📌 Ardvourlie, Isle of Harris
★★★★
An Cliseam (or just Clisham) is the loftiest hill in the Outer Hebrides: a bulky mass forming a natural barrier between Lewis and most of Harris. It’s a popular half-day walk from the roadside layby only two miles distant, but we reckon this direct route is a dull slog, and a lot of effort for a single summit. Look west, though, and you can string together the horseshoe of peaks around Gleann Sgaladail to fashion an island epic. Exhilarating ridge walking and easy scrambling, boulderfields and rough heather, burnside meadows and frustrating bog: there’s a bit of everything in this first-rate round. There’s surely no better place to survey the whole of the Long Island from a single point, and the contrast between the flat northern and rugged southern panoramas is remarkable. So come prepared for a full day with a variety of terrain types, with paths in short supply while bog certainly isn’t. But wet feet are temporary, whereas memories last…
📷 Chronological photo guide
Loch Seaforth seen from the start 
Harris Walkway – boggy, but at least it’s a path! 
Looking back from where the route leaves the Harris Walkway 
Golden plover on Tomnabhal 
View ahead to An Cliseam – which is climbed from the left side 
Mountain hare 
An Cliseam 
South Harris from the summit area 
An Cliseam summit 
View north across Lewis 
View north across Lewis 
The ridge ahead – final summit out of shot to the right 
Approaching An t-Isean (foreground) & Mulla bho Dheas (left) 
A bypass paths avoids the steepest part of the ridge up to Mulla bho Dheas 
South Harris from Mulla bho Dheas 
Uisgneabhal Mòr (far left) & Tèileasbhal (middle) across the glen 
Looking west 
Ridge back to An Cliseam (left) seen from Mulla bho Thuath 
Mullach an Langa (the final summit) from Mulla bho Thuath 
Most of the ridge is visible behind when approaching Mullach an Langa 
Most of the descent visible along Gleann Sgaladail 
Gleann Sgaladail – scenic but boggy 
Looking back up the glen from the roadside
🌍 Location
📌 Start / finish at layby on A859 1 mi south of Ardvourlie, Harris
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NB 185096
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 57.986432,-6.763805
🚌 Bus stops on at Scaladale Centre (0.5 mi – join route at foot of Gleann Sgaladail)
🚗 Car park
📝 Key info
▶ 14 km / 9 mi | ▲ 1020 m | ⌛ 7.5-8.5 hr
Features: △ An Cliseam (799 m, Corbett); △ Mulla bho Dheas (743 m); △ Mulla bho Thuath (720 m); △ Mullach an Langa (614 m)
⬤ Tough | Harris Walkway is clear but very boggy. Pathless ascent / traverse to An Cliseam except for last few hundred metres. Intermittent path on ridge, then increasingly boggy descent through Gleann Sgaladail – no path except for final mile or so. Steep in places, with a little easy scrambling, mostly on the ascent of Mulla bho Dheas (follow the bypass path to the right of the ridge to avoid the hardest parts).
Download file for GPS➡️ Clockwise circuit: start – leave Harris Walkway at 🧭 NB 185082 – skirt south side of Tomnabhal – An Cliseam by southeast ridge – Mulla bho Dheas – Mulla bho Thoath – Mullach an Langa – descend eastern slopes – follow Gleann Sgaladail – start
🥾 On our last visit
Wildlife: Mountain hares, golden plovers, cuckoo heard, sheep and lambs, fish in Abhainn Sgaladail.
Weather: Slightly hazy sunshine, 20°C by finish, moderate breeze.
May 2018
