Arnol

Heading southwest from the crossroads near Barabhas brings you to ARNOL. The remains of numerous blackhouses lie abandoned in the village, one of which, at the far end, has been restored as a Black House Museum (May-Sept Mon-Sat 9.30am-6.30pm; Oct-March 9.30am-4.30pm; £2.80; HS). Dating from the 1870s and inhabited until 1964, its chimneyless roof is overlaid with grassy sods and oat-straw thatch, lashed down with fishnets and ropes. Beneath, a simple system of wooden tie beams supports the roof, which covers both the living quarters and the attached byre and barn. The postwar wallpaper inside has been removed to reveal sooty rafters above the living room, where, in the centre of the stone and clay floor, the peat fire was the focal point of the house. Today, many visitors look back with nostalgia at the old abandoned blackhouses, but it's as well to remember that they were a breeding ground for disease, and that, essentially, life in the blackhouse was pretty grim. There's a great B&B, three miles from Arnol, in Siabost Bho Deas (South Shawbost) at Airigh (tel 01851/710478, eileenmaclean@lineone.net; £40-50; March-Nov) and behind the church is the Eilean Fraoich campsite (tel 01851/710504; May-Oct). You can grab a bite to eat at the Shawbost Inn.

Five miles on at Carlabhagh (Carloway), a mile-long road leads off north to the beautifully remote coastal settlement of GEARRANNAN (Garenin), where nine thatched crofters' houses - the last of which was abandoned in 1973 - have been restored. There's a visitor centre with a café serving soup and sandwiches, and also offering guided tours of the village (£1.75). One blackhouse now serves as a Gatliff Hebridean Hostels Trust (GHHT) hostel (tel 01851/643416, www.gearrannan.com), while another contains public toilets. A night here is unforgettable, and there's a beautiful stony beach from which to view the sunset.

Just beyond Carlabhagh, about 400 yards from the road, Dùn Charlabhaigh Broch perches on top of a conspicuous rocky outcrop overlooking the sea. Scotland's Atlantic coast is strewn with the remains of over 500 brochs, or fortified towers, but this is one of the best-preserved, its dry-stone circular walls reaching a height of more than 30ft on the seaward side. The broch consists of two concentric walls, the inner one perpendicular, the outer one slanting inwards, the two originally fastened together by roughly hewn flagstones, which also served as lookout galleries reached via a narrow stairwell. The only entrance to the roofless inner yard is through a low doorway set beside a crude and cramped guard cell. Dùn Charlabhaigh now has its very own Doune Broch Centre (April-Oct Mon-Sat 10am-6pm; free), situated at a discreet distance, stone-built and sporting a turf roof. It's a good wet-weather retreat, and fun for kids, who can walk through the hay-strewn mock-up of the broch as it might have been. A mile or so beyond the broch, beside a lochan, is the Doune Braes Hotel (tel 01851/643252, hebrides@doune_braes.co.uk; £60-70), a friendly, unpretentious place whose bar serves up the same tasty seafood dishes as its restaurant, only cheaper.

Copyright Rough Guides Ltd as trustees for its authors. Published by Rough Guides. All rights reserved. The Rough Guides name is a trademark of Rough Guides Ltd.