Horgabost – a township with a campsite and a stunning beach in the south of the Isle of Harris. I spent a few hours walking along the beach, enjoying the waves and just playing around with the camera.
Looking towards Seilebost.
A rare sunset from my hut window…
I crossed the bridge connecting Harris with the Island of Scalpay to visit the Eilean Glas Lighthouse, built in 1789, one of the earliest lighthouses in Scotland.
Eilean Glas was one of the first four lighthouses to be built in Scotland. It takes its name from Glas Island, Scalpay. (Northern Lighthouse Board)
There is a little parking area at the start of the walk, and the path to the lighthouse is straightforward to follow.
Even today, the Eilean Glas lighthouse can only be reached by foot or by boat. The shortest and easiest walk is the one I took from/to Out End, which is around 30 minutes. The keeper’s family had to take a familiar route.
One of the former keeper’s wives recalled how once a month, they would go to Stornoway to do their shopping. “First,” she said “, we had to walk over the moor to meet the taxi on the road. If we had been soaked on the moor, then someone in the village would take our coats and dry them for us until we came back. Sometimes we would stay with our friends at the halfway house if the weather was too bad to cross the moor back to the lighthouse”. The grocer apparently came once a week by boat. If he couldn’t make it by boat, he would walk instead. Once a week, the wives would go to the village to get meat. (Lighthouseaccomodation.co.uk)
First peek of the lighthouse tower.
There is also a little café at the lighthouse but unfortunately, I was too late to visit it.
Going back towards the car park.
View towards Harris
A ferry leaving Tarbert.
I was in for a special treat – the Eriskay Pony Society offered a guided walk to see the ponies during the “Outer Hebrides Wildlife Festival”.
I crossed the causeway from South Uist to Eriskay and met the rest of the group in front of the Eriskay shop and up the hill we went. It was a bit boggy in places but the views were just amazing. And suddenly there they were, the wild ponies of Eriskay.
Our two guides told us about the ponies and how they were used for carrying peat and things. They are also training the young ones so they won´t get too shy.
Until the middle of the 19th Century ponies of the “Western Isles type” were found throughout the islands, where they were used as crofters ponies, undertaking everyday tasks such as bringing home peat and seaweed in basket work creels slung over their backs, pulling carts, harrowing and even taking the children to school.
[…]
However, on the remote island of Eriskay due to difficulties with access and the extra cost implications for sustaining larger animals, other breeds were not introduced, leaving a stock of pure bred ponies which, with increasing mechanisation, had declined to around 20 animals by the early 1970s. (Eriskay Pony Society)
But today there are about 420 ponies, even though not all of them live in Eriskay.
The Eriskay Pony stands 124-138cm (12.0-13.2 hands) high. In winter a dense waterproof coat enables them to live outside in the harshest conditions. The predominant colour is grey with the occasional black or bay and no other colours normally occur. Their legs are fine, with neat feet and only a small tuft of hair at the fetlock. Foals are often born black or bay and usually turn grey as they mature, although a few individuals remain black or bay into adulthood. Eriskay Ponies are immensely strong for their size and are able to carry a light adult with ease. (The Eriskay Pony Society)
They were training two young ones so we got the opportunity to see them close up.
Setting up the baskets to transport peat and other goods. There were also some treats in there…
He felt left out and also wanted some treats.
Don´t ever try to feed the ponies (or any other wildlife), they are very used to a certain diet and won´t tolerate other food, even something like an apple might upset their stomach.
Looking out over Eriskay after we left.
