As I mentioned in Friday’s post, I had just two lighthouses on Skye left to visit before this weekend. With Dunvegan Lighthouse bagged that just left one more: Waternish Point.
With rain forecast for this afternoon – and the need to get home today – a fairly early start was required. After the kayaking and then the added extras from yesterday it was a balance between setting off at a decent time and getting enough sleep.
It was nice and dry when we set off and quite some time later we arrived in Trumpan (I’ve said it before, Skye is big). Spotting the starting point for the walk as we drove past we then parked up opposite the old church. This church was the scene of a particularly nasty episode in the long-running battles between the MacLeods of Skye and the MacDonalds of Uist. In revenge for an equally sinister event on the island of Eigg, the MacDonalds made their way to Trumpan and burned the church while it was full of local worshippers. The churchyard surrounding the ruins contains a number of graves, including some quite recent ones.
There’s also a Dark Skies area next to the car park and I can imagine it gets very interesting there at night with the lack of light in almost every direction.
Once we were ready we set off along the road and through the gate. We were very much aware that cows could play a part in the day’s adventure, which is always enough to put Bob on edge certainly. He adopted the role of ‘cow lookout’ and went on ahead a little way, scanning the track and surrounding area. We reached a little mound featuring a cairn and Bob headed on up and ushered me up once he’s got to the top. He’d spotted the cows which had young with them and a couple had stood up when they spotted Bob. They weren’t far at all from the track so a bit of off-piste was required just to be sure we didn’t spook them.
We headed for the coast across the heather and after a very short time encountered a gaping chasm (Bob called it a gully, but it was definitely a chasm). ‘Follow the sheep track’ Bob advised me as we started to scramble down into the chasm. My response was ‘But I’m not a sheep.’ Sheep manage to balance their way about on all sorts of skinny ledges – which isn’t so easy for me as a human. ‘Follow the staircase’ was another one of his comments and I didn’t even dignify that one with an answer.
We made it safely and slowly to the bottom of the chasm and, of course, then there was a burn to cross. I am rubbish at crossing rivers or streams, but thankfully this time I managed not to get wet. Then it was up the other side, which actually was much easier. More sheep must have been up that side of the chasm prior to my visit.
From here we followed the coast for a while to make sure we were out of sight of the cows. I’m usually always on the look out for silver linings when things don’t quite go to plan. I certainly wasn’t while in the chasm (although it did look nice), but once we were back on the well-trodden sheep track along the coast there were some spectacular views both to the west and onwards in our direction of travel to the north.
We ended up following the coast for far longer than I expected and our 1km off-piste detour came to an end as we joined the track again at a nice little bridge. From here it was just trudging on, passing sheep and their lambs occasionally.
Eventually I got my first glimpse of our destination, Waternish Point Lighthouse. It did look about 500 miles away (I exaggerate), but it was a positive sign. We passed a couple of chaps who were just on their way back from the lighthouse and chatted to them for a few minutes before continuing on our way.
Reaching the end of the track we encountered the remains of walls and most notably the ruins of a house, which Joe had a fly over.
From here it was all downhill to the lighthouse and the lower you got the boggier it became, but thankfully the ground wasn’t too wet today. The lighthouse gradually got closer and then finally I was there at my final lighthouse on Skye!
What can I say about Waternish? Immediately you notice the stunning views across to the Outer Hebrides with the incredible hills of Harris on display and then a flurry of islands (I’m not sure at all that’s the correct name for a group of islands, but we’ll go with it) including the Shiants and the interestingly shaped and very appropriately named Lord Macdonald’s Table. Sadly the Uists had disappeared into the distance by then, but there was plenty to keep you occupied. Apparently it’s a great place for spotting whales and dolphins, but we didn’t see any of them, but we did see a Calmac ferry passing en route to Uig and the men we met on the way there had seen a submarine come up above the surface. Who needs whales and dolphins, eh!?
Onto the lighthouse. The current structure was built in 1980 and like just a few others has more than one door – presumably this is so you can access the inside of the tower safely without the door flying off in the wind and you would use the appropriate door based on the wind direction. This tower replaced the 1924 tower, designed by David and Charles Stevenson. It’s clear when you are there that there must originally have been a fair number of buildings on the site and now all that remains of them are the foundations. I really like the current tower as it is. There are very few like it left standing now so it’s always a pleasure to see one.
Of course Joe the Drone had to have another little fly around.
Just before we left I decided, for no apparent reason, to give the lighthouse a ‘high five’. Even as I was doing it I said ‘Can you give a lighthouse a high five?’ Anyway, I did. I even added a bonus ‘on the side’ high five! Then it was time to head back. The slog back up to the ruined house was tough. The energy from my lunch hadn’t quite kicked in at that point so I was slow and tired, and incredibly glad to get to the track when we eventually did. On the way we spotted a white-tailed eagle soaring around and being chased off by a smaller bird, who we imagined was defending its nest. There were also the remains of a small sheep and tiny lamb in the area, further evidence that we were on eagle hunting ground.
Back on the track we retraced our steps, with the wind and rain in our faces, we got to the bridge and left the track again. The cows were in roughly the same place as before, but had moved even closer to the track and so we strolled on quickly while we were in sight of them. The gaping chasm wasn’t quite so gaping on the way back (still a chasm though – and wet this time too). I had expected us to head for the track again once we were past the cows, but Bob thought we should continue to follow the coastal route. Imagining even more gaping chasms opening up in front of me, I reluctantly followed. I’m actually very glad we did as there were even more wonderful views to behold in the final section. We followed the coast as far as we could before heading slightly inland and following a fence line which took us directly to the gate. Just a bit more track to go, one more gate and then we were back at the car.
It had been quite a walk and I’d struggled a bit at times, mainly I think because of tiredness from the weekend’s adventures. It was so worth doing though and I would definitely recommend doing that coastal route to anyone visiting. It really is superb for impressive panoramic views. Just mind the gaping chasm! 🙂
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