Broadbay
Beaches at Coll, Vatisker and Gress are by the roadside. The sands at Traigh Mhòr beach at North Tolsta stretches for a mile. Neighbouring Garry beach is punctuated with rock stacks. A regular daytime bus operates to Stornoway.
The Bridge to Nowhere was built by island landlord Lord Leverhulme to link with a 10-mile road he planned to construct over the moor. He proposed to truck herring from the small fishing ports at Skigersta and Port of Ness to his canning plant in Stornoway. But a financial crisis forced him to halt his various business enterprises and the roadworks were abandoned. A marked trail between Tolsta and Ness over rough ground and boggy moor follows the coast with magnificent views out to sea. The remote track leads through rarely visited shieling villages at Dìobadal and Cuidsiadar - clusters of small basic houses where crofters lived during the summer to give their livestock fresh pasture and allow the grass on the croft at home to recover for winter.A number of small fishing boats work out of Brevig pier and fish the east coast of Lewis. In winter they set creels for lobster, and crab around the Loch an Tuath sea loch (Broadbay). Better weather them to venture further up the coastline towards Ness. The harbour allows easier access to these fishing grounds saving hours of steaming time from Stornoway.
The land raider’s memorial by Gress River marks the struggle of improvised villagers.
Gress and Coll farms were raided on several occasions. A number of times the ground was tilled and crops planted. Eventually, in 1922 the Government took control and created over 100 holdings on the farms. Its task was made easier by the landlord financial straits which necessitated cutting back his conflicting plans for the island.