Start: Hushinish Car Park, North Harris
Distance:2km to the beach one way
Ascent:190m (96m ascent one way.)
Time Taken:40 mins to the beach.
Rating 5 stars
Most Outer Hebridean beaches are glorious but Traigh (Gaelic for beach and pronounced ’try’) Mheilein (Velin which probably means of the Little Hill)on North Harris is special because it takes a little effort to get there. Is that effort worth it? Oh yes, many times over!
I admit that for many years, I chickened out of doing the short hike to this remote beach.I knew that the path basically wound its way around and over a cliff and that there were steep drop offs to the swirling sea below.Not always my cup of tea! However, I felt that I had to try it at least.The walk was also a reminder that when you don’t know a route, the nervous/fear factor can go through the roof (or it does for me!) But once done and you know what to expect, the fear often goes which was what happened to me this walk.
It was a 40 min drive from the A859 turn off beyond Tarbert to Hushinish along the single track B887, taking us past glowering mountains, endless ocean, vistas to distant white sands and offshore islands.
Hefty showers swept in but by the time we reached the gorgeous white strand that is Hushinish beach, the sun was out.
There is room in the small car park for 6 cars or so with other parking available further along the single track road.
The walk starts with a short stroll back to a Scottish Water track, then heading to the right of the small building itself.The left fork is signposted to the beach and runs close to a drystone wall- the route is on the right of the wall and a little faint at first.
After a short boggier section, the path became very well built, almost like a stone staircase at times and certainly much better than I expected.
However, I was nervous as I didn’t know what lay ahead in terms of exposure to steep drops and my nerves increased as the path climbed, albeit beautifully, high above the sea.
It was spectacular but I wasn’t really taking it in at this stage.
We climbed steadily up to a high point where there was a cairn with plunging views to the swirling ocean below.Wasn’t enjoying it at this point! It had taken us about 25 mins to get here and the white sand beach was now visible ahead.
The excellent path now descended a little then flattened out as it swept round an enormous cleft in the cliff.
Some stone walling had been built long ago to bolster the track which would once have been used by ponies.Anyway, it was plenty wide and there was no danger of falling.
After this, well cut steps descended down to the moorland; I now realised that we had fairly easily traversed the bulging cliff that bars access to Traigh Mheilein along the coast.
In all it took us about 40 mins to reach the beach and to say it was worth it is an understatement.It was an absolute pristine stunner of a place – unspoiled, almost deserted, a kilometre long stretch of fine shell sand lapped by turquoise water.Magnificent!
We strolled along to the end, myself enjoying the sense of achievement at finally having reached this slightly hidden corner of a much loved island.
Then along a rockier shore and up onto a low hill above the sands which gave views over to the lonely cottage at Crabhadail.
It’s possible to walk to the cottage and to the twin beaches beyond but we just felt like sitting having our picnic lunch and enjoying the utter quiet – apart from Larks singing above us.Summer in the Hebrides can feel like being in paradise!
It was a simple matter of making our way over the moorland, easy walking…
…down through the dunes…
to the beach again where we paddled a bit and just drank in the beauty of the place.
Time to head back – the path is visible in the photo below, showing the bulge/cliff which is takes walkers easily around and over.It does look a bit precarious in the image but this is deceptive as it is actually set well back from any drops and very pleasantly contours round steep ground.
Thankfully, I now knew that it was always well built and with no chance of suddenly slipping into the abyss, unless you had a particular wish to do so! In fact, I was enjoying it so much we stopped at the high cairn and just sat for a while, marvelling at where we were.
Approaching the cleft on the return…
I would do this walk again in a heart beat and felt slightly daft that I’d got so worked up about it in the first place.But that’s the minor trauma a vertigo sufferer goes through, always a bit scared about what lies ahead! That feeling has certainly got worse as I’ve got older.
But really, this is a classic beach walk, one of many truly superb walks in the Outer Hebrides and definitely worth the drive out. It deserves a half decent day when the sun lights up the landscape though the colours on the beautiful Isle of Harris seem to sing in any weather.
annestravelsandhikes.com 