Original Tune - Walking The Coffin Road - Isle of Harris - Outer Hebrides - Scotland

[Geoff Noble]

The footage for this video was taken some years ago when we were touring the Outer Hebrides in our Campervan. We had read about the Coffin Road and were keen on doing the hike. I am a big fan of Space Odyssey, Kubrick used footage taken from a small aeroplane of the rocky area at the start of the walk, which he then colour treated to create the psychedelic effect in the last part of the film. Here's some info on the history of this walk.

The Coffin Road is a footpath that joins the two coasts of Harris - from the Bays of Harris in the east, over the hill to the beaches of the West Side. As there were no cemeteries on the rough, rocky landscape of the east coast of Harris, nor was there any road through the Bays of Harris for many years, this is the path along which those attending a funeral had to carry the coffin. Their destination was one of the cemeteries on the west side, at Scarista, Borve or Luskentyre, all of which can still be seen today, where there was suitable level ground.

The area near the start of the walk stood in for Jupiter in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Just after Loch Airigh, the ground is composed predominantly of large rocks, exposed by melting glaciers. The rock, known as anorthosite, is similar in composition to that found on the moon. This barren landscape was filmed from small planes, and tinted using coloured lenses to make it look even more otherworldly.

We really enjoyed this hike, even though it turned out to be a lot longer than we expected. The guide we were using suggested it was a 5 mile hike, in reality it turned out to be about 24km for the round walk. We hadn't prepared properly as we thought it was just a short walk. We had no food and a single small bottle of water, it was a hot day. By the time we were half way around we were getting very thirsty and hungry!

The video shows the first half of the walk, the walk back to the van was easier but not as scenic. I am using my MSA Pedal Steel Guitar, Upright Electric Bass, Washburn KC70 and my Weissenborn Acoustic Lap Steel Guitar, all recorded through my FM3T. Hope you enjoy it.

https://youtu.be/Q7IvvqsNKno?si=Ou47800BbOS2WPRO

[Dennis Belt]

Wow, great job! The music fits the beautiful scenery perfectly. I really enjoyed your Steel playing; smooth, clean, and nice tone.
Interesting back story about Kubrick’s use of the landscape in 2001 A Space Odyssey. I can see it now that I know.
My wife and I have made 2 trips to Scotland; but haven’t been to Lewis. Next time!
Thanks for posting that.

[Geoff Noble]

Thanks Dennis. I've lived in Scotland most of my life and realised at the age of 60, when I retired, that there was so much of our home Country that we had not seen. Hence we bought a Campervan and took in as much as we could. When we were younger we did a lot of travelling in other Countries, including California.

Where are you in California, we travelled about mainly in the North. Flew into San Francisco stayed there a couple of days, hired a car and drove North through the Redwoods up into Oregon and back down to SF via some parks which were amazing. We also spent some time in Napa, Yosemite, Monterey and drove up through the Big Sur. Was a great time, we had planned to return and take in LA and surrounding areas, unfortunately my health has stopped us making that trip.

Anyway, if you're ever back in Scotland give me a shout and perhaps we could meet up

[Dennis Belt]

We really enjoyed our trips to Scotland. Last year we went to the Shetlands.Spectacular scenery and wildlife; weather was a little challenging , though.
I’m glad you got to see some of California. It is truly a beautiful place. It would take several lifetimes to see all it has to offer.
Thanks for the invite; if we make it back there, I’ll definitely give you a shout.

[Geoff Noble]

Never made it to Shetland, would have liked to take in the music festival there. The weather can be a challenge to say the least on the Islands. I don't know if you have been to Skye, beautiful place if you get the weather. They get vertical rain there hitting you at 70mph!

Really enjoyed our time in California, it really is a beautiful place. Would love to go back but my health won't allow me to do that sort of travelling any more. Such is getting old I guess, saw a lot of places when we were able, lots of great memories, (and video ).

Take care.