"Encircled By Stones"

....and I don't mean Mick, Keef and the boys!

Today was to be another day of mainly road walking; no, scrub that, entirely road walking! With the exception of about ¼ mile to pay a visit to the Calanish II and III standing stones even the so-called "off road" stretches were on old, disused parts of the B8011; but still tarmaced and hard under foot. However, I knew that tomorrow would be just the opposite and how I would look forward to a nice firm, dry road after the boggy, squelchy yomp to Kinlochresort and Bowglass. But I digress!

Today, at least was going to be a relatively short and speedy walk - about 13½ miles to the southern end of Loch Roag from yesterday's finish at Breasclete. Breakfast at the Doune Braes Hotel was like everything there - okay but not especially good and I particularly disliked the scrambled eggs that had been done in a microwave and had the consistency of rubber.

The Boss drove me back to the western end of the Pentland Road at Breasclete and I continued where I'd left off yesterday, along the A858. I turned off to see the standing stones at Callanish and Noelene and I looked around them together. They're quite spectacular but didn't seem to have the ethereal quality that I remembered from my last visit 25 years ago. Maybe it was because it was the day after the Summer Solstice and there were still quite a lot of "sun worshippers" around. Not that there was much sun to worship today! Whilst the Boss had a look around the visitor centre, which she reported to be very interesting and well thought out, I continued to Callanish II, a rather unimpressive few standing stones, and Callanish III, a much more imposing stone circle. Apart from a young lass from New Zealand there was only me looking at the stones and they did seem to have some sort of magical quality.

After my "standing stones" detours I continued along the main road and came across the Tigh Mealros restaurant, spoken so highly of in Peter Clarke's book - just opposite the bus stop in which I sheltered as I donned my waterproofs. Yes, it turned out to be another of those "waterproofs on and off" days that I dislike so much. I joined the footpath beside the A858 at the restaurant and came across a very modern and imaginatively designed war memorial and, a few yards further on, some equally imaginative sculptures of salmon. I was quite taken aback and pleasantly surprised.

I turned along the B8011 towards Kinlochroag and, as far as possible, I kept off the new road and walked along the remnants of the old one that run alongside it; although even the new road wasn't very busy. The hills of Harris came closer and closer and the scenery more and more dramatic. At one place I had to "tightrope walk" along a piece of metal over a stream where the old bridge had been demolished. But I did so, of course, with great aplomb!

Halfway along the B8011 The Boss snuck up behind me and took some piccies of yours truly in action and we later met at Kinlochroag where we shared the butty and coffee from the Doune Braes Hotel. Sometimes a simple cheese and Branston pickle sandwich just hits the spot!

We'd been unable to find any suitable accommodation near Kinlochroag (or ANY accommodation, come to that) so we drove for about 20 minutes to our "home for the night" - Auberge Carnish at, yes you guessed it - Carnish! On the way, just by a cattle grid beyond a small community shop and filling station, we came across a couple of mannequins just over a fence in a field. One was a guitarist and the other a piano-accordion player. Next to them was an empty chair behind a set of drums. So I thought I'd climb over the fence and have a go. Just as I was doing so a van pulled up and an elderly guy said, "Go on, have a go. That's what I put them there for". So I did; it was completely bizarre and equally wonderful!

We arrived at Auberge Carnish and was amazed. It's owned by Frenchman Richard Leparoux and his (Hebridean) wife Jo and is a brand new, purpose built very upmarket restaurant with five rooms, of equally high standard. The place is built of timber in a sort of Scandinavian style and our upstairs room had incredible views over Tràigh Uuige (Uig Beach, I suppose). We expected the food to be of an equally high standard and we weren't disappointed; dinner was fabulous.

As we were quite early arriving we took the opportunity to explore the area a bit and drove to Tràigh Mhangurstadh with another perfect pale yellow/white sandy beach and vivid blue sea. From there we drove down to Tràigh Uuige and walked about ½ mile across the beach to the water. It was wonderful and a bit like Southport in a way (only in that it was a long way to walk to the water!). On our way back we stopped for a moment to photograph the new distillery - the Red River Distillery, although the Gaelic version, Abhainn Dearg sounds a lot more authentic. It has only just started distilling so it'll be a year or two before the genuine malt becomes available but, at present, the place looks like a rather disorganised cluster of industrial buildings, from the outside at least. Later someone told us that it had previously been a fish farm so that explained a lot!

Dinner at Auberge Carnish was as good as the promise and we had a fabulous table overlooking Tràigh Uuige. the only thing missing was a fabulous sunset, although there was quite a pretty glow in the rather cloudy sky and as you may just be able to tell from the photos below we kind of liked Auberge Carnish and didn't even mind when they slightly overcharged us the following morning!

Tomorrow would be a completely different day - from Kinlochroag to Bowglass via the lauded (by Peter Clarke) abandoned settlement of Kinlochresort. After three days of mainly road walking I was looking forward to going "off road" again but, despite having the LDWA GPS route to follow, nevertheless did have a tinge of concern about by ability to find my way there and on to Bowglass without mishaps!

A Few Photos From Day 04 (just click on them for the BIG versions):
Day 04 - Leaving The Doune Braes Hotel, 22/06/11	To The Standing Stones
The Callanish Standing Stones	Loch Ceann Hulabhaig From The Callanish Standing Stones
Delicious!	Callanish II	A House Like a Pigstye?
Callanish III	War Memorial At Cnoc Glas
At Cnoc Glas	A Rare Tree	Another Bird At Loch na Creadha
Moorland To The Harris Hills
What Happened To The Bridge?	Loch Roag
What A View!	Room at Auberge Carnish
Stone Picking At Rubha Buaile Linnis!	Traigh Uuige (Uig Beach)
Another Bird At Loch na Creadha	Beach Near Mealasta
Auberge Carnish	View From Our Dining Table!
Traigh Uuige (Uig Beach)
Traigh Uuige (Uig Beach) From Auberge Carnish