How to plan an Outer Hebrides road trip to Lewis and Harris

Scotland's Outer Hebrides don't forgive poor planning. Ferries sell out, accommodation is limited, and the roads demand your full attention. But get it right and you're rewarded with some of the most breathtaking landscapes in the world. In this episode Tracy has just returned from Lewis, Harris, and Skye and is sharing exactly how she put the trip together so you can do the same.

We cover the full route from the Midlands up through Glencoe to Ullapool, what the CalMac ferry crossing to Stornoway is actually like, and why you absolutely book ferries before anything else. We also get into the realities of driving on single-track roads with passing places, livestock on the road, Sunday closures, and Scottish Gaelic road signs.

Then it's the good stuff: the beaches of Lewis and Harris that genuinely stop you in your tracks, the Callanish Standing Stones, the blackhouses at Carloway, local Harris Tweed, and a couple of restaurants and places to stay that are worth going out of your way for. We finish with an honest conversation about Skye, what it's like now, whether it's still worth it, and how it compares to the quieter islands.

Part 2 on Mull and Iona is coming soon. Subscribe so you don't miss it.

Show notes - Episode 96

Transcript

A Scottish Islands Travel Hook

SPEAKER_01 0:00

From the white sands of Lewis and Harris to the dramatic landscapes of the Isle of Skye, I've just returned from an incredible journey through some of Scotland's most breathtaking islands. In this episode, I'm sharing every detail of the trip so you can plan your own Scottish Island adventure with confidence.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Welcome to the Global Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is founder of the Global Travel Planning website, Tracy Collins. Each week, Tracy is joined by expert guests as she takes you on a journey to destinations around the world, sharing travel inspiration, itinerary ideas, and practical tips to help you plan your next adventure. Join us as we explore everywhere from bustling cities to remote landscapes, uncover cultural treasures, and discover the best ways to make your travel dreams a reality.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Hi

Why This Episode Is Shared

SPEAKER_01 0:50

everybody and welcome to this week's edition of the Global Travel Planner Podcast, episode 96. Can you believe it? So this episode was actually recorded for our UK travel planning podcast, and I decided to uh move it and use it also on the Global Travel Planner Podcast because I know we have uh fans who listen to each of the podcasts, and I just want to kind of say if you are planning a trip to the UK, if it's on your horizons, then do tune in to our UK specific podcast, which is all about travel anywhere in the UK. So we offer lots of inspiration, lots of tips um and resources for UK travel on the UKTravelplan.com website, our London TravelPlan.com website as well, um, and obviously our UK Travel Planning podcast. So um if you're not already listening to the UK Travel Planner Podcast, this will be great inspiration for you to pop over and to um subscribe there. Uh for those of you who are regulars on both podcasts, you can choose where to listen to this episode because it's available on both our podcasts for this week. But um, I'll be back in two weeks' time with a global travel planner podcast uh with more travels around the globe. Doug and I have got some exciting travel planned in July where we're heading to South Africa. Um, and there's lots of other great episodes, uh, two episodes coming in June. Um, but uh destinations to be confirmed. Uh but anyway, sit back and enjoy this little trip around some of the most beautiful islands of Scotland.

Trip Overview And Route Map

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Hi everybody, and welcome to this week's edition of the UK Travel Planet Podcast. Now, this week I am going to be chatting to Doug all about my recent trip to Scotland. So I have uh I actually just got back on Thursday morning. I took the Caledonian sleeper from Fort William down to Birmingham International, where it got off, which is a fairly recent new stop, I think we've added in. Is that right, Doug?

SPEAKER_03 2:44

Yeah, recent.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Yeah, so that was really good. Actually, quite a few people got off, so that was good. So what we thought we'd do um to make this not an episode that's going to take three hours to talk all about my trip is we're dividing it up into two. So the first part will take us to um Oban, but you'll kind of understand that when we we go through, I'll go through what the itinerary was, and then part two of this will be the end of June. So you need to subscribe and then you won't miss an episode. Um and uh that will be the second part of the trip, which I did actually on my own when I went to the island of Mull and used public transport, so that'll be a good one to chat through about Mull and Iona, but that's coming at the end of next month, so no spoilers for that. So there's no questions coming about uh about about Mull and Iona. We're gonna focus this episode on the first part of my trip, which um was to the islands of Lewis and Harris and uh Skye. Um so anyway, Doug, do you wanna take it away and uh just chat to everybody about uh what what where are you at the moment?

SPEAKER_02 3:48

You're in Australia, I'm in that's right, I'm in uh just outside Brisbane in Australia.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

And I'm actually sitting at uh at my parents' home actually to do this on my birthday. So I was recording this on my birthday. So I thought uh I would give Doug a load of questions and we can just chat through it.

How The Itinerary Comes Together

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Right, okay, and so before we get to the actual trip itself, uh how did you go about planning this fantastic adventure you've been on? You know, where where did you start? How did you put it all together? And yeah, just give us an overview of the the the route itself and the places that you've been. Just in a nutshell, if you like.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Yeah, and I will say if you if you listen to the thing, and that's weird that Doug didn't know about it, it's because Doug wasn't coming on the trip, so I didn't, and because I was doing a lot of planning, I didn't really tell you a lot, did I?

SPEAKER_02 4:37

No, no, and I'm not very good on boats, to be fair.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

So exactly, and this did involve boats, so you weren't that keen on it. So I'll just say that I didn't.

