THE Western Isles attracts more than 200,000 visitors a year, many of them eager to see the ancient stone circle at Callanish and the white sands and turquoise sea of Luskentyre beach, named one of the best in the world. But there is so much more to this archipelago, as travel writer Brigid Benson reveals in her new book, Hebridean Journey, which uncovers the secret treasures of the Outer Hebrides.

“Most people arrive at Barra in the south and travel up through the islands, but my preference is to take the ferry from Ullapool to Stornoway,” says Benson. “You will gain a better insight into the history of the islands at [Stornoway’s] museum and learn about the land raiders who fought the rich industrialist lairds for the right to have crofting land. It gives you a framework to understand the Outer Hebrides and the dreadful times that have left deep scars on the islands, from the Highland Clearances to the economic devastation brought by the First World War when so many men lost their lives.”

Benson also urges visitors to take their time and wander off to either side of the Hebridean Way, which spans 200 miles from Vatersay to the Butt of Lewis with two separate routes for walkers and cyclists.

“It is a thrilling, physically challenging route but the cyclists I met on my travels all regretted not taking longer. There are amazing communities and wonderful places off the spine road and it’s worth stopping to explore either side of it as the east and west coasts are so different. The west has these huge, sweeping sandy beaches while the east is deeply indented with sea lochs and has communities perched on the steep-sided edges. If you stick to the spine road you miss the joys of both,” Benson adds. “In whatever way you choose to discover the moors, sea lochs, white sand beaches, rugged coast, dramatic uplands, wildflower machair, tidal islets and mind-blowing archaeological sites, please resist any temptation to hurtle around, skimming the surface and ticking off a list. Far more rewarding to travel gently and connect more deeply.”

The Tolsta to Ness Coastal Heritage Trail to the north and east of Stornoway is a 14-mile hike that takes in less well-known beaches. Traigh Mhor is Gaelic for Big Beach and lives up to its name with a massive runway of golden sand. Giordal beach is more intimate and secluded, while two ancient hill forts overlook the lovely sands of Garry beach.

“It’s a surprise for many people that there are these magnificent beaches so close to Stornoway,” says Benson. “Not only are they staggeringly beautiful but the view across to the mainland to the mountains of Sutherland are jaw dropping.”

The journey across Barvas Moor to the Butt of Lewis takes you through the most extensive and intact areas of moorland in the world. Only moors in South America, Russia and New Zealand can compare.

“Birds of prey patrol the moor, and it has become a hot spot for a rare bird that is a trophy on many a twitcher’s list. Male corncrakes fly in from Africa around mid-April and disappear into the dense cover of yellow flag iris, cow parsley and nettles to await the arrival of the females. Corncrakes may be notoriously difficult to spot, but the males’ crooning gives them away. Their rasping ‘crex crex’ call resounds between midnight and 3am.”

On the other side of the moor there is a sweep of beaches on the coast known locally as the west side. They become sandier beyond the friendly Cross Inn, which has groceries, a bottle shop, locally laid eggs, locally made cakes, takeaway food and a launderette, all under one roof. It’s also where Ness black pudding is made by hand. “Community stores are where you get all the information about local walks and sights,” Benson says.

Loch Roag to Breasclete. The huge west coast sea loch of Loch Roag has a shore studded with stones and megaliths that orbit Callanish – the stone ceremonial circle built around 3,000 BC that is older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids. “At Breasclete the Flannan Isles exhibition at the community centre tells the extraordinary story of lighthouse keepers who mysteriously vanished through family documents and the keepers’ personal possessions,” says Benson.

“When a lighthouse came into operation in 1899 on Eilean Mor, the largest of the distant Flannan Isles, an eerie tragedy occurred within the first year. A transatlantic steamer reported there was no light on Eilean Mor and when the relief ship sailed from Breasclete to deliver assistant light keeper Joseph Moore for a shift change, there was no response to the ship’s steam whistle. Moore climbed the 163 perilous steps to the cliff top, but his calls were met only by the cry of gulls. Everything was in order in the lighthouse apart from a chair that was turned over, but there was no sign of the three keepers – and they were never found. It is thought the keepers were securing equipment in a storm when immense rogue waves smashed the island.” The dark mystery inspired the 2019 film, The Vanishing, starring Gerard Butler and Peter Mullan.

Great Bernera is one of the 12 islands in the sea Loch Roag but is the only one connected to Lewis by bridges. “It’s like a world within a world.,” says Benson. “When you cross over from Lewis it’s like going on another adventure. The wonderful island 11-mile circular walk explores the coast and boggy moor with views of Loch Roag’s ocean-washed islands and the distant Uig hills looming large over the golden beaches.

“It’s here that in 1993 an exceptionally fierce winter storm shifted the dunes of Bosta beach and exposed the remains of a village built in the sixth to ninth centuries. A reconstruction of a turf-roofed Iron Age dwelling house is tucked into a deep hollow on the shore with a stairway reaching the below-ground sheltered door. It’s a spine-tingling time slip.”

The Uig peninsula, where the Lewis Chessmen were found, has beaches that are as spectacular as the world-famous beach on Harris. “Sparkling white beaches around Uig have the highest shell content of any short in Scotland. The dreamy mile-long arc of white shell sands at Reef is especially luminous under seal-grey skies. The brown peat water runs off the land creating golden channels to meet the celadon and aquamarine of the crystal-clear water from the Atlantic. Beyond Valtos, the island of Pabbay Mor hosts a turquoise lagoon, secret caverns and a natural stone arch sculpted by the sea.”

