the more and grazing livestock. direct route waymarked by the wooden posts. Plasticene Rocks “ The Machair is an exceptionally rare habitat that is almost entirely Leaflet produced by confined to the Hebrides and north west Scotland.” Supported by FOR A HAPPIER, HEALTHIER SCOTLAND Design: we-are-bright.com.

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