SPEAKER_02 4:45

I'd rather be on a train, to be fair.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Well, yes, I know you would. So I will just say that I did this trip with a very, very uh close friend of mine who lives in the UK who um said when I was telling her about what I was planning, she was like, Oh, can I come along? Um so which worked out really lovely because we had a fantastic time and it's great to spend time with her. But um also she did all the driving, so that was wonderful for me. Uh so I could sit back and enjoy the scenery and um take lots of videos and photos, which I will share in the show notes on our Instagram channel channel and hopefully actually get a video up because I took lots of video uh of driving around Lewis and Harris, which I'm gonna hopefully put up onto our YouTube channel, which is UK Travel Planning, soon. Um, so if you are planning to visit Lewis and Harris, you can get get a chance to have a look at what it's so beautiful, so beautiful. Um so the overall route was we actually started in Derby, where my friend lives, um, and we drove up. So Derby's from isn't well, do you want to say where Derby is, Doug? Because that's where you're from.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Well, I'm near from I'm not from Derby, I'm from Burton on Trent. She's not in Derby, further south. So Derby is in the east midlands, so right in the middle of England.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

Yeah, so we we started out from Derby, and um it's too far to drive up to Ullapool. Now, Ullapool is where we were taking the um ferry over to Stornaway, which is on the island of Lewis. Um, and it was too far to go in one day. So we we stopped off in Gretna on the way up, which is somewhere I'd always wanted to go to because I'd kind of heard a lot about Gretna Green. Gret Gretna Green, if you don't know, was always very or is I don't know if it's still is very famous for weddings and people are loping uh and running away and get married. Um so we just stopped off there there one night, um, which was which was really nice, a good stopping off place. Um and then the next day, um we had the drive then to uh Olapool, and when I was talking to my my friend Kim about it, I was like, well, we could do it in this many hours. I don't think it was uh maybe five hours, or we can do it in I should know the actual number of hours, but um I think it was like seven hours to do this alternative route which will take us uh via Glen Coe on the A82. And obviously, uh when I said to her, this is and I showed her some pictures actually of uh of Glen Coe, she went, let's go that way. So we decided so we drove that way, and she it blew her mind actually. She said to me, she said, she was so glad she did that because it was so beautiful. And obviously, we stopped off in the green welly shop.

SPEAKER_02 7:19

Oh, very good.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Yes, yes. I bought myself a a lovely hat with a with a hairy cue on it, which is very cool, which isn't a lot of my photos. A lot of people on the Facebook group and on Instagram commented on my hat. Love my hat. Um, anyway, we stayed in Ollerpool uh for one night, caught the ferry the next morning.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

So Ollerpool's on the west side of Scotland, isn't it? Just tell everybody which side you're driving up.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Yes, west coast, west coast. Because we're so those we were going to the outer Hebrides. So um the uh Lewis and Harris are on the outer Hebrides, Sky's inner Hebrides. So um, if you look on a map, you you can see off the west coast of Scotland. Um, everybody knows about Sky. Um, and I am going to talk a little bit about Sky. Unfortunately, that Sky has got um it, in my opinion, is over touristed. It is beautiful, it is a lovely island, it is easy to get to because you can go over by a bridge, but that unfortunately is having an impact. Um, and you just just trying to get parked and drive around is just a nightmare. Anyway, I'm just I will talk a little bit about Sky in a bit. But part of what I wanted to do with this trip was to highlight some of the other beautiful islands that aren't getting as visited as much. Um, and put them on you guys listening. If you're listening to this and thought, well, I've never heard of Lewis and Harris, then you're gonna after this podcast, you are gonna want to go. I can I can assure you that. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

So,

Ferries First Then Accommodation

SPEAKER_02 8:43

how long did it take to put together the plan with you and your friend? Did it take weeks or months, or was it sort of last minute, or because a bit of a no, I did it in January.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Yeah, no, I did it in January. I started as soon as Kim said she wanted to come. Um, I mean, you know Kim, so I just said to Kim, I'll just put it all together. Um, but obviously I was doing a lot of other stuff at the same time because we were going to the Philippines as well. So if you want to listen to our Philippines trip, you can that's on Global Travel Plan podcast. Um so I needed to get the bare bones of it done because what people often think is they can wait to go to some of these. You cannot wait, you cannot just think, oh, I'll wing it with accommodation. Uh you just can't. You've really got to look. A, the things that you need to do first are ferries. You need to check the ferries. So Calmac ferries. Uh, there's been a if there have been problems the last few years with Calmac ferries because the ferries are getting older and there's been cancellations, um, and it's caused a lot of problems for people on the islands as well, because um they need to get back to the mainland for you know for various things, doctors' appointments or dental appointments or whatever they need to get done, uh, hospital visits, and um and it's become a little bit more challenging. Uh, but don't please don't let that put you off. Um, yeah because you know I booked in January, our ferries were absolutely fine. So obviously, with a car going over and um two passengers in the car. So the first ferry I booked was basically from um Olappool to Stornaway, the second one was from Tarbett on Harris to Uig on um Sky, Port of Uig on Sky. Um, those and then I I did have another ferry um to from Oban to Mull, but I'll talk about that in the next podcast. Um, so I booked the ferries first. That was the first thing I did. Second thing I did is I booked accommodation. Now, when I booked the accommodation on Lewis, actually the lady got back to me and she said, Have you booked your ferry? Because she said often people will book the accommodation and then leave the ferry and then go to book a ferry and it's fully booked. So those are the two things you absolutely have to do first. Do not think, oh, I'm just gonna wing it, I like to wing it. I want to some places you can do that, you cannot do that if you're going to these islands. You really can't. You need to book. Um, when it came to booking in Harris, I really struggled actually to find accommodation. Now, this is January to travel at the end of April, beginning of May, and I couldn't, I struggled. So I turned to Airbnb, which I don't use that often, but I kind of went, I'm gonna have to look on Airbnb. Um, so I will talk about the different accommodation when we get to it that we stayed in because we did stay in hotels, we we rented a house, we stayed in Airbnb. So different types of accommodation. Um, but so we we planned the basics, we planned the ferry, we planned the accommodation. Past that, we didn't really do a lot of planning because I had didn't have a lot of time, and I figured, you know what, we'll see what the weather's like um when we get there, we'll have a look and you know, it because that can impact what you're doing, and we were incredibly lucky because the weather was beautiful. Um, because you you don't want to be driving around Ireland to go and see beaches if it's pouring down with rain, because you're not gonna, you know, not the best. Anyway, so so I did a little bit of research about things like beaches and stuff like that and things to see, but not a detailed planning, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Oh

Ullapool Drive And Ferry Crossing

SPEAKER_02 11:53

that makes sense. Okay, so next question is you you've partly answered this. The getting there is you know half the adventure, you know, that that sort of trip that you've been on. So the drive up to Ulapol, I know you sort of mentioned the ferries as well, but the drive up to Ullapool, Ullapool itself, I I have been there myself as well. So do you sort of advocate getting there early and explore or just arrive into Ullapool, catch the ferry and go? Is it something a place to visit? Is it a place to hang around, or you know, what what what's your take on the the drive up to Ullapool?

