Morsgail in spring

Tomorrow is 1st March, which for meteorologists heralds the start of spring. I have already had plenty of reports of young lambs - not in this island though, not until after March 20th - and I've also noticed gorse in bloom since the beginning of February.

It's decidedly raw today, with a temperature of 6C and a strong wind, which is set to increase to galeforce tonight. March is coming in like a lion this year. Nonetheless, I couldn't wait to replace my winter image (thanks Donna) with a more springlike picture in my sidebar. If you go right down, you'll find the photograph pictured left. I took it in May 2005 on the Morsgail estate in western Lewis.

Morsgail is not the most enticing of places to go to in the island. For a start, it's a sporting estate and although it no longer discourages walkers, you're asked politely not to hinder the workings of fisherman and deerstalkers. Apart from that, its central portion is flat and supremely boggy. If you go through the entry, linked to above, you'll see two reasons why people do want to go there. An old beehive-dwelling, thought to go back 2,100 years can be found a few miles south of Morsgail Lodge. And it provides a long distance link to Harris, a day's march away beyond Kinloch Resort. I visited this location on that day 2 years back, and it is one of those lonely places. It wasn't always like that.
Until the Second World War, a number of tiny hamlets dotted the moors, such as Crola, Ardbeg, Ardmor and Hamnaway, to the west of Kinloch Resort. Children would go to school at Loch Croistean, some 5 miles north of Morsgail on the main road into the district of Uig. They would walk in, or stay with people closer to the school building.

The memories of the district have vanished with the people - only the trees and the stones are said to remember. The rowan tree beside the bricked-up cottage in Kinloch Resort, could it speak, would have some stories to tell.

The previous owner of Morsgail fell out with the one crofter left on the estate over his herd of Highland cattle. The crofter alleged that he was being subjected to a concerted campaign of harassment, and the landlord alleged that the crofter didn't have his cattle under control. The saga disappeared overnight, when the then owner fell off a ladder at his home in the English Midlands and died.

There was also an element of discouragement to walkers in the past, which I put a halt to. On my first visit to Morsgail, in March 2005, I encountered the land owner when he stopped his jeep beside me as I walked down the access road. He said I could walk anywhere I liked. I thanked him and went on my merry way, as described in the entry. When I read a letter in the Stornoway Gazette, a few weeks later, from walkers who complained of being denied access, I remembered my encounter and responded by letter, retelling the conversation. I did add that access is of course granted provided people observe the Country Code. On my next visit in May, a notice outlining the country code was affixed to the roadsign for Kinlochroag (for Morsgail) along the main road.

The estate saw me again three days after my visit to Kinloch Resort, when I walked towards Loch Langabhat, my favourite place in the centre of the island, from the Scaliscro Road End.

The map below shows part of the Morsgail estate, 25 miles southwest of Stornoway.

The walk to Kinloch Resort is marked in black, the walk to Langabhat in red.