This was to be our first proper experience of wild camping (albeit with the luxury of a c
aravan!), there aren’t m
any caravan sites on the Hebrides so we decided we would mostly stay wherever we found enough space to park! The first attempt proved to be a failure as we drove in to a narrow parking area (marked with a “P” sign) only to find there was no way out. We had to reverse car and ‘van out into the main road in order to carry on, Yikes! Eventually we settled on a drive through layby with a lovely view looking out onto Loch Eireasort We awoke to a glorious sunny morning, with no clouds in sight! Phil was up and out of the van taking photos while the sun was out! The view from the layby we were in had transformed from wet dreary sight to gorgeous blue skies reflecting off the greeny/blue loch.
After breakfast we hitched up the ‘van and drove up towards Stornoway hoping to find another layby to leave the ‘van in and explore the area. A series of impatient drivers and a lack of signposted laybys s
aw us drive straight past Stornoway and out onto the moor on the other side. As we continued over the moor with no stops in sight Phil was getting anxious and we had to change our plan, so we drove up the A857 up to the top of the Hebrides as far as it goes. At the end we reached Port of Ness where there is a harbour and just enough room to turn a caravan around. Linda went into a local café and ask if there is anywhere nearby we could pitch for the night, the very friendly girl in there said we could go down to the harbour and pitch there next to the beach.. After checking it out we drove down the steep narrow track and found we had the perfect spot right next to the beach overlooking the boats in the harbour. We set up and
then spent the afternoon on the beach, it was so warm that before long we were both in the (very cold) sea! Later on we went for a walk on the headland out towards the Butt of Lewis (the most northerly point of the Hebrides). Back at the ‘van we got chatting to a couple who had come for a walk on the beach, she was an internet secretary, and had lived on the island for 2 years, she lived in Devon and one day decided to move here, so sold her house and bought one on Lewis before ever having set foot on the island!
Today we moved from Port of Ness to Callanish, and found a little pitch down a dead end road which lead
to another tiny harbour wall. It was just beyond the car park for the standing stones visitor centre! We went into the visitor centre and art exhibition where there were lots of info boards showing how/when the stones were erected. We went up to the stones which were quite busy with tourists and also a “new age pilgrim” who lived by the site in a shanty style tent. After that we went on to the Black House Village at Carlabhagh which was very interesting, one of the houses was still set up as it was left in 1974, other houses had an exhibition on the houses and a film on the making of tweed and cutting peat. Some of the houses had been modernised and are now holiday lets
and one of them is now a hostel which we sneaked in and had a look at the bunks and the kitchen. Then on to Uig bay, an enormous expanse of white sand, so big we couldn’t see where the sea was! We had a run around and managed to find the sea to get our feet wet in (the sand was really squidgy in places and bubbled when we trod on it, who knows what was living in there, eewwww!) We stopped on the way back to the van to admire a huge sculpture of a Viking norseman which is a replica of a chess piece found in a former settlement on the island. Back at the van we went back up to the stones to watch the sun setting, it was very busy with other people doing the same thing, and also busy with midges!
The next day we moved to Stornoway and parked up in a layby on the causeway which had toilets and fresh water available, we got chatting to a local lady who recommended we move to Pabail instead as it would be much quieter and away from the main road. First we went into Stornoway for a wander round, a nice little town but with loads of boy racers going backwards and forwards, we saw the same ones lots of times! There were 2 huge cruise ships sat in the harbour, one from Florida (not sure where the other was from) so there was loads of
Americans wandering around the town. We went for a walk up to the Lewis war memorial sat on the hill, a huge tower with a great panoramic view, it also has a circle of stones with all the names of those who died in the wars etched onto them. The walk took us via Lews (not Lewis this time) Castle grounds along the river and back via the golf course (with golf balls literally flying over our heads!). We showered in the local leisure centre again before moving the ‘van to the Pier at Pabail. When we got there some kids were having a party on ‘our’ pitch so we parked on some hardstanding and had a chat with a woman whose husband was out fishing, at the same time a couple with an identical dog to Prince called JJ (who was a bit nutty) turned up, the man insisted on petting Prince while JJ was going nuts and then Prince snapped at the man, missed though, phew! Some canoeists arrived and got set up to go out to sea, Phil asked how far and one said not far tonight, just around the headland. Once set up we went for a walk down the harbour with some locals who told us you could sometimes see whales and dolphins, by this time another load of kids arrived and set up for a party, our new friends said they would call the police if it got too noisy! The canoeists arrived back well after dark and luckily they seemed to scare off the kids who had now set fire to all the wood they could find.. Time to go to bed, but we still heard 2 loud cars coming into the car park later on.. So much for a quiet spot!
