Saturday 14 September

This coming week sees the North Harris Mountain Festival, and they have organised a host of events. One of these is a barefoot walk in the machair at Northton, South Harris, overlooking the Sound of Harris towards Berneray and North Uist. I went on the bus at 9.35 and joined a party of 12 (including guide) for a 3 mile walk from Northton towards the old temple below Ceapabhal. The walking boots did come off and stayed off for the duration of the walk, which led along beaches and stretches of machairland. The weather was absolutely stunning, although it did start to change by the middle of the afternoon. The bus took me back to Stornoway for 5pm. During a half-hour stopover in Tarbert, I watched a bit of the action in the raft race, which was a lot of fun. People inevitable ended up in the water - which is none to warm.