Butt of Lewis is top of the coastal walks

The walk includes the Butt of Lewis lighthouse. Pic: Chris Murray.

If there is a sudden influx of walkers to the north end of Lewis, it can probably be attributed to a feature in last Saturday’s edition of ‘The Times’, headed “The 20 Best Coastal Walks in the UK’.

Placed at number one in this pecking-order of “Bank Holiday Walks” was “Eoropie and the Butt of Lewis” summarised as “four miles; easy; cliff paths, minor road” – though it might have added “but you’ve got to get there first”!

The description continued: “It’s hard to think of a more pristine or beautiful sandy beach than Eoropie Dunes.

"You follow the coast north past rugged bays and cliffs to the lighthouse at the Butt of Lewis, where rocks of Lewisian gneiss some three thousand million years old are striped, bent, twisted and arched.

"From here the road runs between dozens of narrow fenced croft lands back to Eoropie”.

The writer also recommends lunch at Cross Inn, on the main road to Eorpie.

The Butt pipped Ringstead and White Nothe in Dorset to the top spot while there was only one other Scottish route in the list – Anstruther to Crail in Fife.

The author of the article was travel writer Christopher Somerville, described as “Walking Correspondent of The Times” whose long-running A Good Walk series appears each Saturday.

On-line comments about the article drew attention to other candidates which were not included.

One observed: “Twenty of the best coastal walks maybe, but not ‘The Best 20 Coastal Walks’.

Mr Somerville replied: “I couldn’t agree more – but I don’t write the headline”.