Had a play on the beach and met 2 locals who had got a Labrador and a retriever, the chap had retired onto Lewis from Suffolk and found the pace of life here much slower, he recommended a car park at Luskentyre for our next stop,so that’s where we headed! Once we got there we left the van in a lay by and went to check it out first (before dragging the ‘van down the lane), it wasn’t as good as we hoped so we found a layby on the Leverburgh road, which had a huge beach right next to the van. Phil went out on his bike over the Bealach pass which was a great ride and only 9 miles, a bit boggy in places but getting used to hike-a-bike now! Linda stayed with the dogs and played Frisbee with Prince in the sea. When Phil got back he ran into the freezing cold Loch for a wash, hoping no cars would see him in the nuddy!
Went into Tarbert for a look round, and met a couple called Dave and Lorna who are wild camping in their campervan, they had seen us a few times on the island and recognised us from the dent in our ‘van! They kindly bought us coffee and cake while we chatted in the café and marked some suggested sites on our map, giving us lots of helpful tips and websites on wild camping. Went back to the ’van for lunch and the dogs had a run before going back to Tarbert for showers (which were available in the public loos!).
The next day we revisited the Luskentyre tweed man who was recommended by Rose and Ivan but unfortunately he was still closed, so we went back to Tarbert to the Tweed Warehouse where Linda bought a metre of tweed. Phil took a t-shirt back to the tourist info he had bought the day before (it was too tight – too much beer methinks). Hitched up and set off for Leverburgh for the ferry over to Uist
aravan!), there aren’t m
any caravan sites on the Hebrides so we decided we would mostly stay wherever we found enough space to park! The first attempt proved to be a failure as we drove in to a narrow parking area (marked with a “P” sign) only to find there was no way out. We had to reverse car and ‘van out into the main road in order to carry on, Yikes! Eventually we settled on a drive through layby with a lovely view looking out onto Loch Eireasort We awoke to a glorious sunny morning, with no clouds in sight! Phil was up and out of the van taking photos while the sun was out! The view from the layby we were in had transformed from wet dreary sight to gorgeous blue skies reflecting off the greeny/blue loch.After breakfast we hitched up the ‘van and drove up towards Stornoway hoping to find another layby to leave the ‘van in and explore the area. A series of impatient drivers and a lack of signposted laybys s
aw us drive straight past Stornoway and out onto the moor on the other side. As we continued over the moor with no stops in sight Phil was getting anxious and we had to change our plan, so we drove up the A857 up to the top of the Hebrides as far as it goes. At the end we reached Port of Ness where there is a harbour and just enough room to turn a caravan around. Linda went into a local café and ask if there is anywhere nearby we could pitch for the night, the very friendly girl in there said we could go down to the harbour and pitch there next to the beach.. After checking it out we drove down the steep narrow track and found we had the perfect spot right next to the beach overlooking the boats in the harbour. We set up and
then spent the afternoon on the beach, it was so warm that before long we were both in the (very cold) sea! Later on we went for a walk on the headland out towards the Butt of Lewis (the most northerly point of the Hebrides). Back at the ‘van we got chatting to a couple who had come for a walk on the beach, she was an internet secretary, and had lived on the island for 2 years, she lived in Devon and one day decided to move here, so sold her house and bought one on Lewis before ever having set foot on the island!Today we moved from Port of Ness to Callanish, and found a little pitch down a dead end road which lead
to another tiny harbour wall. It was just beyond the car park for the standing stones visitor centre! We went into the visitor centre and art exhibition where there were lots of info boards showing how/when the stones were erected. We went up to the stones which were quite busy with tourists and also a “new age pilgrim” who lived by the site in a shanty style tent. After that we went on to the Black House Village at Carlabhagh which was very interesting, one of the houses was still set up as it was left in 1974, other houses had an exhibition on the houses and a film on the making of tweed and cutting peat. Some of the houses had been modernised and are now holiday lets
