The Golden Road and Luskentyre

Round South Harris from Tarbert: out along East Loch Tarbert to the Scalpay bridge, down the Golden Road through the bare rock of the Bays to Rodel's old church, and back up the west coast past the white sands of Scarista and Luskentyre.

The drive

From Tarbert, where the ferry from Skye comes in, a road runs east along the shore of East Loch Tarbert, round little rocky coves, to the bridge to Scalpay, an island joined to Harris since 1997.

South of Tarbert the Golden Road turns off down the east coast, through the Bays: a landscape of bare grey rock, among the oldest in Europe, and small lochs, with crofts tucked into the inlets. It's said it cost so much to build it might as well have been paved with gold. It ends at Rodel, where St Clement's Church holds the carved tomb of the MacLeod chief who built it, five hundred years ago.

Leverburgh is named after Lord Leverhulme, of the soap, who meant to make it a great fishing port. From there the A859 runs up the west coast past Northton, Scarista and Borve, beaches of white sand and turquoise water, to Seilebost, looking over the sands of Luskentyre, and back over the hills to Tarbert.

Worth knowing

• The Golden Road is single track, narrow and twisting, with passing places: it's slow going, which is rather the point.
• Much of Harris is closed on a Sunday, the shops and fuel among it.
• Fill up in Tarbert.
• The ferry from Uig on Skye comes in to Tarbert, and another runs from Leverburgh to Berneray and the Uists.