Isle of Skye: The deserted villages of Boreraig and Suishnish and old marble railway

There's a well known 9 mile trip walking trip on Skye which takes you to the remains of the villages of Boreraig and Suishnish on the shores of Loch Eishort. The villages were forcibly cleared during the infamous Highland Clearances where thousands of Scots were forcibly removed from their homes by landowners, often being replaced by more profitable sheep. The stories of the way in which crofters were removed from Boreraig and Suishnish suggest the clearances here were among the most violent. With my historian hat on I thought these would be an interesting place to visit, and we set off to explore. We took our bikes though, and it transpired there are reasons that this is a walking route, rather than a recommended cycling route.

Marble line railway

We started by cycling along the Marble Line Railway. This was built in the early twentieth century to transport marble from Kilchrist to the pier at Broadford, a three and a half mile track built by a marble mining company.

For cycling purposes, this route was reasonable, but  steep in places, and full of large bits of rock (start of a theme here). We ended up walking some bits, but I think someone with a proper mountain bike, a greater level of fitness and more energy could have managed it.

The path to Boreraig

Once you are past the marble railway, you reach a small path, and go through the Beinn nan Carn Native Woodland project. This was a narrow path, so we only cycled on some bits, especially given the number of rocks and stones.

Walking along this path towards Boreraig I found it hard to imagine that several hundred people could once have lived in a settlement so remote from everywhere else, with only an uneven track leading to it. Though it was later pointed out to me that many settlements in Skye and other islands were once similarly inaccessible.

Boreraig

View to Lake Eishort from the area of the Beinn nan Carn woodland project 

I have read other accounts of people who have been to Boreraig who talk of how haunted and resonant it seems. I don't know if I just lack imagination, or am callous, but I didn't really feel any sense of ghosts in Boreraig. There are a number of old ruined stone cottages, so you could see where people once lived, but I couldn't picture this as a place once home to 120 people. I did feel mildly threatened by some cows.

It was lovely and sunny. We stopped for a while. I tried to wash my extremely muddy bike in a stream. My friend L went for a short dip in the sea.

Path from Boreraig to Suishnish

Then we decided to head along the coast towards Suishnish. This is where cycling became impossible, as it was too up and down and far too rocky. I think even the hardiest of mountain bikers should not attempt it. (Although we did see a group of cyclists in Boreraig who had come that way - but I assume they didn't cycle it all). So we dragged our bikes along a narrow coastal rocky path for what seemed like hours, until we reached a sheep pen around Suishnish and much to our excitement a proper (well in comparison- still very stony) path that lead back to the main road.

We stopped off at the deserted church of Kilchrist on the way back, which is now the home of sheep. 

Cycle route rating
Difficulty rating - impossible, impassible, still fun, just can't cycle it all
Scenery rating - excellent, beautiful, historical interest
Injury rating: in addition to midges there were also evil cleggs (horse flies) that bit me sometimes drawing blood, causing me to have to stop cycling to try and flick them away and leaving me with many attractive red welts.
Exploration rating: very high

Boreraig

Boreraig

Kilchrist

Suishnish 

Path to Suishnish

Isle of Skye: Swimming in the fairy pools

One of the best things ever was swimming in Skye's fairy pools on a lovely (uncharacteristically) warm summers day.

My friend Lilac has written about it on her wild swimming blog:

http://splashingandswimming.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-faerie-pools-glen-brittle-skye.html

Cycling along the Union Canal and the Forth and Clyde Canal from Edinburgh to Croy



Part of the canal opposite Harrison Park

Together the Union Canal and the Forth and Clyde Canal run all the way from Edinburgh to Glasgow, winding around for over 60 miles. I haven't made it all the way quite yet, but I will make it all the way soon though....

This is the story of my trip all the way along the Union Canal to the Falkirk Wheel and then along the Forth and Clyde Canal as far as Croy. According to my map this is 42 miles, the furthest I have ever cycled, so I am congratulating myself anyway.


