Climbing in Harris

Despite the presumption that the Outer Hebrides are largely flat, almost half the land area is in fact mountainous and largely uninhabited. The whole of the east coast of the Uists, Benbecula and Barra are mountainous as is the Uig area of Lewis and virtually the whole of North Harris. Many peaks in the southern isles are good climbs but it is to North Harris that most come to.

North Harris in fact offers challenging climbing to match anywhere else in Scotland. The region between West Loch Tarbert and the island of Scarp form the largest area of hills in the Western Isles, possibly the largest countinually mountainous stretch of such country in the UK outside mainland Scotland. It includes the highest hill in the Hebrides - the Clisham (799 metres) as well as the finest rock feature - Sron Ulladale abbove Loch Ulladale, an overhanging precipice.

The eastern and south eastern hills of North Harris are all within walking distance of Tarbert - the main town of the island. The region itself is divided naturally into three groups of mountains by Glen Meavaig and the pass between Ardhasiag and Maaruig. They comprise the oddly named Forest of Harris - a largely treeless, peat area. ("Forest" in old English depicted a defined area not necessarily wooded - the New Forest and Sherwood Forest are similar examples).

The mountains themselves are largely comprised on Lewisian Gneiss - pink in the west and grey in the east. There is plenty of bird life to see in the area as well - fulmars, shags, guillemots and rock doves nest in the hollows of the hills and low cliffs of pink gneiss.

In North Harris there are nine summits over 600 metres with the Clisham being the only peak above 750 metres. The ground is largely of a peaty nature. The lower slopes and soft and sometimes boggy but height can gained quickly in almost any direction.

The Clisham Hills are a group of hills so named as they include The Clisham itself. They form a prominent horseshoe ridge of summits enclosing Loch Uistern. You may climb to the summit of any of the Clisham Hills from the A859 (Tarbert to Stornoway road) to the south east of the Clisham. The best access is from the road where it crosses the Maaruig River though there is no clear path.

The Central Group is the smallest of the three. The highest peak amongst them is Uisgnavar which forms a twin summit with Teilesval. You can approach the Central Group from the head of Loch Meavaig which lies roughly in the centre of North Harris.

The summits of this group are quite stoney but the views from the top towards the Clisham group are quite excellent.

The Western Hills lie west of Meavaig and stretch unrelentingly towards the sea. They have an average summit height of 500 metres for a distance of some 11km from east to west. Civilisation gets more remote the further west travelled. Tirga Mor is the highest in the range and the most isolated of the group. Again the summits offer spectacular views to the sea and the scattered islets within West Loch Tarbert.