Chris and l got back last Thursday from a trip to the Western Isles involving a long flight to Glasgow where we picked up a hire car and drove to Oban for the ferry trip to Barra, the first isle in out trip northwards up the island chain. All the isles are sparsely populated, very rugged and elemental and devoid of any significant stands of trees. I loved the geography of the place;single isolated houses next to lochs with a backdrop of rocky, heather strewn mountains, dotted here and there with white specks (sheep). Most of the roads are single lane affairs with passing spaces every so often, designed so you can avoid the mad careering of the locals as they speed to some location; at times scary. All our scheduled ferry crossings worked perfectly. We did have to get up early though on our last day to catch the 7.30am ferry from Stornoway to Ullapool on the mainland. From there a five hour drive to Glasgow and the beginning of our trip home.
I enjoyed our brief time on the wild and beautiful Western Isles. By comparison the trip from Ullapool to Glasgow was through fairly non-descript bland countryside.
Go here for photos of our adventure.