Isle of Skye and Outer Hebrides (Harris & Lewis)

During Easter everyone is heading South right? so we decided to head North, to be precise to the most NW islands in Europe. Ideally suited to be explored with the help of a camper. Weather permitting of course. This report gives some impressions of our 7 day exploration of these fantastic islands, and some short walks we undertook.

Day 1: we hire the van in the morning (contact me for details - just outside edinburgh - very professional and friendly) and leave at noon from Edinburgh Centre. The trip to Isle of Skye is a 5-6h drive. The drive crosses the highlands and is seriously beautiful. Excellent roads. Skye is linked with Scotland with a handy bridge. We arrive on Isle of Skye, and find a place to wild camp along the remote western coast somewhere close to Vatten.

Day 2: fantastic weather, with some little morning fog. We decide to walk across a tidal path to a nearby small Isle of Oronsay. We get a first glimpse of the amazing Black Cuillin range to the south. What mountains - need to go! Carpark in Ullinish for the campervan. The walk across to the tip of the Island takes ca. 1h. Amazing views of the sea, the coast and of the tidal ecosystem. Its windy and the ground as usual quite wet. Total time: 3h. Back in the camper, we drive to Talisker Distillery in Carbost. The distillery is closed so we drive on to find a place to sleep somewhere close to The Cuillins - if I manage to get a map and a descriptions we may do something there the following day. From Carbost the logical thing is to sleep in GlenBrittle, on the W side of the range, it is the closest base. We drive through the valley until the end were the valley meets the sea, a beautiful loch called Loch Brittle. The campsite here is in spectacular location at the foot of the mountains and many routes up start in Glenbrittle. The campsite is very well equipped and even has wi-fi and a wonderful beach. Cook & Chill. Finally I got the 1:25000 map and a little book with some route descriptions. Also I checked the reference site walkhighlands.co.uk for route information and the following day we hope to hike up to Sgurr na Benachdaich, of the easier Cuillin peaks on the main ridge the next day.

Day 3: when I get up at 7.30am unfortunately a thick layer of low cloud at ca. 300m covers the sky and it is quite windy. The plan to climb the main ridge was not feasible in these conditions so plan B was to hike up Coire Lagan en route to Sgurr Alasdair, the highest peak; and if the cloud would clear we see what to do. Of course the cloud didn't clear, and we hiked up past Loch Fhir-bhallaich and in ca 2h we reached Loch Lagan. Unfortunately visibility was only ca. 10m, it was raining and very windy, so we called it a day and after a short rest with warm tea we turned back to the camp site at Loch Brittle. Total time ca. 4.5h. We left the camp and tried to visit again Talisker Distillery but there was no space on the tour. We had a whiskey tasting and tried the famous 57.4N Talisker - Alcohol degrees that is or Talisker Storm, the first single malt made to taste specification using different ages instead of age. We then drove the beautiful road across the island to pictoresque island capital Portree, where we indulged in a somptuous sea food dinner and stocked up groceries. After dinner a short drive up the East coast the the carpark of the Old Man of Storr, our objective for the next day. 

Day 4: after a very windy and hence rather noisy night in the Camper after breakfast we hike up to the Old Man of Storr, probably the most well known symbol of Isle of Skye. There is an excellent path and lots of people hiking the short route to the impressive rock formations. The path winds through a deforested area, really ugly, why on earth are they deforesting if there is barely any wood on the island? Initilly the weather is foggy but it improves after a while giving fantastic views over the rocks and the beautiful coast. We hike up past the pinnacles en route towards The Storr, but have to turn back due to the stormy wind of 50 mph. No point summiting The Storr in these conditions. After a break around the Old Man we hike back to the van. Total time ca. 4.5 h including a long break. We drive to Portree, where we spend a couple of hours at the pub before driving up to Uig, from where we take the 6pm ferry to our next destination: Tarbert, South Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides. The ride takes. ca. 2h and has the definitive feeling of sailing to The Edge.
Arriving in Talbert at ca. 8pm there is still some light but we drive away immediately looking for a place to sleep. Harris is absolutely stunning! It is completely barren, dotted with 100s of small lochs; it looks like our Swiss landscape at ca. 2000m on a mountain pass. I have in mind that I want to see a place called Luskentyre, which is a fantastic beach and estuary made of white sand. I think it is on N Harris, but while driving along the W coast of South Harris Island we discover a road sign and it is actually here... we drive to the beach parking and set up for the night.

Day 5: After a short stroll on the amazing beach of Luskentyre we drive along the spectacular N coast of S Harris until Northon. Long white beaches with strong waves make this place a must see. Our goal is a small 12th Century Norman ruin and a climb onto the small peninsula. We park along the beach in Northon and start the hike. 4 hours later we are back after a pathless steep climb up the steep side and returning on a faint sheep path down to the parking. Fantastic place. The conclude we take a bath in the cold north Atlantic Sea. drive back around the incredible island anticlockwise to Talbert, onwards to N Harris where we set up camp somewhere high up in the mountains along the main road. 

Day 6: after a very windy night we decide not to climb the highest peak on Harris and instead to undertake a nice hike on the peninsula of Great Bernera to Bostadh, one of the most stunning beaches on the island.
After a 90 min drive we park in Breacleit, where we start our hike. After a 3h stunning coastal hike, with no further human encounters, we reach Bostagh. The landscape is isolated and water dominates the scenery. After a visit to the reconstructed Ion age houses we have lunch on the stunning beach of Bostagh. I change shoes and jog back the 6 km along the road to fetch the car. Quite tired we drive to Stornoway and, after a visit to the only Salmon Smokery left, we park at the harbour and go for dinner.

Day 7: Ferry departure 7.30am. Drive to Edinburgh via Inverness, where we arrive mid afternoon. Return of the van, flight back to London.

... what a fantastic adventure.. with the camper.... Isle of Harris and Skye are truly stunning places... will go back to climb The Cuillins.