and one of them is now a hostel which we sneaked in and had a look at the bunks and the kitchen. Then on to Uig bay, an enormous expanse of white sand, so big we couldn’t see where the sea was! We had a run around and managed to find the sea to get our feet wet in (the sand was really squidgy in places and bubbled when we trod on it, who knows what was living in there, eewwww!) We stopped on the way back to the van to admire a huge sculpture of a Viking norseman which is a replica of a chess piece found in a former settlement on the island. Back at the van we went back up to the stones to watch the sun setting, it was very busy with other people doing the same thing, and also busy with midges!The next day we moved to Stornoway and parked up in a layby on the causeway which had toilets and fresh water available, we got chatting to a local lady who recommended we move to Pabail instead as it would be much quieter and away from the main road. First we went into Stornoway for a wander round, a nice little town but with loads of boy racers going backwards and forwards, we saw the same ones lots of times! There were 2 huge cruise ships sat in the harbour, one from Florida (not sure where the other was from) so there was loads of
Americans wandering around the town. We went for a walk up to the Lewis war memorial sat on the hill, a huge tower with a great panoramic view, it also has a circle of stones with all the names of those who died in the wars etched onto them. The walk took us via Lews (not Lewis this time) Castle grounds along the river and back via the golf course (with golf balls literally flying over our heads!). We showered in the local leisure centre again before moving the ‘van to the Pier at Pabail. When we got there some kids were having a party on ‘our’ pitch so we parked on some hardstanding and had a chat with a woman whose husband was out fishing, at the same time a couple with an identical dog to Prince called JJ (who was a bit nutty) turned up, the man insisted on petting Prince while JJ was going nuts and then Prince snapped at the man, missed though, phew! Some canoeists arrived and got set up to go out to sea, Phil asked how far and one said not far tonight, just around the headland. Once set up we went for a walk down the harbour with some locals who told us you could sometimes see whales and dolphins, by this time another load of kids arrived and set up for a party, our new friends said they would call the police if it got too noisy! The canoeists arrived back well after dark and luckily they seemed to scare off the kids who had now set fire to all the wood they could find.. Time to go to bed, but we still heard 2 loud cars coming into the car park later on.. So much for a quiet spot!Had a play on the beach and met 2 locals who had got a Labrador and a retriever, the chap had retired onto Lewis from Suffolk and found the pace of life here much slower, he recommended a car park at Luskentyre for our next stop,so that’s where we headed! Once we got there we left the van in a lay by and went to check it out first (before dragging the ‘van down the lane), it wasn’t as good as we hoped so we found a layby on the Leverburgh road, which had a huge beach right next to the van. Phil went out on his bike over the Bealach pass which was a great ride and only 9 miles, a bit boggy in places but getting used to hike-a-bike now! Linda stayed with the dogs and played Frisbee with Prince in the sea. When Phil got back he ran into the freezing cold Loch for a wash, hoping no cars would see him in the nuddy!
Went into Tarbert for a look round, and met a couple called Dave and Lorna who are wild camping in their campervan, they had seen us a few times on the island and recognised us from the dent in our ‘van! They kindly bought us coffee and cake while we chatted in the café and marked some suggested sites on our map, giving us lots of helpful tips and websites on wild camping. Went back to the ’van for lunch and the dogs had a run before going back to Tarbert for showers (which were available in the public loos!).
The next day we revisited the Luskentyre tweed man who was recommended by Rose and Ivan but unfortunately he was still closed, so we went back to Tarbert to the Tweed Warehouse where Linda bought a metre of tweed. Phil took a t-shirt back to the tourist info he had bought the day before (it was too tight – too much beer methinks). Hitched up and set off for Leverburgh for the ferry over to Uist
Hi you guy's
ReplyDeletewe really enjoyed meeting you and were so pleased to have been useful, and that you enjoyed some of our special places, Lorna is so jealous that you saw the ponies, there was no sign of them when we did that walk.
Poss site on your way down we found in Argyll is Knapdale (Re-introduced beavers near Crinnan) there is a forestry commission car park, and great walks.
Don't forget to call on your way through the lake district.
All the best Dave & Lorna