Outer Hebrides 3 - Barra and North Uist

 18 to 22 May

 On the beach

On our way to the ferry on Saturday we stopped at the Eriskay community shop for a few provisions. Arriving in Barra punctually we had time to take a small detour to witness the arrival of the tiny Logan Air plane onto the beach runway. This is a regular service from Glasgow and signs warn you to keep off the beach when the windsock is flying.

The runway at Barra

Touchdown

We were surprised how many people were there to watch (in cars and motorhomes). Afterwards we drove around the top half of the island to reach our campsite, Borve Camping and Caravanning. The view from the site was superb.

Next morning we attempted a short walk from the site. Access to the Hebridean Way was not far down the road but the path was not near the coastline and not clearly signed so after walking to a beach we turned back. The afternoon was more successful; we cycled to the most southerly inhabited island of Vatersay. John had warned me there was a steep hill, but I thought 12.5% was a bit much! Thank goodness for the motors! The road took us past the site of the Catalina aircrash in 1944, where plane parts still lie in the grass, and finished at the Vatersay Community Hall, which thankfully was serving refreshments for another 15 minutes. This is a lovely spot for a walk and also allows overnight camping.

On to Castlebay next day (Monday). The weather had been brilliant first thing - we even had breakfast outside - but during the morning the mist rolled in, giving the opportunity for some eerie photos of the castle perched on an island a short way out. 

Barra Heritage Centre has a tea room and an exhibition about Barra, which we might have explored with more time / bad weather.  It has been very hard to find places to eat out, but Castlebay Hotel hit the spot on this occasion. It was a shame the waitress knocked a jug of warm milk for John's coffee into his lap! From Castlebay we drove along the east side of the island and then to the top of the northern peninsula, for a night at the remote Croft No. 2 site, with its fantastic views. Usually there is a fish diner right next door but, guess what, it only opens during the latter half of the week!

View from our van at Croft No. 2

An early start was required on Tuesday to get the 8.30 ferry from Ardmhor, where we were greeted by name and Ardmhor Cafe provided excellent coffee and hot chocolate.

Arriving back on Eriskay it was a pleasant change to be somewhere familiar and we also made a second visit to the Kildonan Heritage Centre to buy books by Scottish author, Peter May. Blackhouse is the first of a trilogy of crime novels based in the Outer Hebrides and the book "Peter May's Hebrides" gives a lot of background to those novels.

The next site was next to the RSPB Balranald nature reserve and also located behind the beach.  It was a glorious afternoon and we enjoyed the 3 mile walk around the reserve where we spotted oystercatchers, lapwing, ringed plover, skylark and various gulls off our own bat and dunlin, turnstone and knot with the help of an expert. Despite being very tired we dragged ourselves back to the edge of the beach to photograph the sunset at 21.58.

We were so pleased to have experienced the nature reserve when we did as next day the weather was cooler, dull and windy. We did a short circular walk in the afternoon before the wind really got up and resulted in a very stormy night.

The next morning we drove over another causeway onto the Isle of Berneray, from where we caught another ferry for the crossing to Leverburgh, on the south of the Isle of Harris