Vatersay and back on the mainland

Tuesday 16 September 2025

Nido's parked up on the Highfield campsite in Benderloch, about 20 minutes drive north of Oban.  It's a lovely, well kept private site and cheaper than the CAMC and C&CC sites (of which we pay to be members), plus there are no 'white posts' we must park between or guards (I mean Wardens) marching around checking we've parked between said  'white posts'....go figure!  This is our second night here and it's been a welcome break after our early morning ferry crossing yesterday and also nice to have a day off driving.

After leaving the Scurrival campsite on Barra we drove 30 minutes to a pull in on Vatersay, just past the community hall and cafe.  There were beaches to the east and west of us, just over the sand dunes. The east beach is generally known as the more sheltered and it's said to be like a Caribbean beach.  The west beach faces the North Atlantic and the (normally) prevailing winds, so is usually rougher.  However, on this occasion the winds were from the SE, so we experienced the opposite.  We walked on both and I think the wind and rain gave us a different experience than those in the guide books; from our experience there are better beaches in the Outer Hebrides.  After a wind-swept walk on both sides, Cathy and Salty returned to the van and I popped into the community cafe to buy some cake.  The weather was dreadful - heavy rain and strong wind, so we had our meal and an early night, alarm clock set for the morning.

At 4am yesterday morning we woke to zero wind but not zero rain. I took Salty out while the kettle boiled and we had a quick muesli breakfast with our cup of tea, before driving the 15 minutes on a very narrow track to the ferryport in Castlebay.  Salty stayed in the van for the crossing as it's less stressful for him. There were very few of us on the ship so we could have easily found a spot to lay out and sleep.  Instead we had a tasty Scottish cooked breakfast then sat in comfy chairs, reading and looking out over the sea for the 4.5 hours crossing to Oban.  It was very calm and we disembarked on time, driving to Tesco for a food shop and diesel.

The 20 minute drive to this campsite seemed very busy and noisy after two weeks on the very quiet, single-track roads of the Outer Hebrides.  Pitched and hooked up, we walked to the beach to stretch our legs after an early morning start.  After dinner and a couple of YouTube videos, our eyelids were drooping and we all slept well.

This morning Cathy had her first online Welsh lesson of the new 'school' year, so I took Salty down to the beach and the dunes for a dip and a long sniff down the rabbit holes!  After lunch we walked again through the forest to the Otter Pond (actually a trout fly-fishing pond) before returning and sitting out in the sun until it disappeared behind the trees.  We were stuffed after a chicken curry and daal meal, with some naan I made from scratch.  Now it's quiet, and we're all tired from a mentally (Cathy) and physical (me) day.  Time to sleep!

Barra and planes landing on the beach

Saturday 13 September 2025

Nido's parked up on Scurrival campsite, right at the top of the island of Barra.  Our pitch has great views over the sea and islands and out towards Eriskay to the north.  Behind us, just over the hill, is the North Atlantic.  It's a quirky site, with showers, toilets, washing machine, a fully fitted kitchen and a sitting room, all within what used to be a bungalow lived in by previous owners.  Angus owns the campsite but the day to day running is done by Colin, an extremely helpful and informative man with a great sense of humour, who every March leaves his home in Cheshire in his motorhome and drives up to the site, leaving at the end of the season in October.  At £22 per night including EHU, it's probably the cheapest campsite on the island and certainly has magnificent views.

Yesterday morning the winds had abated enough to allow the Eriskay to Ardmhor ferry to resume its timetable after 24 hours of cancellation.  It's a small RO-RO ferry with a tiny lounge on one side, plus outdoor seating on the deck above.  The journey took 45 minutes and we arrived a bit windswept and salt-laden at Ardmhor ferryport.  The campsite was about 15 minutes drive, passing Barra airport on the way.  This is one of the most unusual airports in the world, where the small planes can only operate at low tide and actually land and take off from the wet beach.  

Whale vertebrae at the CL - my welly for size comparison!

