📌 Scenic road between Rodel & Tarbert, Isle of Harris
★★★★
It sounds like something from a fiction book, and indeed, the views from The Golden Road are out of this world. Apparently named as a reference to its colossal construction cost, these sinuous miles of single-track tarmac snake their way up the east side of South Harris through, at times, a lunar-like landscape composed more of rock than grass. Each of the many bends brings new views of unspoiled hills, coastline and abundant wildlife: seals, eagles and countless sheep. The English names of the scattered settlements sound unusual too – Geocrab, Likisto, Ardslave – generally just rough phonetic versions of the original Gaelic. Travelling in a northbound direction keeps the sun (if there is any) behind you. A helpful reader has informed me that the Golden Road doesn’t actually start until Lackalee / Leac a’ Lì, continuing until Meavag / Miabhaig. However, much of the best scenery is before this point, so I’ve included a longer stretch of coast road in the route map below, beginning at Rodel.
🌍 Location
📌 South end is at A859 junction, Rodel / Roghadal
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NG 049831
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 57.740663,-6.961362
🚗 Approximate midpoint is around Flodabay / Fleoideabhagh
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NG 098888
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 57.794689,-6.885421
📌 North end is at A859 junction 3 mi south of Tarbert / An Tairbeart
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NG 145971
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 57.871500,-6.816988
🚌 The Tarbert to Leverburgh east coast bus follows the road
🚗 Surfaced, mostly single track road, unsuitable for long vehicles
📝 Key info
▶ 33 km / 21 mi
⌚ Always open
🎫 Free
The Golden Road ends at Leac a li. From there the junction onto the C79, Bays rd runs the next 11 miles south to Rodel. Alas so many websites now have this information incorrect, but hopefully you can rectify this one.
Thank you Sarah, I’ve updated the page to reflect this.
Hiya, it seems you didn’t quite rectify the erroneous information as your post makes out that the golden road runs from Rodel north to Leac a Lì. In fact, going north, it starts at Leac a Lì and ends in Miabhaig.The road between Leac a Lì and Rodel is the C79, known as the Bays road.
Apologies – I see the mistake now and will correct this.