Hi, I am planning a trip in August without the car to meet two ambitions, travel the West Highland line and land on the 'airfield' beach at Barra on a scheduled flight!. I will also be trying some fly fishing here and there for sea trout and salmon. There are some really good websites as to travel and fishing but less info on hotels. (the only places with a bar..) Does any one have useful tips or advice for travel/hotels on Skye, Lewis, Harris, Uist, Benbecula or Barra.....A big ask I know but worth a try..... Many thanks in advance for any responses.
JT Upgraded to an ex demo, 7 mth old, Rimini Red/Ebony Napoli Auto HSE on 28th Jan 2011, added roof rails, mudflaps and side strips.
Gone - A great 57 Plate, Auto SE, Bought Feb 2009, Roof Rails and Mudflaps added on purchase. Blue colour, anything but drug dealer black.....

I fully understand why you would want to fly into 'Barra', having some connections with aviation in this part of the world all I would say is please build in some flexibility in your schedule ... there is a high degree of weather dependency for flights to operate ... if the weather isn't playing the flights do not operate ... make sure you factor in some flexibility in your plan ... Stornoway Grey GS ... What a fine motor ... but not any more ... ... psst look at my gallery!
Company cars ... a thing of the past - May 2013.

Midge repellant is a must or you will be eaten alive. Decent stuff containing DEET, I go to Scotland often and they can be unbearable.

The locals are salt of the earth type folk, you will have no shortage of advice from them, and as avtur said, flexibility, I used to fly regularly to Dounreay only to be turned away at the 11th hour.

It sounds a fanatstic trip, enjoy it

Paul

another quick point to make ... there is a high degree of Sunday observance in the Western Isles.

If you go out to eat with local folks don't be surprised a the 'saying of grace' before a meal. Stornoway Grey GS ... What a fine motor ... but not any more ... ... psst look at my gallery!
Company cars ... a thing of the past - May 2013.

aye...the wee free

taztastic wrote:

Midge repellant is a must or you will be eaten alive. Decent stuff containing DEET, I go to Scotland often and they can be unbearable.

The locals are salt of the earth type folk, you will have no shortage of advice from them, and as avtur said, flexibility, I used to fly regularly to Dounreay only to be turned away at the 11th hour.

It sounds a fanatstic trip, enjoy it

Paul

For Midge repellant try and get some Skin So Soft by Avon, by accident it seems it works well to keep the midges at bay

I have read that HM forces us a lot of the skin so soft to help keep insects at bay. There are several products from Avon, under this name. You want the 150ml pump spray, of SSS soft and fresh replenishing dry oil body spray.
One of these lasts me about a year. A quick spray and rub on your arms, neck and ears really does help. Smells nice too!

We went to Harris / Lewis about 6 years ago, fantastic place. We did a lot of walking and I would recommend a very very good map and an even better compass, maybe even a decent Garmin type walking sat nav if you are planning to do the same. I say this as we did one hike lasting about 6 hours, mainly because we nearly got very badly lost and we didn't have a compass or map (we were relying on a local walks guide book, turn left at the third tree type of directions). We were very lucky to get back to the car without any major incident. The weather is also fairly changeable (we went in May just before the midges). Don't remember seeing many hotels on Harris but the self catering was really cheap. Sitting by a sea loch at 11:00pm and it is still light is quite an experience! We flew into Stornoway (best Freelander 2 colour!) and hired a car. Needed to stock up with supplies in Stornoway as not much else around once you get where you are going. And as has been said, don't do anything work related on a Sunday. Sign by the ironing board in our cottage said don't do ironing or hang any washing out on a Sunday!

Thanks all, my Avon Skin so soft arrived today from ebay....
One week to go before my trip. Slight change of plan in that I will depart Barra by plane to Glasgow rather than arrive on the beach.....Good point about the weather and flexibility........I plan to outwit the Wee Free's by laying over at a hotel in North Uist on the sunday....... I only hope the online travel details/timetables are accurate. Cheers, JT Upgraded to an ex demo, 7 mth old, Rimini Red/Ebony Napoli Auto HSE on 28th Jan 2011, added roof rails, mudflaps and side strips.
Gone - A great 57 Plate, Auto SE, Bought Feb 2009, Roof Rails and Mudflaps added on purchase. Blue colour, anything but drug dealer black.....

