Sunday 17 March

After a wet and windy start, the sky blew open and after breakfast I could head out to the hills with impunity. I walked up the road towards the hill of Cleitreabhal, 4 miles to the east, which is 450 feet in height and offers a view stretching from the Clisham in Harris to the Isle of Barra, to the south. Beyond the summit, which is crowned by communications equipment, I decided to traverse an area of moorland, which proved to be amongst the most challenging I have encountered. Nonetheless, I managed to reach the other side without anything worse than a slightly wet foot. My local contact arranged, by text, a meeting for 5pm, which allowed me plenty of time to complete my walk. It led me on into the village of Hosta, and onto the machair land beyond. I circled the coastline down to Hougharry, and returned to the B&B by about 4. After refreshing myself, I joined my contact on the machair near the Bird Reserve for a final evening's hospitality. I did not leave Cuddle Castle until about 1.45 am, meaning I still had to walk the 40 minutes to Hougharry in complete darkness. Nonetheless, a memorable visit to North Uist.