The Union Canal starts at Edinburgh Quay in Fountainbridge, although I joined the path a bit later at Harrison Park in Polwarth. I often cycle on the Edinburgh based part of the canal, but I had never ventured beyond Ratho (about 8 miles)

I was going to a friend's barbeque in Glasgow in the evening, and I thought I would use my day off work to see how far I could get under my own steam.

Pebbley path to Linlithgow

  

 



Canal at Ratho

The Edinburgh part of the canal path is smooth and easy to cycle (but watch out for dogs, pedestrians, and blind bridges), however once you get past Ratho the path becomes a lot more pebblely and uneven, and I didn't find it that fun to cycle in parts. Other friends of mine have complained it is boring, and while I wasn't bored, it certainly isn't the most spectacular landscape. The main variety is provided by the aquaducts where you have to dismount and walk across with your bike. It took me about 3 hours to travel the twenty miles to the town of Linlithgow, and I was totally exhausted.

Linlithgow

Sign post in Linlithgow showing distance

Linlithgow is a medium sized town in West Lothian. I wandered along to its loch and Linlithgow Palace, its most prominent landmarks. Linlithgow Palace was the birth place of Mary, Queen of Scots, and is now managed as a visitor attraction by Historic Scotland. I didn't go in on the grounds that it cost money, and I was very hungry. I visited the So Strawberry Cafe near to the palace where I had a nice, but slightly expensive wrap and cup of coffee. I was a bit outraged that the number of crisps that my wrap was served with was precisely 3.

Scary Falkirk tunnel

After spending an hour and a half in Linlithgow I felt a bit refreshed and decided to see if I could make it to Falkirk, thinking I would grab a train from there. When you get close to Falkirk the path becomes a 600 metre tunnel which you have to walk through, which is dimly lit, dark and drips. I found it really quite unnerving, especially as I couldn't walk as fast as I would have liked as I had two slow walking cyclists in front of me.

Falkirk Wheel  

The Falkirk Wheel connects the Union Canal and the Forth and Clyde Canal lifting boats between the two. It was opened in 2002 and is striking architecturally. It also seems to be a busy tourist attraction with visitor centre and apparently you can go on a boat trip on it. I tied my bike up and wandered into the centre, mostly to look for a map to work out where I should go to get the train. A helpful girl in the centre showed me how to go back to get the train at Falkirk High station, but I was rather surprised to find I wasn't tired anymore. Some madness had set over me meaning the idea of continuing for another ten miles or so to Croy was appealing.

Forth and Clyde Canal

So I headed down to the Forth and Clyde Canal. The path of this canal was wider, and mostly gravely rather than being covered with small stones, so it wasn't too hard to cycle, and the scenery a bit prettier than the Union Canal. It took me an hour or so to cycle almost to Croy, but due to bad map reading I took the wrong turn off to Croy and added an extra 40 minutes to by journey by walking over a hill and cycling through a housing estate to get to the train station. However that was due to my own stupidity.

Forth and Clyde Canal

End of Journey

I arrived in Croy about 8 and a half hours after setting off, so I didn't exactly travel very fast. It is maybe the fact that I spread the journey out that meant I wasn't completely exhausted. I think I could have made it all the way even, but I would have missed the barbeque. When I got to Glasgow I even managed to have energy to cycle a bit of the way to my friend's flat (and I would have cycled more of the way if I hadn't ended up heading along Sauchiehall Street against the one way system).

Next time I just have to cycle all the way.

Cycle route rating:

Ease of cycling: medium (flat, but path pebbley in places, need stamina)

Access to facilities: can leave the canal in a number of places to find shops (I went to Lidl in Broxburn for example), also goes along the train line so if you end up exhausted, or it starts to bucket it down there is the option to jump on the train.

Best points: It's very hard to get lost. The path just follows the canal.