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Oh well, the drive up was beautiful because I say we went through Glencoe. So do that today too because you get that drive through um Glencoe. So give yourself, add that in. Honestly, do not go the quick route because we knew the ferry wasn't leaving until I think it was half past ten the next morning. So we wouldn't have made that drive anyway. So I knew we were going to stay in Ollerpool overnight. Um, now time of year that we're travelling, end of April, uh begin of May, light night. So it was light until after nine o'clock. So it didn't really matter what time we arrived because it was still light. We could enjoy the sunset over the bay. It was beautiful. Ollopol is beautiful, so it's very small, um, but it was just beautiful. We sat in the in the restaurant at the hotel that we were at. Um, and I'm gonna give them a huge shout out in a minute because we just the staff were amazing at this hotel, and um and I always thought I stay in lots and lots of different accommodation all over the world, but um, I'm gonna give a special shout out to the to the staff at this particular hotel. But anyway, I'll talk about that later. But we we were very close to where the ferry leaves, like literally two minutes. So we had to go and park the car up um about 45 minutes or so before and you kind of queue your car up, and then you just say or leave your car and then come back. So then we just had a little bit of a walk round, just you know, just watch other ferries coming in, and um again then we had beautiful weather. Um, so yeah, I'd just do that and yeah, enjoy the drive up to Ullapool because it is it is lovely. Um and it's actually the drive into Ullapol itself. I'd forgotten how amazing that drive is, just how beautiful. Um, yeah, incredible. It was like it's like a bit otherworldly, it's like a completely different landscape. Yeah. Um so I took lots of video of that because I was kind of going, oh, I forgot how the lovely this is. Um so yeah, it I mean the ferry crossing was was easy. You would actually be in fine. I know you don't like boats tug, but actually it was it was smooth as anything.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

It has to be very smooth for me. Very smooth.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

It was very smooth, seriously. It was just literally flat. Good.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

How long does crossing across? How long's that?

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Uh two hours of 40 from uh Ullapool to Stornoway. Uh yeah, so that's a bigger ferry because there seemed to be um yeah, there's a lot of cars got on that, so and then you part you go on. Well, you know, you've done the ferries before, you just drive on, they're they've they're very, very well organized. You drive on, you part your car, and then you go up and sit, uh, and you can you know watch. I went outside quite a bit and did some videos, so again I'll share that. Um so you can just kind of chill out on the ferry itself.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

And your first views are stolen away. What what was your thoughts on that the first time you saw it?

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Well, what was interesting as we were coming over to Lewis, that we kind of the cloud was quite low, and it's so we were kind of going through the mist, and the ferry was making a bit sound. So it was really obviously trying to yeah, warning any small boats that probably wouldn't have picked up. So um, yeah, so that was really cool coming in um into Stornoway, and then we're kind of yeah, we we arrived and um we did a bit of stocking up at the Tesco in Stornaway just to get some food because the first place that we're staying at in Lewis um we we'd rented a house for three nights, yeah.

Single Track Roads And Island Driving

SPEAKER_02 15:46

Okay, so you do actually need a car when you're driving on Lewis and Harris, don't you?

SPEAKER_01 15:51

I I would say so. I mean I didn't do public transport for Lewis and Harris, but I I I and I didn't really spot any buses, but I did ask Kim and she said, because obviously she was driving, so she probably I was too busy just ooing and R at this evening. Um she said we did pass a couple of small buses. So I assume that you could, I definitely could on mall, but I would recommend really for Harris and Lewis that you have your own car and then you've got that freedom to travel around when you want, um, uh because it it was just easier. But um, and I know you're probably gonna ask me about the roads now.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Well, that was coming up in a second. I was gonna say, is there anything that caught you by surprise, the roads or the signs, or was there anything you know, sort of in hazards like sheep on the roads and things like that?

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Uh-huh. Well, I'm gonna say that because uh because we're there eight end of April, May, there was just lambs everywhere, literally everywhere, and they're all over the road as well. They run across the road. You have to be really careful. We did pass some people who were driving far, far too fast. And you know, if you've got um uh uh you on one side of the road and the lambs on the other side, if the car's coming, they'll it will dash over to get to its mum. Um, and I've heard reports of you know sheep being killed, lambs being killed. You really have to be careful. Now, a lot of the roads on Lewis and Harris are single track, majority, actually. Um, well, the one road that we first went on when we got the ferry, which was direct to we were staying in um Carlaway, uh, which is on the opposite side of the island to Stornaway. Uh, we drove along this single track road to get to the accommodation, and Kim had to really concentrate because it was kind of dropping peak bogs. Um, and then we realized actually there was kind of a dual road which went round the island. We kind of cut through the middle of the island, but after that we didn't do that road again. Um, but but Harris was was single track, was mainly single track to where we were going, and um, so so Kim had to really concentrate, really concentrate on those roads.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Passing points was it on the single lane.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Yeah, a lot of passing points. And I did share in the Facebook group and and and and on Instagram, and I had a few comments going, what do you do? What do you do if something's coming towards you? Um, well, there's passing points, every kind of quite close together. Um, so the main thing is to know how to use a passing point so that you know the car if you're on the side you'll pull in and let the car go straight round you. Um so make sure you do not park as it park in and get off to have a wander around in a passing place because that's not what they're for.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

But they're clearly signposted though, are they?

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and very, very regular. So I don't think at any point I mean I think once Kim had to reverse because we kind of met a car in between passing points and they didn't want to reverse, so poor Kim had to reverse. Um a couple of times actually should have to do the reverse, and so uh yeah, so make sure that you're happy that you know, like you can reverse your car, so that that's important because some of those drop-offs were quite steep.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

I know well. I've driven on Sky with you, so I and I know what to expect to be similar to that. But uh quite a topic at the moment, what about um petrol stations, gas stations? Is there is there any of those on Lewis and Harris?

