We drive for four hours up to Glasgow, jostling elbows with the middle class grannies in the cafeteria at Tebay en the way! Spend the night at Abode Glasgow who couldn’t do enough for us – highly recommended.

Wander into the City, up to the cathedral and Necropolis before heading to Mikaku (Jay Rayner recommended) for mixed bag of Japanese bites but seriously good cocktails and sake / plum wine.

Very good breakfast at Abode and then on our way to Oban to catch the ferry. About an hour into the journey there is an announcement that they will be carrying out a rescue boat training exercise. Chaos ensues with an hour spent trying to unravel the boat from the retrieve line. Out in the open sea Beck starts to turn green but luckily heading outside sorts her out and we get to spot multiple pods of dolphins.

On Barra Tigh na Mara is a good, solid B&B and we head to the Co-op for snacks taking these to Vatersay beach which is beautiful, pristine and windswept! The Scots have a great attitude to visitors. Designated wild camping and campervanning spots with donation posts mean visitors can tour self sufficiently and cheaply.

Tuesday brings our first day of cycling and fuelled up on full Scottish breakfasts we circumnavigate Barra. A steep hill starts us off but soon we are on undulating tracks. We take in the ‘airport’ and huge wind turbine at the tip of the island. All in all its 40km, 540mtrs ascent. Beck had planned to swim at Vatersay in the afternoon but the weather has other plans so we console ourselves with excellent cake at the Vatersay community cafe and gin from the Barra Distillery.

In the evening we refuel at the excellent Cafe Kisimul with scallop pakoras, spiced calamari, monkfish curry and lamb saag. The c. 20 cover restaurant is full and we are the 2nd of three sittings they will do in one night!

The following day, the weather sets in and we are supposed to be staying on Barra until the ferry to Eriskay at 5.30pm, but with few wet weather options we manage to get an earlier crossing which gets us onto the next island chain before midday. Here we have the option of a couple of smokehouses and the Downpour Gin Distillery to sample. The latter is a brilliant option, charging £17.50 for an hour and a half’s tasting and tour, with takeaway miniatures for drivers. You the also get £5 off anything you buy in the shop. The gins are delicious and we purchase an Atlantic dry and a premixed negroni. The smokehouses are not quite as geared to tourists but we buy some salmon pate to have on leftover oatcakes for lunch overlooking a loch.

On to Langass Lodge, our accommodation for the next two nights where we take a circular walk to check out standing stones, Pobull Finn, community woodland and Mesolithic burial cairn. Between the wood and cairn we end up in peat bog, hopping from spot to spot to avoid soaked feet – we could be on top of Mam Tor! We eat in the bar having booked the restaurant for tomorrow and we aren’t disappointed with scallops and Cullen skink and then venison burger and haddock and chips! We surrender on the pudding course!

Cycle around North Uist, 60km. Stop at Wee Cottage Kitchen for cake and tea, then another bus for scallop and bacon butty, then pub for beers. It’s hard riding into a strong oncoming headwind but satisfying nontheless. Scoff a fabulous dinner at the lodge including surf and turf starter (beef & prawns) and main (scallops & beef). Chat to German couple who are touring the islands too.

Meet up with Stu and Viv at the Udal peninsula for a walk along the stunning beaches to an archeological site (wheelhouse settlement). Scallop in a bun lunch then a visit to the Polychrub by bike for aphid squashing and watering. Eat Stu’s bollocks for dinner! (Of course we do!)

For our first full day on Berneray, we pack in the activities. First a cycle to check out the spuds, carrots and Otter beach. Then a row on the community skiff, Bata Breagha, assisted by Alison to make up the numbers. Finally a swim back at Otter beach in the North Atlantic. Last but not least, pizzas at the Berneray Bistro.

Another action packed day follows with a walk up the hill behind Stu and Viv’s to take in the view, then lunch at the Westford Inn with friendly landlady. The crofter board is a highlight, as is monkfish scampi. Take a walk around the Scolpaig headland marvelling at plans for a spaceport on this Site of Special Scientific Interest! After much drinking and a bit of chicken and rice we take a walk down to Cockle beach and up to the standing stone before the cheese course!

We can’t leave Berneray without a visit to West Beach which is stunning! Then up Skull Hill to see the view. Weird cloud formations hang over Harris, where we are headed next. After all this activity we are a bit late setting off for the next leg of our journey and just make it to the ferry by the skin of our teeth!

Our next port of call is the Kirksea Island Suites at the Hotel Hebrides which do not disappoint! Instead of circumnavigating the Isle of Harris, we decide to take on the Coffin Road – a 30km trek across the island, largely on peat bog! Fall off multiple times and find leeches and tics galore once we get back, but it’s still muddy, windswept fun! Spemd the next couple of days checking out beaches and swimming at Reef beach and Temple beach. Both are absolutely as stunning as the pictures, but still frigidly cold.

Head on to Gealabhat Callanish B&B for some of the best home cooked food (we stay half board) with the friendliest hosts imaginable! Pretend we are in Outlander at the Callanish Standing Stones, which we visit frequently during our few days in the area at different times of the day to get various photographs. Forego the evening meal at the B&B one night to go to Uig Sands restaurant where the view and the food do not disappoint!

Our final days are spent at Borve House Hotel from where we cycle to the amusingly named Butt of Lewis (particularly as Beck was a Lewis before she became a McIntyre) and watch seals bobbing in the Atlantic ocean. All in all, the Hebrides have been a fun holiday. The weather could have been better (especially as the rest of the country has been experiencing a heat wave), but the warm welcome, good food and stunning scenery has more than made up for that!

Open photo album

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