Hebridean Hop 20: Craigston, Cleit and Eoligarry

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Thursday 16th August 2018

St Brendan’s Church, Craigston

Having rejected the previous two days as too dreich to get the boat out to the castle, we then decided this day was too nice. We wanted to explore the island in the sun. Driving up the west coast, our first stop was at St Brendan’s Church where Father John MacMillan (1880-1951), about whom we had seen an exhibition in the heritage centre, was once priest. He spent most of his life ministering to the people of the islands, including two years in Canada when, after the First World War, many Hebridean families settled in Red Deer in Alberta. MacMillan volunteered to emigrate along with them in 1923, but left after a fight with the Canadian authorities which he felt were inflicting unnecessary hardship upon the immigrants. Father MacMillan wrote Gaelic songs, and was also immortalised in both a piping march and in his friend Compton Mackenzie’s book, Whisky Galore, in which the character of the priest, Father James Macalister, is based on him. Click on the link above to read more about this remarkable man, including the Canadian story.

The church dates from 1857 and is almost as simple inside as out.
From the church it was a short walk back along the coast to find Father Macmillan’s grave in the cemetery. The scenery was stunning, and the neighbours friendly.

St Brendan’s Church
Craigston Beach
Craigston Beach
Near St Brendan’s Cemetery
Near St Brendan’s Cemetery
St Brendan’s Cemetery
St Brendan’s Cemetery
St Brendan’s Cemetery

And here is the grave we were looking for. Twelve hundred mourners from all over the Hebrides attended the funeral, processing from Craigston to the cemetery behind six pipers. It must have been quite a day.

Father John MacMillan’s grave
Father John MacMillan’s grave

After a short drive further up the main road, we turned off at Cleit to explore another fine beach. On our way down, we passed this desirable holiday home.

Barra holiday home!
Barra holiday home!

We chatted to a trio of elderly tourists and watched a group of body-boarders for a while. It looked cold!

Cleit, Barra
Cleit, Barra
Cleit, Barra
Cleit, Barra
Cleit, Barra
Cleit, Barra

On the other side of the car park was a small geo (chasm) where the water rushing in and out fascinated me.

However, beautiful as these stops were, our main plan for the day was an 8.75 km walk round the Eoligarry peninsula, Barra’s most northerly point, so it was time to move on – stopping at the excellent airport café again for lunch.

The walk started at Eoligarry jetty, from which the passenger ferry to Eriskay used to run when we last visited. Now, there was nothing much there, but it was a convenient place to leave the car.

Eoligarry jetty
Eoligarry jetty

We soon came to the old church of Cille Bharra with a replica of the Kilbar Stone, a Viking grave which once stood here. I detect some unhappiness about its absence.

Kilbar Stone
Kilbar Stone

I was delighted to pick up a history of the church and to realise that it was written by Alan Macquarrie, a former colleague of mine.

Cille Bharra
Cille Bharra
Cille Bharra guidebook

Onwards again – that was the flat part of the walk. There were a couple of short climbs coming up, first to the remains of Dun Sgurabhal, an Iron Age fort, with views to beaches on all sides. The cows liked it up here too.

Dun Sgurabhal
View from Dun Sgurabhal
View from Dun Sgurabhal
View from Dun Sgurabhal
View from Dun Sgurabhal
Dun Sgurabhal

Coming down from the fort, we stumbled over lumpy grazing land before climbing again to Beinn Eolaigearraidh Mhor. Despite mhor meaning large, at 105m it wasn’t – but still had panoramic views to admire.

Beinn Eolaigearraidh Mhor
Beinn Eolaigearraidh Mhor
Beinn Eolaigearraidh Mhor
Beinn Eolaigearraidh Mhor
Beinn Eolaigearraidh Mhor
Beinn Eolaigearraidh Mhor

We descended to the west of the peninsula to Traigh Eais, crossing the dunes to the other side after 1.25km of beach walking. This took us back to the beach runway at Traigh Mhor. The day’s planes were long gone, so the airport was now closed with no chance of a further visit to the café.

Traigh Eais
Traigh Eais
Traigh Mhor
Barra airport sign
Barra airport sign
Barra airport sign

This also meant we could disregard the warning signs and walk back to Eoligarry along the beach rather than the road. Traigh Mhor is also known as Cockle Strand – the cockle pickers were back on the beach too.