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Yeah, yeah, but you've got to you you know in store, we filled up in Stornoway and we'll filled up in Tarbart. Um, but yeah, you need to keep an eye on your uh petrol uh just to make sure that you've you've got enough. Again on Sky, we we filled up with there was no problem. We didn't there was no lack of petrol. We could get petrol. It was just a case of um, like for example, on a Sunday, um, everything was shot in Lewis, so that included petrol stations, yeah. So um you need to you you don't leave it to the Sunday and think, oh, I need to fill up because you're not gonna be able to. What we were incredibly surprised about, and something that Kim commented on is the amount of electric cars that we saw. We would say um there was I would say it was over 50% electric cars.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

Really?

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

So there's charging points for the cars.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Yep, there's charging points, but again, you'd have to plan it, but there were charging points, and there certainly were enough electric cars. And I mean that they could they could be hybrid, but there was, you know, uh Kim was gone, another electric, electric, electric, electric was kind of uh a lot of electric cars, they're very popular. Um, I know that she's talking about getting an electric car next time. They definitely seem to be, and and we did comment on the fact that everybody seems to cater to be able to um charge it up, but I would say where we stayed in Harris, you would have had to go to Tarbett and find somewhere. But obviously, because you know Kim's car's petrol, we didn't do we just noticed that you you probably could um because everybody else seemed to be happily driving around an electric car, so it was it it's definitely catered for more now.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

That's good to know. What about the size of cars?

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Was it sort of mostly small SUV and small cars, or was it bigger sort of well Kim did comment on yeah, there was people in uh motorhomes which I think Kim was like, I'm glad I'm not driving a motorhome. So she's got a a medium-sized SUV. I would say, really, for those roads, you're better off in a kind of medium to small SUV. I wouldn't go larger than that. If you're happy to drive a motorhome and used to it, I'm sure you'll be absolutely fine, not a problem. But um, I I just felt more comfortable and safer in Kim's car because it was a SUV. And I I mean we always we always rent a SUV when we're traveling around the UK, it just feels safer. Um just one question on that.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

So it's up with the motorhomes. Can you take those on the Calmack Ferry?

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but it'll cost you more, obviously. Because you've got to give the size of your vehicle. Yeah, yeah. You have to say size of vehicle, but yes, you can. And yes, there were people driving them around. So we did see them. Um, I would say um Harris is far more harrowing in terms of driving. Um yeah, I mean, Kim knew the road really well from where we're staying back to Tarbett, but you know, is um yeah, give yourself plenty of time when driving. Don't don't no, we had to get the ferry um from Tarbart to to Uig on Sky, and uh we give ourselves plenty of time for that drive because you don't know you know what you're gonna pass, you're gonna stop, you could have sheep in the road, we had cow in the road, you know, you it you those sort of um things that you're not used to when you're driving around kind of main roads in in cities or on the mainland um are just all all very realistic. Possibilities that you're going to come across.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

That's good to know.

Where To Stay And How To Eat

SPEAKER_02 22:03

Okay, and so where let's talk about accommodation. So, where did you stay across Lewis, Harrison, Skye? And how did you approach the subject of food? Because obviously it's you know, I've been to some not Lewis and Harris, but I've been to Sky, so I know you have to plan. So, you know, things like salcaturing and eating out, or was it a mixture of both?

SPEAKER_01 22:24

Right. Well, uh, first of all, I will say if you've been following me on on Instagram, you'll know that I got caught out for this um on the Islander Mall, and you'll find out what happened. Um, because sometimes we get caught out, we get caught out as well. And actually, I was talking to Sally Ann from North Coast Explorers yesterday for a podcast, which will have been out, uh which is actually coming out next week, which is all about summer in the UK. And she said about making sure you make reservations, eh, Tracy? And I went, yes. Um so uh first of all, we had uh we self catering. Uh so let's talk about Lewis first. So we we had a house, so South Catron, so we we did go to the Tesco and there's a co-op as well in Stornoway in Stockdown. So just take we're just talking kind of breakfasty stuff. We did eat out because we're out all day. Um, so we ate at the Uig Sands restaurant. Oh my word, you have to eat there. The view is spectacular. I mean, we had a beautiful sunny blue sky day, and the view from that restaurant is wonderful. It was a set menu, but really good. Really loved that. Um that was really good. Um, and then for um on the Sunday, because we're there on the Sunday, we had a Sunday roast at the uh Dunan Hotel. I think I hopefully I pronounced that correctly. Um, I will just mention, actually, because I skipped this and I did mention want to say is you did ask me about signs. Signs are in Scottish Gaelic as well as in English, because Scottish Gaelic is commonly spoken on the islands of Lewis and Harris, particularly Lewis, I believe. Um so you'll see a lot of and you'll probably hear somebody speaking Scottish Gaelic as well. We certainly did in a couple of shops. Um so if you think, oh, I don't understand that, it's that's probably why. And you'll see that the signs will, I think they were in Scottish Gaelic first and then English. Um so expect to see that. Um so I think Dunan Hotel, um, excellence and de rose. So again, uh, we booked that. You need to make sure you book. We did look at that plan ahead and book it. Um so that made things easier, but you really need to do the research on the restaurants.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

