The Hebridean beaches are located predominantly around the west coast of the islands, and perhaps the most photographed of all beaches is that at Luskentyre in South Harris. We took the opportunity of some sunshine late one afternoon and drove off to Luskentyre beach. I was not the only one there with a camera but I had not come with the full kit of Wellington boots!
In the photo below, the dunes of Luskentyre are on the left and the island of Taransay is on the right, and in between is this flat white-sanded beach which goes on forever. Sadly the light was not good at this time for a brilliant photograph but it still lived up to its reputation.
Here are photos of other beaches in the Outer hebrides…. firstly, Bagh Steinigidh in West Harris, otherwise known as my sister's beach! There was a storm brewing as you can see from the waves.
Just around the corner from Bagh Steinigidh is Nisabost beach…
And a bit further north is Seilebost beach…
Now the inhabitants of Lewis might tell you that their beaches are just as good as those in Harris, so here's a photo of Euoropie beach on a very blustery day. The wind was bringing in a salt water spray accompanied by fine sand to help complete the rows of sand dunes to the left in the photo below.
Non-islanders perhaps do not appreciate the true nature of sand and its impact of people's livelihoods. Overnight, the beach outside my sister's house had developed a large hole due to the storms the night before. She says that sometimes she wakes up to find all the sand has been blown off the beach; this phenomenon is known as 'sand-blow'. In 1697, a great sand storm covered parts of Berneray and Pabbay islands destroying arable land and causing the crofters to leave much of their land to the sand. Pabbay is a relatively small island and no longer populated, but it is a place where one can find deer antlers such as those decorating this stone wall in the photo below.
The beach we came across at the southern end of South Uist, in Polochar, was not sandy but I have included it to show a rainbow, something we saw almost every day during our travels.
If you drive around the east coast and southern tip of Harris you will see a completely different geography. There are no sandy beaches flanked with machair (fine grass) but many rocky outcrops and the home to seals in the area known as the Bays.
The photo on the left shows a solo seal in the Bays (Harris) and the seals below were viewed at Seal Point on Berneray.
When you get to the far north of Lewis and its light house at Ness, you are rewarded with a stunning collection of rocks. The size of these rocks is difficult to convey in these photos and they were the home to many seabirds and seals which were too far away for my camera to catch. Minutes after this photo was taken, the sky turned purple and the clouds dumped rain on everyone who had been out enjoying the view. Thankfully the rain did not last too long but this was pretty much the pattern of our days.
At the port of Ness there is a small harbour which had been a major fishing port in the past. Today you can see how the land simply runs out!
When you look at the coastline of the islands, you can see why certain areas were well populated in the past and why being moved from the western beached of Harris to the Bays during the clearances must have been heartbreaking. More about that in the section on the history of the Outer Hebrides.
