Tolsta to Ness - 23/02/05

 Today is a bright sunny day, so it’s off north: to Tolsta for the hike to Ness. It’s not busy on the bus, and it’s empty by the time I reach New Tolsta. One road is blocked by a digger, so we double back along a different, parallel road. It’s a day with a cold wind, particularly when exposed to it. A coastguard helicopter hovers overhead right up to Garry Beach. Bit annoying if all you want is peace and quiet. The track peters out beyond Abhainn na Cloich and now it’s a case of following the green and yellow markers again. The terrain is undulating and boggy at times, and the markers are several hundred yards apart. Tolsta can be discerned on the southern horizon, the Muirneag Hills loom up in the west, and lochs glimmer in the moors at regular intervals. I find a pair of purple nylon gloves. At 1pm I take a lunchbreak at Loch Sgeireach na Creige Bist, at grid reference NB 547534. Half a mile north of that, the path drops down steeply from 100 to 10 metres above sealevel at Dibidail. It’s a knee-wrenching experience, and the markers carry a red top here. A little house sits above the valley and within sight of the yellow cliffs. The track quickly rises again to an altitude of 115 metres, only to start a very gradual descent towards Filiscleitir. Again, a number of small, brightly coloured houses dot the landscape. I nearly come to grief at GR 554567 when I step off a bank and into a bog. I sink in up to my knees before I arrest my downward slide by falling back onto the bank behind me and gaining purchase with my back to extract the legs. Oops. Continue down the valley to a derelict house, a former chapel serving the moors, at Dun Filiscleitir 560577. I lose the markers here, but common sense (follow the coast round) brings me back to the track. A motorcycle is parked at the start of the metalled track. I follow this track north, past a clutter of sheiling houses at Cuidhasiadar and onto Skigersta. I reach the end of the public road here at 4pm. The bus doesn’t leave until 6.20pm, so I have plenty of time. Carry on down the road into the village and beyond to Eorodale, Lional (shop closed due to flu) and up the B8013 to Eoropaidh. I’m not  going to the lighthouse again. Instead, I retreat to the beach and ensconse myself out of the wind and in the setting sun at 5.10pm. One couple slowly walks down the beach to the farend and back. The sun slowly sinks towards the horizon. A cloud obscures the final touch, but at 5.41 the sun has disappeared from sight. A bright, red glow flares up above the spot, and fades gradually. I leave the beach and take up position at the road junction, to wait for the 6.09 bus. I’m getting worried when it does not turn up, so I walk down the road I’m expecting it to come down from. At 6.25, four lights materialize in front of me and yes it is the Galson bus. The driver goes round Ness, then brings me back to Stornoway in darkness at 7.10. Broad Bay looks great in the light of the full moon. I’ve not seen it in the dark very much, and it makes for a bleak journey.