How do you book? You booked online, okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Yeah, yeah, online. In fact, online, I think, actually, I think the Dunan Hotel, I think Kim phoned them. I think she phoned and and and booked that. Um the Uig Sands restaurant we just kind of turned up and we were fired that we managed to get in. Uh that was a Saturday, yeah, Saturday. Um, and we also ate in Storn away at a lovely uh fish restaurant. I didn't have fish because I know everybody's going, I don't think you like fish, I didn't have fish, but they did have alternatives as well, um, which was which was really nice. When we went down to Harris, um I cooked dinner on the first night. Uh we so we stayed at an Airbnb with the wonderful Alistair. Hello Alistair and uh and Ross, his dog. Um I I'm gonna talk a little bit more about Alistair because uh I just I loved I loved the stay with Alistair. I it was just it was just fantastic, it was one of the best parts of the trip for me. Um but yeah, so food is an issue, so make sure you stock up if you're staying in somewhere like a lot a lot of Airbnb self-catering on Lewis and Harris. So you can take your own. And then the second night when we stayed down in Harris, Alistair um invited us for dinner. So he cooked a lovely meal, uh. So which was really, really nice. And we had breakfast, so we made sure, for example, in um Sky and on Harris, um, we had breakfast, so Alistair did breakfast. Obviously, when we're in Lewis, we just made our own breakfast before we went out, so it just there was a fridge and everything in the in the accommodation. So I will link to all of the different places we stayed, yeah. Um, and there'll be photographs as well, so you can check all of those out. Um, food was really good actually. Obviously, a lot of seafood, and I'm not a big seafood fan. Um, so but if you are, you're gonna be in for a treat. Uh, but uh but otherwise the food was good, but you need to really plan ahead, do a little bit of research. I think we again I I tend to always slip up on food because it's yeah, I do enjoy my food, but it's it kind of always goes out the window and then I go, oops. Um Sky, we just ate well, we had planned to eat in the hotel on the first night, and then they sent us an eat because I I sent an email to book and they went, Oh, um, and that was the Sky Inn in Portrait, and they were like, Oh, we're not actually that particular night, the restaurant was closed. Uh, we did eat there the next night. Um, so we went out trying to find somewhere to eat, which again is not that easy because it's even at that time of the year, it's a things are not necessarily open because it's not that the even though they say it's not high season, and you can't get parked or anything, so I kind of think maybe they should be rethinking when they say it's high season. Um so that that made it a little bit more difficult that first night. So we had kind of planned it and then kind of went, mm, can't do it. Yeah, um, you can what you can do is eat on the boats, the ferries actually, and we did eat on the ferry because I got the message back from the sky and saying they couldn't do dinner. We actually ate on the ferry, got some scampion chips on the ferry, so was the plan B. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just make sure you've got stuff. And um, yeah, I mean the main thing for me is make sure I can get a a cup of tea and uh and definitely biscuit. But um, yeah, so uh and also I just I know we're talking about where we stayed, and um so I really want to give a big shout out um to the hotel we stayed at in in Ollopo, which is a a small as I understand, a small farm live run hotel, and that's the Royal Hotel in Ollapool. I cannot recommend this place highly enough. So if you are gonna go and catch the ferry over to um Lewis and Harris, or you're gonna catch a ferry from Ullapool, um Royal Hotel in Ollapool, a huge shout out, particularly um, I'm gonna say the food was fantastic. So, Chef Paul, wow, we absolutely loved it. And a big shout out to the staff in the hotel, particularly Sean and Ricky, um, who I said I was gonna give a shout-out for. I've got a picture of myself, I think it's with with uh with Ricky um because he was there breakfast. Um, but it just it were just fantastic, they were absolutely wonderful with everybody, but just totally professional with they were just so prof just friendly, um talking to us, chatting about stuff. Just I mean it really was they were really standout, absolute standout of all the places we stayed where you just went well, that was over and above, over and above.

SPEAKER_02 28:45

So makes a big difference, doesn't it? Makes a big difference for the city.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

It was just great, it was just yeah, they were just so they were just brilliant. So I can't I can't I'm gonna wax lyrical for the whole podcast, but okay, uh, I just want to say they were just fabulous. So honesty, give it do yourself a treat and go and stay at the Royal Hotel at Luller Pool um if you're gonna be catching the ferry, or if you're just gonna stay in Otterpool, go and stay there because they're great.

SPEAKER_02 29:07

Well, it's part of the um North Coast 500, so if you're just doing that on the mainland, yeah. Um bobbing there at Tullypool. Yeah. Okay, absolutely.

Lewis And Harris Must See Spots

SPEAKER_02 29:17

So the next question, so I'm sure you could talk about this next question for hours on end. So, what are the experiences on Lewis and Harris that listeners genuinely cannot skip? And are there any well are there any sort of uh good online but not really worth the detour? I'll try to put that diplomatically.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

No, honestly, I'd go everywhere that because you you the it it's I mean it depends what you're going for, but I assume you're going for like wildlife, wildlife scenery, beaches. Um the beaches are beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

Well they're famous for the beaches, they are famous for the beaches. They are.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

I mean, Lewis and Harris beaches were just I mean, it just seemed to get better and better and better. The first day actually, I did plan a uh a trip to see three of the beaches, so we went to Uig Sands, Cliff Beach, um, and Reef Reef Beach. Um, I'll put I'll I'll share pictures and I'll probably aren't going to be able to pronounce all the different names of the beaches that I should, so apologies there. But um, and then on Harris went to Luscantire, which again is just the I tell you what, the beaches are they're out not they're just outstanding they're huge, they're huge, absolutely huge, and the the water is just clear, beautiful blue. I've seen photos before, um and and and just thought, oh, this this can't be right. I'd actually followed uh an artist called Hope uh Blameier, um, who does a lot of paintings of um beaches on Lewis and Harris, and uh actually was very lucky to she's got a shop in in uh Harris in Tarbett, so popped at the shop, bought a few things there. Um, and so I'd kind of been inspired over the years by looking at all these beautiful paintings and photos that she'd shared. Um, so that was a lot of the inspiration behind the trip. Um so it was wonderful to pop in the shop and uh and have a look at it. So her paintings are beautiful. Um and they really reflect the beauty as well of Harris and Lewis. Um so yeah, so just the beaches are beautiful, go for walks on the beaches. That's what that's what we did, that's what we enjoyed. Um the Calanish Stones, uh, which are the second most important archaeologically to um Stonehenge, apparently. Um there's Calanish, yeah, there's part one, part two, or part three, probably just one, two, or three. I'm making it part one, part two, part three. But anyway, um the main ones at the top of the hill are just fantastic. I did go to Calanish three and get some pictures. I didn't go to Calanish two. They're kind of on a kind of you can kind of see from one, two, and three. So obviously, I I don't know if when they were whatever they were doing that they could all see what each of them were doing. Oh, I don't know. Anyway, um these are so old, and I should know that how old these stones are, like thousands and thousands of years old. Wow. Um, and incredible and they're huge as well. You're like, how did these people get these stones up here and stand them up? Um, and I should know more about their their meaning and stuff, and I don't, so I I will apologize because I just get overawed by these things and just go, oh my goodness, aren't they amazing? Um, so I will I'll we'll find out, do a little bit more research before the next podcast, and I can for if you've got any questions about the Calanish stones, but um yeah, just and there's an avenue for like Calanish one, you there's a there's an avenue you walk up and then the the kind of this the stone circle, um, and just obviously accessible. You just climb up the you can drive up to one but walk up the hill to the others, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

