Explorations, mostly with a bicycle: 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