The Isle of Lewis & Harris

Paid collaboration with Bailey of Bristol

With the ferries running again from the mainland to the Outer Hebrides we were excited to book our tickets and take our Bailey Motorhome on a new adventure. We caught the ferry from Uig on Skye to Tarbert on Harris. We got really lucky with the weather for our time in Scotland and mostly we had warm sunshine and blue skies. The crossing itself was incredibly calm and the water was glass like, cracking under the weight of the ferry. The stillness made it easy to spot the playful pod of common dolphins swimming around and under our boat. Before we caught the ferry we noticed that we had an issue with our onboard water pump in our motorhome. We were already in the que of vehicles ready to board and it was early in the morning. We had never experienced this issue before and decided to call Bailey for assistance. 

By the time we had arrived on Harris Bailey had organised for a repair team to be sent out to us the next day to figure out the problem and replace the pump if needed. Bailey is the only motorhome company to offer this type of service and to see it first hand was incredible. Two engineers left Bristol that day and the next day they had arrived on Harris and within half an hour they had replaced our pump and all was sorted, amazing!

Our first stop on the Island was to explore the famous Luskentyre Sands. The Luskentyre Sands area boasts miles of white sand beaches and that turquoise coloured water we have been hunting for. We know that the UK is insanely beautiful and we know there are many beautiful beaches with warm soft sand and tempting water. We are literally spoiled by the miles and miles of perfect coastline yet Luskentyre still surprised us with its beauty. The sun came out as we were walking on the beach and made the entire place glow. There was an Island across from the beach that when we climbed the sand dunes appeared to have a sandbar. With the weather beautifully clear and sunny we flew the drone over the water and captured some photos of the incredible sandbar snaking into the water. We later found out that it was the Island of Taransay which was used as the island in the BBC’s Castaway.

We would suggest arriving as early as possible to Luskentyre as the car park is pretty small. It can fill up quickly and make the beach look busy but in reality there is so much space at the beach that you can feel totally alone. We managed to pull ourselves away after a few hours and drove to find our campground that we had booked. Harris has several small official unmanned camp grounds which are great. They have electrical hookup and water facilities. We were told at the point of booking our ferry that we needed to stay at official places on the island and so we booked our first night here to check everything out. We are glad we only booked one night though as no one asked any questions as to where we were staying and we wanted the freedom to stay all over the island and use the excellent honesty box locations. (It is legal to Wild camp in Scotland and on these Islands and we think the ferry company are trying to drive campers to campgrounds for the money, we are not sure though). We could then stay in some pretty remote places which are designated overnight parking areas and pay a small tip for the pleasure.

After getting set up at the campground we went to explore Traigh Lar beach that we were overlooking. The late afternoon light was golden and we walked down and across the beach to the other side. We walked up the hill to check out MacLeaod’s Stone. The tall standing stone was thought to be a gathering place for clans that used to live on the island. It was a beautiful location for a clan gathering point and Hannah had her Outlander moment as we decided to create a falling through time short video there. We then walked back to the van as the sun was setting over the ocean.

The next morning the weather was totally different and very stormy in the morning. The calm beach the evening before now had crashing waves and grey clouds looming above. We drove a little further south to an area called Northton where we parked up and went in search of more beautiful beaches. There is a mountain on the headland and a medieval church which has a fantastic view back across multiple white sand beaches. The sun had come out to play in the afternoon and was lighting up the beaches and water as we explored. We watched as clouds would obscure the light and create dancing shadows across the beaches. We spent all day walking and taking photos of each other against the backdrop of beautiful beaches and mountains. We had a late afternoon evening shower that caught us out while we were by the church. We took shelter before braving the walk back, after a few minutes which we got drenched, the sun came flooding out again and we had a beautiful sunset.

After spending the evening eating good food and backing photos up we went to sleep tired and excited to start the next day of exploring.

We left our parking location early as Hannah was very keen to explore some salt marshes not far from where we were. The moody morning light and backdrop of mountains in the water mingled with the unique patterns of the marshes from above was magical. We were lucky to have the view to ourselves just before a quick passing shower made us run back to our motorhome before driving the tiniest roads to a place called Huisinis which is a large sheltered bay, and the home to another beach which doesn't seem possible for this part of the world. We drove past highland cows and a beautiful privately owned castle. We were about to hike above the beach to explore other coves and bays when we noticed in the distance what looked like paradise. We could only see a small section of white sand and turquoise water jutting out from where we were and the hike was along a mountain coastal path. We knew the effort would be worth it though and we made our way to an unnamed beach, at least we cannot find a name for it anywhere but the size and beauty of it must mean that it does have a name. It splits the Isle of Harris and the Isle of Scarp. The two islands are almost joined though by a very large sandbar that can be walked out for a long way at low tide. It was the perfect way to spend our final afternoon on Harris before heading further north into Lewis.

We drove for almost two hours to a place with names like Cliff and Reef. We camped in the small overnight car park at Cliff beach with fantastic views over the beach and out to sea. We had arrived just as darkness was setting in and after some dinner we went to sleep. The next morning we were met by the local sheep dog who walked with us along the top of the beach to get a better view. A little drizzle blew in over the water and a fantastic rainbow arched over the beach. Hannah nicknamed Lewis and Harris the Island of Rainbows as we saw so many while there yet the weather seemed so dry and sunny!

Our next stop was another exceptionally large bay called Uig Sands, we explored the Ardroil Beach area which was empty from other people and we climbed the small banks and explored the reflective pools that had formed from the previous high tide. We drove further north for about 40 minutes to a place we were excited to see. The Callanish Stones are a 5000 year old stone circle and as we drove towards them we noticed many other stones and stone circles. We learned later that the area was a prominent site for stone circles and the activities that came with them. The Callanish stones are older than the Pyramids of Giza and even Stonehenge. They were very impressive and the thought of how long they have been standing was a bit mind blowing. We have heard from one source that they are the oldest stone circle in the world but have yet to see anything to confirm that. They are however amongst the oldest. After buffing up on our stone circle history we left and drove the short distance to a village museum called Gearrannan blackhouse village which is an example of what a traditional village on the island would have looked like. The name comes from the burning of dried peat on the fires inside that would stain the inside of the buildings. While the buildings were closed because of Covid restrictions we could freely walk around the outside of the village. 

For our last stop we drove to Garry beach which had beach stacks at the one end creating a dramatic view down onto the beach. There is also a bridge and road that was started in the 1920s and never finished. The bridge is called the bridge to nowhere. We walked along the road out of curiosity but it really does go nowhere. It was supposed to link up to the north of the island but the plans were never completed. It was an isolated location and apart from meeting Angus in the morning who was a lovely old man walking his dog there was no one else there.

The next day we started on our journey back down to Tarbert to catch the early ferry the next day. We stopped off at Loch Seaforth for lunch which is a big beautiful steep sided sea loch with the geographical qualities of a fjord. We suddenly felt like we were exploring the Jotunheimen region of Norway and were once again amazed at the landscape of the British Isles.

In the afternoon we drove the Golden Road which we think is named because of the great cost of building it. It is a small single track lane that takes in some of the best scenery the island has to offer and is even rated as some of the best scenery in Scotland. We can definitely vouch for that!

Our time on the Isles of Lewis and Harris was at an end and we boarded the ferry in the dark. We watched as the glow of the rising sun illuminated the wake from the ferry as we cruised back across the Minch to Skye.

Our Scottish adventure continues in our next two blogs where we will be exploring the Isle of Skye and the Scottish Highlands. Stay tuned!