Scalpay

A walk round Scalpay was the order of the day here following a route which was described in my guidebook as "well marked" but which was more sort of not well marked at all.

It was an absolutely stunning day though and when we stopped on the summit of Beinn Scorabhaig (see above) for a rest and a snack there was not a breath of wind and the view was marvellous. Then we carried on down to Eilean Glas lighthouse which was then first lighthouse on the west coast of Scotland and one of the first four lighthouses in the whole of Scotland. It was built by Thomas Smith, Robert Stevensons father in law.

Completing the walk was tricky as we lost the supposed marker posts completely and found some other ones which didnt seem to be related to anything at all. We gave up on them and just pointed ourselves in the direction of the road and tried to avoid as much peat bog as possible.

Birds of interest included an almost-definate Merlin (I though I saw one yesterday too) and another Snipe. I also keep forgetting to mention Wheateat which we saw most days.