Once pitched up we walked down to the sandy beach as the tide was receding and walked about 2 miles around the bay, before reversing our route.  After a couple of days cooped up in the van it was lovely to stretch our legs and enjoy some sunshine, interspersed with a couple of very short, rain showers.  Back at the van I followed our normal Friday home routine - made a salad and cooked a pizza in the Ridge Monkey and we watched the exPawers weekly YouTube vlog.

This morning was a bit cloudy and Salty and I were rained on during our first walk.  Breakfast was some of the excellent smoked salmon we bought from the Hebridean Smokehouse, with scrambled eggs and toast.  The plan for today was to drive around the coast of Barra, so we had to pack up the van and headed off down past the beach airport and towards the main road.  The Barra ring road follows the coast and we went anti-clockwise first, passing a couple of beaches and through Castlebay, before looping back to our start point.  

I then reversed the route (it's not that long) and we drove back, stopping at Castlebay to find the way to the ferry check-in (when we go on Monday morning it will still be dark when we arrive there) and on to layby parking.  A short walk back down the single-track road and over the dunes and we were on a sandy beach, with the North Atlantic waves pounding on to the shore.  We had it all to ourselves and by now the sun was out and it was HOT!  At the end of the beach was a small secluded cove.  Cathy decided to have a swim, but we had no costumes or towels with us so, with nobody about, she just skinny-dipped in the Atlantic!  I would of course have joined her, but Salty and I need to stay on the beach and act as shark-watch guards!  She was buzzing on the walk back and returning to the van I made her a pot of hot tea (I had an espresso) and we sat on an adjacent bench in the hot sunshine, watching the waves and just chilling; we'd waited a long time to do that!  On the way back, as we drove towards the beach airport, we timed it perfectly as a plane took a short run along the wet beach and took off right next to us.

Skinny-dipping in the Atlantic!

Back on the campsite we sat outside on our chairs for the first (and probably only) time in the Outer Hebrides, drinking tea and eating our meal until it was a bit chilly.  The sun's still out though so it's toasty warm inside the van, so we'll have tea and cake later and look out to sea to try and spot any passing dolphins or porpoises.

Rainy Uists

Thursday 11 September 2025

Nido's parked up at a CL in North Boisdale in South Uist.  We parked by a barn which is providing some shelter from the strong winds and heavy rain that's been with us for a couple of days.  It's good to be hooked up to electric to recharge the leisure battery and also dry out our wet coats and boots.

As we left Baleshore beach yesterday we notice a dead whale had washed up on the beach.  We didn't stop to check it out as it raining hard and the gulls were having a feast, but apparently it's a regular occurrence in these parts.  Our first stop was the Scandinavian Bakery, inside the community all in Grimsay. I bought a couple of pastries to takeaway and had a quick espresso, which hit the spot on a windy rainy morning!  Our next stop was Maclennan's supermarket in Balivanich on Benbecula. 

Provisioned up again, I drove us from east to west to a park up near Peter's Port, a small fishing harbour.  On the way, as we drove across one of the many causeways here, an adult otter appeared and crossed the road about 20m in front of us.  I was the only vehicle around so was able to slow down and we watched it cross and slip into the water on the other side.  At Peter's Port we ate our lunch and half the pastries before taking a walk down to the deserted harbour; I guess the bad weather has kept all the fishing boats alongside.

Our final stop for the night was a park up at the RSPB Nature Reserve at Loch Druidberg, where we joined several other vans who no doubt had also decided to stop driving and rest.  The wind and rain continued but during a gap in the showers we took Salty for a walk and down to a community woodland growing between two lochs.  The bad weather continued through the night and we were rocked around, with the wind rattling the skylights.

This morning the winds were stronger and the rain heavier, so after breakfast we continued south and visited the very interesting Kildonan Museum before arriving at this CL.  The owners weren't in, but I was able to park up in the shelter of the large barn, hook up to electric and service the van, then take Salty for a walk.  With the heating on, my waterproofs were able to dry out and not be hanging around in the van all night.  We've spent the afternoon reading and staying in the warm, although Salty has needed the occasional walk, but he didn't want to stay out for long either!