Oh fantastic. So I suppose there's lots of local crafts and products and things like that on you know on Lewis's Harris as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Well obviously it's Harris Tweed. So there's a lot of Tweed stuff. You can go and you'll find Tweed for sale everywhere. So yeah, Harris Tweed.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

I never thought of that. Yeah, Harris Tweed, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

Um yeah, yeah, um, and there's also the black houses. Um so now they they are from you can go, we went in to see the black houses actually, um uh where we say in Call Away. Um, there's a couple you can go and have a look at, and these were lived into in until fairly recently. It's where you've got the the fire inside the house, um, like inside the main room of the house. I think the bathroom got um no, like a fireplace thing, but they I guess they they they would there's a lot of peat, so I'm assuming they just burnt peat. Um it's where and where people lived. Um and they've got um stone roofs, I'm gonna get this right, stone roofs. I've got lots of photos. Um had a look round and went into the museum briefly to have a look round. So they're really famous, the black houses. Um and then, yeah, so so arts and crafts, yeah. Lots of crafts and lots of artists live on Lewis and Harris, so you can go in, pop in, and you can stop off and you'll see um different shops. Um, and we did have one beside where we were staying, um, and I popped in there, and the lady was lovely, and I got some photos and videos in her shop and did buy a few things. Um, no wonder you want me to be in the next suitcase. I've got her business card. I'll take a screenshot of that, put that in there. Um I can't remember what it was called. Oh, I can't remember the name of the shop, but I'll I'll I'll link to that in the show notes. I'll put a photo because uh a link to her business card, yep.

SPEAKER_02 34:14

Well, so much to see on Lewis and uh Harris. How long do you think somebody going for the first time could actually spend on on Lewis and Harris? Because it is one island, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 34:27

It is one island, yeah. It's a bit confusing because it sounds like it's two, because one's called Lewis and one's called Harris, but it's one island, but they're very different. Lewis is is kind of more like Peat, Pete flatter, peat. Um, so like peat bogs and marshes, I don't know, yeah, and then the beaches, but you go to Harris is dramatically different, it's all like um just just like mountains and big big stones everywhere, and just far more dramatic. Uh I I I think I think both myself and Kim both uh preferred Harris uh Harris, not saying that anything we would have we loved Lewis, so yeah, Lewis is amazing, and I would not skip Lewis anyway, but but Harris was just kind of like wow. But I mean I'm I'm a mountain person, I like mountains. Um just just incredibly beautiful and very different, just so different because actually the three islands that we were at. So if you think of Lewis and then we went to Harris and then went to Sky, all completely different, yeah, completely different type of scenery. Um, so like it's really funny because we went to Sky and Kim hadn't been to Sky before, and she said this feels like more like the mainland, it's more gentle, it's like a softer, kind of fluffy version.

SPEAKER_03 35:41

Go ahead, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

Like Lewis and Harris are just far more gritty and just um yeah, just I mean, fantastic, just fantastic. And I I'd go back to both in a heartbeat, in a heartbeat. But I would say we did five days, so three days on Lewis, two on Harris, that worked absolutely fine. I felt that was that was probably enough. Yeah, and then we just had two on Sky, mainly for a couple of reasons. Uh one, I've been to Sky many times before, uh, and B, it's again, it's just even though this was the end of um yeah, it was the last day of April, I think around. It it was it was incredibly busy. We couldn't get parked, they're trying to get parked at the quarrying. Oh my goodness. There's just yeah, I'm a bit sad. I'm a bit sad that that's got it.

SPEAKER_02 36:25

But we'll we'll cover sky in a second. So just

Skye Crossing And Overtourism Reality

SPEAKER_02 36:28

tell me a bit about the crossing from um across to sky from from Harris, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 36:35

Tarbit, yeah, from Harris, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:37

So how does that crossing work?

SPEAKER_01 36:38

Um, exactly the same as the one previously. You just go and park up um and then the tick, yeah, the ferry. It's a smaller, it was a smaller ferry. That took about an hour forty. Again, it was a very smooth crossing, so you've been fine. We've got off of Uig um on Sky, and then it was just a drive through. You keep saying Uig.

SPEAKER_02 36:54

You keep saying Uig. Just tell everybody how you spell that, would you please?

SPEAKER_01 36:57

Yeah, UI G.

SPEAKER_02 36:59

Not egg, that's how I called it.

SPEAKER_01 37:01

No, no, I did look it up and I did ask the locals and it's Uig.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

Uig I think it means bay. I think it actually means bay. Are some of these obviously the words the the forty um yeah, yeah, it means different things. So Uig's B. Um, which is why you all find an Uig on Lewis and Harris and an Uig on Sky. There's Uigs everywhere. Um but yeah, so that that was the easy crossing, it was no problem. The main problem we had is that we were driving from Uig to Portry and they closed there's not many roads and they closed the road to resurface it. Oh wow. So we sat for nearly an hour before and then said, Oh, we're only going to open the road at 8 pm. So by the time it got to 8 pm, I can tell you how many irate irate because all of the people off the ferry, if they just waited for the people off the ferry to go into portrait, it would have made life, but they decided to close it. And I I we we were a bit like, well, they know the ferry's coming in with all these people. Anyway, so that was a bit of a so there was a lot of irate people kind of going, right, so we had to wait 55 minutes to them, and then they opened the road and went with it.