Traigh Mhor
Traigh Mhor
Traigh Mhor
Cockle Strand
Cockle Strand

This was one of our loveliest days in terms of weather. It was also a culinary highlight. Who’d have thought that a tiny place like Castlebay would have an excellent Indian Restaurant? Café Kisimul holds a folk night on Thursdays and we had booked almost as soon as we arrived on the island.

Cafe Kisimul
Cafe Kisimul
Cafe Kisimul
Cafe Kisimul
Cafe Kisimul

We do look rather happy, don’t we? The food was excellent (as was the beer).

As I’ve mentioned before, on these small islands you tend to run into the same people several times. Also eating in the restaurant were the elderly tourists and the body-boarders we saw in Cleit in the morning, and the young man tuning up his fiddle above would serve us lunch in a different place the next day. That would be our final day on the island so, rain or shine, we had to get out to that castle at last!

Linked to Jo’s Monday Walk – it’s almond blossom time this week.

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77 Comments »

  2. Pingback: April Squares: Eoligarry – The Glasgow Gallivanter

  6. Hi Anabel … sad about the Kilbar Stone from the Viking Grave – but at least there’s a record for posterity. Lovely photos and what fun you had that day – before the rain buckets of the next! Cheers Hilary

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  7. Pingback: Jo’s Monday walk : Furnazhinas to Odeleite Dam | restlessjo

  9. Well Anabel, that was a cheerful end to a post. A view is a lovely reward for a climb no matter how small or big. You have certainly been on a some picturesque locations. It is always a treat to see more of Scotland.

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  11. More great photos. What fantastic beaches (on a sunny day!)
    p.s. that wasn’t you on the surf board, was it?
    Also interesting to see the distribution of the pints!

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  12. I have eaten in a handful of very bad Indian restaurants, but I have to say on the whole I have been pleasantly surprised with good Indian food in unlikely places too! I remember having a pretty decent meal at a place in Innsbruck years ago. Mexican food on the other hand…it’s getting better in Britain, but I still avoid it on the Continent!

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    • Indian food in the U.K. is generally good these days but i’ve had some terrible meals in other countries that maybe didn’t have the same – ahem – connections with India. I’m it a big fan of Mexican food though, so can’t compare. I like it ok, it’s just never my first choice.

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  15. I’m a bit concerned about your TWO large glasses of beer, one a back-up I presume! Hope you gave one to your husband after he’d taken the picture. Glorious pictures, glorious beaches, and the skies are almost as blue as Jo’s. Maybe more delicate, shall we say.

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  16. The scenery is fabulous, and oh what a difference a bit of sunshine makes. I could have loitered around any one of those beaches, Anabel, but the inlet around Craigston really caught my eye. 🙂 🙂 Yes, you do look happy bunnies! Many thanks for joining me.

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  20. What a wonderful day to enjoy the scenery.The sunshine does make everything look especially stunning. Great photos of the body boarders too by the way. 🙂

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  24. we failed to reach Barra, much to our annoyance when we toured the Hebrides, Cally Nobrayne being the reason. It’s both grand and touch envy making to read about your time there. Love the airport instructions being communicated by sock; I think the world needs more socks put in charge of things.

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      • True that last one. Cal Mac suffered a strike so sent us a mail giving us a rearranged ferry one day earlier which happened to be the day we received it when we were still in London. It was a one day strike so we phoned and asked why not a day later to which they said those ferries were full by people who’d been told by Cal MAC that a strike was likely. When asked why they didn’t tell us they said we had booked much earlier and at that point they didn’t know about the possible strike. The early bird gets right royally shafted. Thank you, you French shites…. sorry, rant over. We flew in the end….

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  25. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Thank you for sharing this beautiful place Anabel, and for making life there come alive in your words.
    The little church is beautiful, and reminds me of so many old NZ churches in its simplicity. Probably not surprising, given the number of Scottish settlers here.

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  29. What a stunning walk, and perfect weather, Anabel. I love the landscape here, with the sea and the lumpy grazing land and the hills and coves. And how wonderful that you found an Indian restaurant and some cold beers at the end of the day. I would have loved this day. 🙂

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  33. I presume those pints of beer weren’t both yours?? The scenery looks stunning, especially Traigh Mhor, and I love the inside of St. Brendan’s Church – simple but so beautiful 🙂

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