The weather is still awful but it's forecast to start improving slowly overnight and into the morning.  We're booked on the 1015 ferry to Barra tomorrow and won't know until the morning whether it's running; today all local Cal Mac ferries were cancelled and there's the risk of the same tomorrow.  If so, I'll try and book an alternative, noting we're also booked on the Barra to Oban ferry on Monday morning, although at the moment the forecast looks better.  If that plan fails we'll need to spend a bit more time here, but that's all part of the adventure!

Sailing to the Uists

Tuesday 9 September 2025

Nido's parked up by Baleshare beach on the west coast of North Uist.  It's very windy and we've had some rain showers, but they're holding off for now.  It's almost high tide and the waves are crashing on to rocks about 20 metres away.  It's been quite a rainy day and tomorrow is looking worse, but we're getting out for walks when we can.

The Butty Bus was open yesterday morning when I took Salty out for his morning walk at Leverburgh harbour, so we had breakfast rolls which were very tasty.  I drove round to the ferry waiting area and we were checked in.  The ferry was soon visible as it approached and the vehicles were quickly offloaded, then we were all loaded up.  By the time we'd locked up and made our way to the passenger lounge the ferry was already on its way.  It was a sunny but blowy day, reasonably warm in the sunshine if out of the wind, so we spent the journey sat outside as the ferry wound its way through the rocks and small islands.  

An hour later we were disembarking on Berneray, an island that's joined to the Uists by a road causeway.  Our first stop was the only shop on the island to pick up some basic items, then we drove to West beach, parking up and walking across the grass and through the dunes to another very long, white sandy beach.  The sand is course and I was in shorts, so my legs were sand-blasted!  Having stretched ours (and Salty's) legs after the ferry crossing we drove across (just a few minutes) to East beach, which was our park up for the night.  Nido was parked on the grass a few metres from the sand, along with about five other vans spread over about half a kilometre, so we all had plenty of room.  We had lovely views of the beach, the sea and onwards looking north to the mountains of Harris.  Cathy cooked a lovely beef stew and we sat in the cab seats with our meal and a glass of wine, just looking out at the amazing vista.

As this morning was dry, we used the opportunity to give the van a good clean out, talking out all the mats and seat covers to give them a good shake in the wind and a brush down - little blacks dogs leave lots of little black hairs!  With showers, clean bedding and a swept out van, we were ready for the day.  On the way we stopped at the Coral Box Gift Shop in Berneray.  It's a tiny wooden shack that sells all sorts of local Hebridean, nautical and island themed gifts and crafts;  the owner is on social media and a couple of messages before we came suggested places to swim, so I wanted to thank her too.  Unfortunately the weather's prevented us swimming but who knows....   Cathy bought a lovely cushion with the cover made of harris tweed (in a bright orange colour) with images of oyster catchers - a lovely momento of our time here.

I drove a short distance to the township and ferry port of Lochmaddy, to empty the toilet cassette and with the plan to take a walk around.  But for some reason it was busy and there was no parking available.  So we carried on and drove to Langass Woodland.  This is a community-managed woodland and they first started planting in the 1960, predominantly spruce and pine.  However, storms opened up gaps and these allowed some planting of deciduous trees, bringing in all sorts of flora and birdlife.

We also visited the final resting place of Hercules the bear, who is buried in a lovely clearing amongst the trees, with a life-size wooden statue and a bench to sit and think.  Hercules had already starred in Disney movies and the James Bond film Octopussy, when he was brought to North Uist to fill a toilet paper advert.  'Resting' between scenes, his owner took him for a swim along the coast when his rope snapped and he escaped.  He evaded capture for 23 days before eventually being spotted, shot with a tranquilliser gun and airlifted back to Lochmaddy.  He'd lost 127kg in weight as he didn't know how to forage for food, yet because he was habituated to humans, he didn't attack anyone.

Moving on the plan was to visit a RSPB site on the coast and we stopped off at the Hebridean Smokehouse on the route to buy smoked fish and pate.  On reaching the RSPB parking though, heavy rain arrived and it looked set to stay for the rest of the afternoon, so we reversed our route and came to our current park-up at Baleshare beach.  Several vans were parked up with guys packing up after kite surfing, but once they left we moved on to the grass area, with a big stony bank between us and the beach.  We're the only ones here now.  There's an honesty box asking for a £10 donation, with the money going towards maintaining the community defibrillator.  I always put donations in an envelope so I can write a note of thanks to the local community for allowing us to park up in such lovely, peaceful places.  Supper tonight was haggis, with steamed vegetables and tatties, plus a cheese and pepper sauce.  On the way here we stopped at cake honesty box on the side of the road and bought some homemade shortbread, which went down very well tonight with a cup of tea.

