Hills: Cearnabhal and Liuthaid
Date: 30th April 2011
Company: Just myself


A short, easy day today ascending Cearnabhal in Lewis and Liuthaid in North Harris.

Click here to see a map of the route undertaken

I parked off the main road about half a mile North of the start of the track leading to the hills. After walking the half-mile back down the road, I followed the track leading towards Cearnabhal, Liuthaid and Loch Langabhat.

Start of track leading towards Cearnabhal and Liuthaid:


As I ascended, the views back towards Loch Seaforth and Eilean Shiophort were quite nice.

Yesterday I was wishing I had a kayak to get to Taransay. Today, I was again wishing I had a kayak to cross the stretch of water between myself and Eilean Shiophort.

Looking back towards Loch Seaforth:


View towards An Cliseam from track:


After following the track for approximately 2.5km, I took to the hillside heading towards Cearnabhal.

Ascent towards 329m top of Cearnabhal:


It didn't take long to reach the 329m top. From there I continued on to the summit.

Cearnabhal from 329m top:


I think the large rock, a few metres away from the cairn, is the summit.

Summit cairn of Cearnabhal:


After a quick drink, I made my way back to the track via the same route. As I descended, I almost stood on a Golden Plover. As the bird moved away I noticed its eggs. Really glad I didn't stand on them!

Golden Plover eggs:


On reaching the track, I descended a short distance to the base of Liuthaid. The ascent was fairly steep – I tried to follow various grassy lines in the ascent.

Liuthaid:


Steep ascent of Liuthaid:


Euphorbia/Spurge?:


Looking back to Cearnabhal from Liuthaid:


After 150m or so, the angle of ascent eased-off leaving an easy stroll to the very large summit cairn.

Loch Langabhat:


I spent a fair bit of time at the summit as it is a really good viewpoint.

Large summit cairn at summit of Liuthaid:


View from summit of Liuthaid:


View from summit of Liuthaid:


From the summit, I carried on a short distance towards Mullach a'Ruisg before ascending back down to the track.

View towards Eilean Shiophort (Seaforth Island):


I chose a line of descent taking me to the left of where the Abhainn a'Mhuil starts to become a wee gorge.

Descent from Liuthaid:


I then walked back out along the track and half-a-mile back along the road to the car.