FWITW

Cycled Skye and the Outer Hebrides in '90 in the spring. Weather foul, rained almost every day and it was also usually cold circa 10°C average. Route taken Derbyshire by train to Mallaig -grand. Ferry Mallaig to Armadale - lovely views rough crossing. Over Skye via west coast - a longer tougher ride to reach the CalMac ferry at Uig via Sligachan and Roskhill but worth it for the exhilarating panoramic landscapes. Ferry then from Uig to Tarbert Lewis (Nah - Eileanan Siar) the isle which is different topographically (hillier) from the other southerly isles in the chain.

From Lewis (Rodel) local ferry to North Uist and Portnah Long. From there, apart from a few limited side roads it is just one long road south that island hops and you will not notice because the isles are connected by a series of causeways which in the blinding rain you'll be focused on the tarmac or what's left of it to notice you've just jumped an isle. Eventually found the first friendly pub at Lochboisdale where we were forced to overnight for two days as the seas were too rough for the local ferry to Barra (castlebay.)

From Barra we ferried (scruffy CalMac again) a long hop to Oban - glad to leave yet another dirty CalMac vessel - they do seem to have the worst of cafetetia's afloat. Oban trains back to Derbyshire.

On the North n South Uist, Benbecula and Barra expect brackish water coming out of the household taps, showering and taking a bath after a hard day's ride was indeed a "brown filthy" experience. The landscape (excepting Skye) was dull and repetitive. Local cooking in B&B's was reminiscent of my school dinners - boot leather meat, watery veg and papier maché fish. No-see-em's everywhere biting the life out of you, and no decent beer. Had to drink Guinness - yuk!

Having said all that - very pleased I did it. No doubt others will have had very different experiences.

Many thanks athelstan for your heartfelt and detailed response..... Hopefully things will have improved as to food and drink and ferries..... My itinery is.... Monday 15th, Sleeper to Glasgow, West Highland line to Mallaig, stay one night. Ferry, bus, train, bus to Ullapool, stay one night. Ferry to Stornaway, stay one night. Bus to Tarbert (Harris), stay one night, bus to Lochmaddy (Nth Uist), stay 3 nights and fish two days, bus to the pub in Lochboisdale you stayed in, stay one night (Sth Uist), bus and ferry to Castlebay (Barra) stay one night, bus to beach airfield, fly to Glasgow, train to Liverpool for weekend, train home to London. So a 2 week trip
Weather forecast is not too good so I hope ferries and plane all work or I am stuffed. I made sure every place I stay has a bar....... Looking forward to it! JT Upgraded to an ex demo, 7 mth old, Rimini Red/Ebony Napoli Auto HSE on 28th Jan 2011, added roof rails, mudflaps and side strips.
Gone - A great 57 Plate, Auto SE, Bought Feb 2009, Roof Rails and Mudflaps added on purchase. Blue colour, anything but drug dealer black.....

Have fun JT - just pack rain gear and no-see'em-spray and mobile 'phone to tell family and employer that the ferry isn't sailing for the next few days due to stormy weather. Grand - more nights in the boozer

avtur wrote:

I fully understand why you would want to fly into 'Barra', having some connections with aviation in this part of the world all I would say is please build in some flexibility in your schedule ... there is a high degree of weather dependency for flights to operate ... if the weather isn't playing the flights do not operate ... make sure you factor in some flexibility in your plan ...

geoff.c wrote:

us a lot of the skin so soft to help keep insects at bay. There are several products from Avon, under this name. You want the 150ml pump spray, of SSS soft and fresh replenishing dry oil body spray.

There are taxi & bus companies in the Hebrides if you get fed up with walking in the rain. Bring some windproof clothing too - there aren't any trees on Harris and Lewis for a reason! There are also postbuses operating out on the Hebrides too. If you can get a stop off at Rhum it is well worth a visit to Kinloch House. How can carbon have a footprint, it has no feet?
Now driving - RRE Coupe Dynamic Lux Auto with Plus pack, Fuji White, Ebony, SD4 with tow pack
Gone - 2010MY FFRR TDv8 Stornoway and Ivory, Privacy - the pace of a TDv8 RRS, the incomparable grace of a Range Rover
Gone but will be missed- RRS Tdv8 HSE Stornoway Grey with Ebony Leather
Gone (only a little missed) RRS Tdv6 2.7SE Giverny Green/Aspen
Defender 90 County HT in Epsom Green