Heritage Trail from Tolsta to Port of Ness

Public Transport Directions

Don’t be deterred by the fact that this is a linear walk. Both Tolsta and the Port of Ness are well served by buses with eight services on weekdays and five on Saturdays - but none on Sundays. Currently the W5 services departs from Stornoway bus station at 7.55 and 8.40 on weekdays and gets you to the start within forty minutes. For the return, the W1 service departs from the Europie road junction in Lionel at 15.35, 18.05, 19.15 and 20.20 on weekdays and gets you back to Stornoway in just over an hour. However schedules do change and you are advised to check the current timetables on line www.cne-siar.gov.uk/travel/ or pick up copies at a local tourist information point.

The route will take 6 – 7 hours, so even allowing a generous amount of time for investigating landmarks, nature watching and rests and relaxation, you should easily make the 18.05 service from Lionel safe in the knowledge that you still have the two later services as backstops. You can walk the route in reverse, but the bus services are not quite as conveniently timed. As an alternative, you could make arrangements with taxi services, although this will be considerably more expensive and not give you the opportunity to pass the time of day with fellow bus passengers. Perhaps it is best to get all the bus travel done at the start of the day, leaving a car at Lionel and catching the first bus into Stornoway with a quick change to the Tolsta bus, which wanders around the backroads picking up gregarious school children who chatter away in Gaelic and English, switching tongues every other sentence.