SPEAKER_02 38:01

I imagine imagine how many people get on sky coming from Lucy and Harris, and all of a sudden, of course onto Sky, there's a lot more traffic anyway. Oh yes, yes, because the certain amount of people that go to Sky is you know, it's exhausted. And it's easy, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:17

It's easy to get to Sky. Um the roads are um the the main roads are uh are better on Sky in terms of like you know, uh that they're pretty good. But once you get again, once you get off to the single roads, um you know that they're not so good actually. I think they were better on Harris a lot. The Harris and Lewis, the single roads were better.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

I do remember a lot of potholes on Sky.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

Potholes, yeah, potholes on Sky. Um, and the problem with Sky is just as I say before, you just can't get parked because it's just volume of people anywhere. It's just of the sheer volume because you can drive over, it's easy now, people can just drive over on the bridge. Um, so it's a less hassle to kind of organise to get there.

SPEAKER_02 38:54

It's difficult to see the things on Sky because there's people all day long, you know, waiting to see.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:00

So there's really no quiet moment, is there? It's just got to be lucky and wait.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

Yeah, because we've done it early in the morning. We got up so early that the the mist hadn't had remember when we went to the quarrying last time and we had to sit in the car for like an hour, and even then trying to get parked, uh it's not easy. You have to pay for parking as well. Um, and there's just you just can't get there's just uh so many people, just so many people. So that's a bit of a shock to the system after Lewis and Harris with not so many people, uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:26

But um

Costs Timing And What To Expect

SPEAKER_02 39:27

let's let's talk about budget and timing. So you've already said what time of year that you visited because you're not long got back. Um so it's hard to say about spending because obviously everybody has different budgets, but just gives an idea about costs of things and food and fuel if if you can. Not easy.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

Well, fuel fuel at the minute is gone is it's gone up in in cost. So um again, that that that's difficult to kind of. I'd say the main thing people were worried about is not getting fuel, but you you could get fuel. Um, in terms of the ferries, um obviously these cha these are are booked it in January, and this is for two passengers and a and and a car, but it it's gonna dip it depend on the size of your car. So the ferry over from st uh to Storno was uh 90 about 95 pounds, and then the ferry to Uig was uh was about 58, 59, I think, or 50. Wow. Um, and then accommodation, obviously I was sharing that, so we it that that varied. It's not cheap, I have to say to you, because um, you know, there's a lot of demand for if you people going over if they're going to Harrison Lewis, then there's only a certain amount of places you can stay. Um so it it's not cheap, but it but it's good. So as I say, the first place we had um uh a two-bedroomed uh house, which was which actually was three-bedroom um house, which was really nice with with everything included, so you know, kitchen and could wash stuff and all the rest of it, um, which was lovely. Uh, and then we stayed in Harris, we stayed at Alistair's Airbnb. So that Alistair um is fantastic, and he I I just had an amazing time. I've shared some beautiful photos. I went for a walk with yeah, I went for a walk with Alistair and Ross, yeah, he's collie dog, um, one evening uh because he does that twice a day, takes the dog for a walk around. So that was uh yeah, I don't know how long it took, maybe an hour or so, and it was up and down and around. He's like a mountain goat, he was unbelievable. Um and I was like, as me with my stick, struggling. It's a bit marshy at paces, but oh my god, the view. Then then I planted a tree as well. So there's Tracy's tree in Alistair's place. Um and Alistair was, you know, uh what a what a fantastic guy, what a place to live. So his mum was born on Harris, so he's got that connection, and he used to travel there all the time as a child. You told me so many amazing stories. Um, and he decided that's where he wanted to retire to, so built his house, uh, which he has an Airbnb. Oh, and um, yeah, I just just fantastic, absolutely just loved Alistair. So I'm hoping I can share this podcast and he can he can listen to to know how much he was appreciated because he he truly was uh fantastic. And he lived in Australia as well, part of his life. So we're talking about it. He lived in Perth, so we talked about that, yeah. Um so it was great, yeah. And just going out with with Ross, the dog, and I it was just it was lovely, it was so relaxing. Um, now I will say, and I I kind of learnt this from Maul. I think it's there's a lot of bird watchers out there, so I'm sure there's lots of bird life as well on Lewis and Harris, which I probably didn't appreciate as much as I did until I went to Maul, and people went, Oh, look, there's a white-tailed eagle and there's a golden eagle. I was like, Oh, wow. Um, so I assume that's also fantastic bird life on uh Lewis and Harris as well, yeah. Uh but yeah, the weather was really good. We're very, very lucky. In fact, when we were shopping in uh the Tesco, the the cashier was saying, You're so lucky, the weather is perfect because they've had a lot of rain, and we literally had sunshine and um as warm as it's gonna get for those on. So it's still it was still pretty, you know, it wasn't 30 degrees, put it that way, but it was warm. Uh I had my jacket on. I had a hat still had a hat and scarf on, um, but it was beautiful, sunglasses on, enjoying that. As I say, it wasn't there wasn't a lot of wind. So there's no there used to be trees apparently on on Lewis, but maybe Lewis and Iris, but there's not anymore because apparently now I don't know if this is true, the Vikings burnt them all down, so I uh and now they've got the peat bogs, so don't quote me on that. But so there's not, but they say that's quite windy those islands, but um we didn't have a lot of wind, so yeah, it was good. It was really good.

SPEAKER_02 43:29

Sounds like a fantastic trip you've had. So

Practical Checklist And Driving Confidence

SPEAKER_02 43:31

if anybody's listening to this and they're actually looking to do something similar, you know, what does the the planning check this actually look like? And is there anything you'd do slightly different next time?

SPEAKER_01 43:45

Uh no, I think it worked out really well. I think the the mountain nights was good, the three and the two, because because obviously after that I was gonna sky and then I was gonna mall and I had five nights and mole, so that worked really well. Um, probably just spend I I don't know I mean I just I think if you're driving yourself maybe just take a few um you know just take a few groceries and stuff like that with you but you can buy them you can buy those and store them away just just if if it's important to you about you know knowing where you're gonna have dinner then you just you do need to plan that ahead of time um if you're not in a place where you can self-cater.

SPEAKER_02 44:20

And what about the time of year that you went? Is do would you say that is a very good time of year to go or would you go slightly different time?