Tomorrow the weather's looking very dreachy, so we'll decide where to go based on that.  I'm watching the weather forecast for the next few days closely as there's a risk that at least one of our final two ferries may be cancelled do to the wind and rough seas.  If they are we can book the next available slot free of charge.  Luckily we don't have to be home for another fortnight, so we're not too concerned if we have to spend another couple of days in South Uist or Barra.

Cows on the beach and driving across Jupiter!

Sunday 7 September 2025

Nido's parked up on a small gravel car park adjacent to the Leverburgh ferryport.  Weather permitting we'll be catching the ferry to Bernaray on North Uist in the morning.  On the car park is the Butty Bus, a bus that serves breakfast rolls.  It should be open early enough tomorrow morning to grab a couple of breakfast baps before we have to catch the ferry!

We left Luskentyre yesterday morning after a quick cup of tea and drove to Leverburgh to use the laundrette in the Leverhulme Community Hub.  It opens at 0900, so we were straight in to get the washing and drying done. During that time we sat and had breakfast, parked up next to the Community shop overlooking a sea inlet.  It was an easy admin morning but the machines only take pound coins; luckily I'd got plenty from the bank before we left home.

From there we drove back along the coast and pulled into a layby next to Traigh Iar.  There were cows laying on the beach, despite the wind and occasional rain showers; every day must be a beach day for them!  The tide was out but the waves were pounding as we walked along, eventually climbing the dunes and hill to reach the Macleod's Stone, standing tall with a view over the sea and Taransay.  It's been dated to the prehistoric Neolithic period and is believed to have been part of rituals, including funerary rites.  We worked our way back along the dunes and behind the cows (none had mooooved since earlier!) and sat in the van with the side door open to have lunch, watching the waves crash even high as the tide returned.

One minute down the road was the West Harris Trust Camping Spot 1.  It's a layby just off the road and is one of six designated and approved overnight park-ups provided by West Harris Trust, including three campsites.  It cost £10 per night, which can be paid by text or Paypal via their website.  Another van was parked already, but we managed to find a level spot just in front of them, again with a great view of the sea and Taransay.  

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening chilling; Cathy carrying on with her sewing project.  I did a bit of research for the Uists before cooking dinner - Keralan chicken curry with some flatbreads; I made the dough when at the laundrette stop and it rose well during the day, sat on the dashboard!

This morning it was windy but actually quite warm.  After showers and breakfast I drove a mile up the road to the Horgabost campsite, where they offer black waste dump and drinking water for £3.  The beach there is beautiful - soft white sand that shelves gently into clear blue water, so we had a quick walk and decided to come back later in the day and try for a swim when the tide's in.

Before that we took a drive around south Harris, following the 'Golden Road' that tracks the east coast.  This area is much more rocky, with lots of sea inlets and tiny harbours.  There were also hundreds of small inland lochs, some covered in lily pads, which must look beautiful when in flower.  The area's so stark it was used to depict the planet Jupiter in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.  It still has a beauty all of its own though, with loads of quirky houses, some old and original, others new and very modern.  We stopped at one of the few parking spaces on the road, high above the sea at Finsbay for lunch.  Despite the strong wind we managed to shelter the side door so we could open it and enjoy the view.  The road continued to wind down towards the small village of Rodel with a medieval church; this was busy with lots of visitors so we didn't park.

We returned to Horgabost beach to sit and wait for the tide.  Unfortunately the rain started and stayed heavy for several hours, which killed off our chance of our first sea swim here, so we drove up to this current spot by the tiny ferry port.  The ferry was just a few minutes away when we parked up and we watched it unload, load back up and quickly return to Berneray.  The alarms set so we're up in time for breakfast rolls if the Butty Bus is open before we continue our journey south to the Uists.