There is a seasonal café and small museum on Uig, as well as Abhainn Dearg craft distiller, which produces a single malt.

The east coast sea lochs to Tarbert gouge deep into Lewis, some as steep-sided as fjords. Norse people must have felt at home when they colonised the Outer Hebrides in the eighth and 12th centuries.

“Delightful Lemreway and Orinsay have a distinctly end-of-the-line feeling. A waymarked Heritage Path crosses rough and boggy moorland to reach the evocative empty village of Steimreway, cleared by landowners in 1857. Views from here to the enigmatic Shiant Islands and the lonely landscape of Eishken are breathtaking, and golden eagles can be spotted.”

Travelling from Tarbert to Scalpay along the South Harris coast takes you to Oban – quite different from its mainland namesake – where you can find craft beers at the Loomshed Brewer. On Scalpay island, which is just 2.5 miles long, there is a waymarked circular walk that takes around three hours, with views to the Sound of Shiant. Otters can be seen patrolling the seashore.

“The island hub known as The Village lies between the two natural harbours. North Harbour Bistro, just a few creels away from the slipway serves mouth-watering, freshly landed seafood,” writes Benson.

The Huisinis Road along a roller-coaster, rocky single-track road leads to the bay with an Old Norse name meaning “house on the headland”. The Gleann Miabhaig observatory offers another chance to see golden eagles. Beyond the observatory, Loch Voshimid is a renowned fishing spot and the inspiration for JM Barrie’s 1920 play, Mary Rose.

The Golden Road to the east from Tarbert to Rodel, so named because it was so costly to build, takes you through the windswept rocky terrain of the east coast bays, chosen by Stanley Kubrick to represent Jupiter in his 1968 sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

“The Skoon Art Café in Geocrab is wonderfully vibrant, and a hill path to the rear reaches the ruins of the small community at Struparsaig where decorated stones and plaques on old walls remember with love people who lived in this gentle place.”

The Sound of Harris is between the waters of the Minch and little Minch to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. “The perilous shallow waters, thick with reefs, skerries and islets, are the hunting ground of white-tailed sea eagles. There are 22 changes of direction during the crossing from Leverburgh to Berneray, each giving you another spectacular view.

“The tiny island has a huge sandy beach where seaweed-munching Highland cattle roam and otters come running out of the sea with fish to the sand dunes,” Benson says. “I have enjoyed great entertainment at Seal Bay where Berneray’s boisterous colony of common and Atlantic seals gather on a falling tide, an unruly crew jostling for position on favourite drying rocks.”

In Leverburgh, the Butty Bus is a former on-location film and TV catering unit, while the Anchorage restaurant has freshly landed seafood and local craft beer. In nearby Northton, where there is a genealogy research centre, Temple bakery and deli has freshly baked machair buns infused with meadowsweet. On the eastern shore of Berneray, the Berneray Bistro serves freshly landed seafood on outdoor tables with views over the Sound of Harris. The Gatliff Trust youth hostel on the island is made up of two traditional thatched blackhouse cottages right on the seashore.

North Uist is home to the haunting shell of a mansion built by industrialist Erskine Beveridge, who bought the island of Vallay in 1901.

“A ruined mansion house on an uninhabited tidal island surrounded by golden sands sounds like the setting of an atmospheric movie and the story does not disappoint,” says Benson.

Beveridge commissioned an architect to design an imposing summer retreat, Taigh Mor, but the grand baronial mansion, once rented by author Naomi Mitchison as a writer’s retreat, fell into ruin after Beveridge’s son drowned in a tragic accident. Now it is home to seabirds and serves as shelter for Highland cattle. The strand to Vallay can be crossed on foot at low tide. Eriskay is famous for a shipwreck that inspired Compton Mackenzie’s Whisky Galore, which was made into films in 1949 and 2016. In 1941, the SS Politician bound for New Orleans and Jamaica with a hold full of fine whisky ran aground on Calvay island off Eriskay. Islanders rescued the crew and salvaged 24,000 cases of whisky for themselves under the noses of customs officers.

“There are lovely walks, and you can be having a picnic when suddenly you find you’re in the company of small, free-roaming native ponies who are friendly and curious,” says Benson. “Their stamina, strength, thick waterproof coats and canny character made them perfect partners in a traditional croft and nowadays they are treasured by the islanders.”

Barra is the most southerly island in the Hebrides and famous for the sea plane that lands on the beach at Cockle Strand between tides. Dramatic Kisimul Castle, the ‘castle in the sea’ and seat of the Clan MacNeil, sits on a rock in the bay. “A favourite circular walk along the coast of Eoligarry tracks from the jetty to the small medieval church of St Barr, the traditional burial ground of MacNeil clan chiefs and the resting place of Compton Mackenzie, who built a house on Barra,” says Benson.

Vatersay has a secluded, shallow swimming beach, Bagh a Deas, with views to Sandray and backed by wildflowers. “In summer, dainty harebells dance to sea breezes. Ceilidh nights in the village hall are joyous fun and the welcome is warm. A perfect Vatersay day closes with the setting sun dipping into the North Atlantic.”

Hebridean Journey by Brigid Benson is published in paperback by Birlinn £18.99. Pre-order at https://birlinn.co.uk/product/hebridean-journey