SPEAKER_01 44:28

No I think it was actually perfect. Yeah I I I mean we didn't have any midges but uh midges midges whatever how you want to pronounce them um but I think they can they can be a little bit of a of an issue but there's lots of it depends on the the weather again but I think in the summer they can be a little bit more annoying. But again like a bit of breeze and stuff and and that kind of they don't like breeze and they don't like uh they don't like sunny days apparently so uh we didn't have any issues with that it was quite on Lewis and Harris uh but again there's only a limited amount of people that can go there and I was actually talking to again some of the locals and they're quite happy with the volume they've got because they they are concerned that they don't have the infrastructure in place a bit like Sky doesn't um infrastructure in place to deal with a huge influx influx of tourists that's for sure um and I don't think they do there I don't think they'll be able to cope with it so um it it's probably it's probably as what it needs to be at the moment. I don't think they're particularly I mean I don't know I think there it has been quiet this year. I think there's a little bit of concern about it's quiet and whether that's due to the ferries or whether that's just due to tourism general is a little bit down this year. But just yeah just be aware things like um on a Sunday in Lewis things will be shut um I assume be exactly the same in Harris we weren't in Harris on the Sunday but uh Lewis everything was shut like all the shops there's nothing open on a Sunday including petrol stations. Yeah yeah took us a little bit by surprise but we had booked a Sunday road so that was fine but uh there's not a lot to do so make sure that you like you can go to a beach that day and stuff like that but if you want to go shopping or you want to fill up with petrol you you that's don't do that. Yeah expect I would honestly recommend um and I know we still do a Tripiamo driving course if you are unsure about how to drive on these sort of roads and seriously it's not for the faint hearted I'll tell you you need to know what you're doing. And especially if you're used to driving on the other side of the road or even if you're used to driving on Australia or New Zealand or wherever honestly it's I think it's very different driving on these sort of islands it's you need to be really aware of the rules of the road you need to be aware of kind of just etiquette when it comes to passing places you need to be very aware of things like the the fact that you could get um you know a lot of livestock on the road you could get deer in the middle of the road you could get you know a lot of in the minute lot of say lots of lambs all over the places so you just need to kind of be aware and plan for that as I say if you're gonna do this do not think that you can wing it make sure you book those ferries and you book your accommodation. After that you can do it you can you look then start looking at the the you know things like you know what day the black house is open what what restaurants you want to eat at that sort of thing um but make sure you absolutely don't think I'm just gonna head over to Lewis and Harris and then find accommodation when you get there because you won't you absolutely won't probably recommend listening to a very decent podcast I'd imagine as well about some who visited yeah I think that's it it's like uh as somebody who's just recently been and done it and been there and uh and experienced it and um so the next episode is is uh because I guess that's we I think we've kind of wrapped up uh Harrison Lewis if the if there's any questions just you know um get into the Facebook group or or send me an email if this is a trip that you're thinking about doing um so the next the next episode I'm gonna be talking about so we left Skye drove down to Auburn um I had originally planned to get the bus from Fort William down to Auburn but then Kim decided she she was going to come down to Auburn as well. So we

Next Stop Mull And Iona Teaser

SPEAKER_01 47:57

did that drive I stayed in Auburn one night and then I spent the next uh five nights over in Maul now I did all of that and actually came back over from Mall to Auburn and up to Fort William to catch the Caledonia sea bird that was all done solo and public transport so I can talk a lot in the next episode all about mall all about Iona the places I stayed how I got around how I found it in that episode so that was a solo that was just me going and doing that made a few little mistakes but yeah it was really good actually the talk about the public transport which is particularly what I want to do because we've we're often asked about that. So again met lots of lovely people um yeah it was just it was really really good I thoroughly enjoyed it I absolutely love Scotland um you know been going since I was knee height to a gross grasshopper is that the term um yeah so feel along a a very strong attachment um and I know everybody says their their relations are Scottish but um my my maiden name was so my my grandparents were from Scotland yeah from actually near calendar so um yes so it it's always really fun when I'm in Scotland because my surname is my maiden name is a Scottish name and I see it everywhere just different spellings which is always really fun yeah so yeah I think that was uh that gives everybody an idea of what we did I'll put in the show notes well thanks for chatting to me about this Doug not a problem um I'm sure I made you jealous and you'll be wanting to do the trip um I'll yeah jealous about being there not jealous about the uh the sea travel you were lucky you were lucky yeah it was very very very smooth very easy I will put in the show notes I will put links um hopefully I get a YouTube video up just time wise at the minute um and then uh I'll put link to some photos I will put links to the accommodation and some of the restaurants that we ate at as well um and so if you're planning to do do this it's probably too late for this year but set I mean maybe September October you could do but um I certainly probably wouldn't this I think you one thing you're gonna ask I probably wouldn't want to do Harris or Lewis in the middle of winter put it that way those roads when the icy air no big big no from me um yeah so uh probably for next year now if you're planning this trip uh so yeah photos links everything will be in the show notes is that's uktravelplanning.com forward slash episode two zero two and as I say part two will be out at the end of June so tune in for that if the Island of Mull and and Island of Iona which I absolutely love is on your uh potential future itinerary when you visit Scotland anyway Doug thanks so much for um chatting with me you're gonna interview me in a second all about uh Mull and Iona aren't you I am that's to come yeah and uh you'll be arrived in by the time this episode is out which is on the 26th of May you'll have just arrived in the UK won't

Links Reviews And Final Goodbye

SPEAKER_01 50:54

you? I'll have just arrived on um the bank holiday Monday 25th yeah 25th so yeah so there's lots of stuff coming uh in June uh about all the trips that we're gonna everything that we've got planned uh but for this week it's just uh leave I guess my myself and Doug to say as always happy UK travel planning thank you for joining us on this episode of the Global Travel Planning podcast for more details and links to everything we discussed today check out the show notes at globaltravelplanning.com remember if you enjoyed the show please consider leaving us a review on your favourite podcast app because your feedback helps us reach more travel enthusiasts just like you anyway that leaves me to say as always happy global travel planning