So the Outer Hebrides is somewhere we took our time getting round to visit simply because a little more effort (& travel) is involved for somewhere that isn’t abroad!
In actual fact, once there, you can easily believe that you are abroad! With stunning white sand beaches that go on forever, and turquoise sea, these islands could easily have been moved to Scotland from the Caribbean! And the fact that our weather (and sea temperatures) tend towards cool (or downright cold!) it is not unusual to find you are the only ones on the beach! Here is the link to Paul’s YouTube video (Harris starts just over a minute in – it’s a “pre-drone” video) – Harris video
To get there we drove via the isle of Skye (more info on Skye on our Skye & Applecross page). We took the bridge from Kyle of Lochalsh to Kyleakin, visiting Plockton en-route, a very worthwhile 5 mile detour.
On Skye we spent 2 nights camping (in our “old” 2 man tent) at Sligachan, and then at Uig, from where we took the ferry on to Tarbet on the isle of Harris (incidentally Harris & Lewis are actually joined, but have their own identities). There is no need to stop for 2 nights on Skye to break up the journey (which without stopping is around 9 hours including the ferry), however we had a couple of walks we wanted to do on Skye first (again more info on Skye on our Skye & Applecross page).
Our ferry journey was approx 1 hour 45 mins, with Caledonian Macbrane, comfortable and uneventful on the way out, somewhat choppy and exciting on the return!
We chose to go in September and overall we had good weather. There is no really good or bad time to go anywhere in Scotland, but September worked well for us, it had quietened down as we went after the schools had returned, and although we certainly had some rain, we also had some really nice days too.
We chose to stay in a self catering cottage at Seilebost, just opposite, and looking over to, the more well known Luskentyre beach. Our accommodation couldn’t have been better! We could walk out of the back garden straight on to the beach at low tide. The views were spectacular, and the house was very comfortable. It sleeps 5 in 2 doubles and a single, but there were just the 2 of us so we had loads of room. We would highly recommend this place for its setting and for value for money, their website is https://www.beulnamara.co.uk/self-catering-cottages/
It was about 10 miles from the ferry terminal at Tarbet, and around 10 miles to Leverburgh where there is a well stocked shop and the ferry connection to Berneray should you wish to take a day trip.
So now a little bit about what we did while we were there, I think we “ticked all the boxes” that we were interested in!
We took a long days’ drive to explore the isle of Lewis, finishing our “tour” in Stornoway and picking up at Thai take-away to re-heat for dinner before heading back “home” to Seilebost – for Thai fans it was very good, their website is https://take-a-way.co.uk/menu/5938/thai-cafe-takeaway-stornoway/
On Lewis we visited:-
- Callanish standing stones – the Lewis equivalent to Stonehenge
image copyright Y&P Carroll - Bosta Beach (Traigh Bosta) on the west coast – at the far end of the Island of Great Bernera. Behind the beach lie the grazings and remains of the township of Bostaidh which was cleared two centuries ago. You can also see the Time and Tide Bell, one of several placed around the British coastline. It’s unique design creates a range of tones when the rising tide causes it to ring.
image copyright Y&P Carroll - Uig Sands – another outstanding & huge sandy beach, see this website for walking details https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/outer-hebrides/uig-sands.shtml
image copyright Y&P Carroll
image copyright Y&P Carroll
As we were staying on Harris we could take our time with trips, although we did do a really nice drive round the island. Harris highlights include:-
- Seilebost & Luskentyre beaches – the most famous and most photographed beaches on the island, you will see why! We had taken our mountain bikes and did a bit of cycling on and around the beaches with a picnic, it was fun!
image copyright Y&P Carroll - Scarista Beach – possibly the 2nd most photographed beach on the island, sitting next to the golf course, quite stunning…
image copyright Y&P Carroll - St Clements Church (also known as the “Church of Rodel”) is generally thought to be the grandest medieval building anywhere in the Western Isles.
- Isle of Harris Distillery – https://www.harrisdistillery.com/ is an absolute “must” for any gin fans!!! We are not gin drinkers, but the people staying in the cottage next to us invited us to try the Harris Gin, and we were pleasantly surprised, although to be fair its still not really “our thing”. However, we bought some as the bottle itself is just so pretty, after consumption we then turned the empty bottle into a pretty lamp with battery operated fairy lights inside!
- Ferry to Berneray – the small island of Berneray is linked by a causeway to North Uist. We had a great day trip there with our bikes. However, in some ways it was shame we decided to cycle to a beach in North Uist about 5 miles away, where we stayed longer than planned and ended up not having enough time to cycle over to the beautiful beach on the far side of Berneray… so we recommend doing the day trip, just a difficult choice how to spend your time! https://www.calmac.co.uk/destinations/berneray
If you enjoyed reading this blog, please like & share with your friends! Many thanks!
If you are interested in the islands of Scotland, keep a lookout for new posts as we have some trips planned to Barra – Vatersay – South & North Uist – Berneray (we will get to visit the beach this time!) and also to the Orkney Islands…. We also have our trip to Arran (“Scotland in miniature”) to publish!
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