“yo-ho yo-ho, an island life’s for me”
Last year we were in the grips of lockdown at this time. We were shut in looking out at the world around us longing for times to move on. What a treat then to spend my birthday this year on the Isle of Lewis; a remote island off the north west coast of Scotland.
The Isle of Lewis is one of the islands which makes up the outer Hebrides. At the south end of the island is a sizeable mountain range which separates the Isle of Harris from the Isle of Lewis. There are only a few ways to get onto the outer Hebrides as it’s pretty inaccessible. You can either fly into the small airport at Stornaway or you can take a ferry, which is what we opted for. I genuinely had no idea what to expect from this trip before I went and so I thought that this blog post might be able to tempt others to visit this remote and idyllic location.
Stornaway is a large(ish) town on the eastern coast of the island. It’s historically a fishing town and the industrial facade is apparent as soon as you arrive. After piling out of the ferry, stopping briefly for supplies at the Tescos (along with every other passenger on the ferry (note to self, shop before leaving next time)) we moved north.
The Isle of Lewis is predominantly made up of peat bogs and craggy cliffs. This makes for a unique, if rather barren, landscape. It’s interspersed with pockets of lush vegetation but for the most part it’s similar to Dartmoor. The roads are beautiful and scenic; twisting and turning through an abundance of browns and greens. The low vegetation means that one can see for miles in any direction. After leaving Stornaway it quickly becomes apparent that most of the population is centred around this town. The pockets of civilisation thereafter tend to spill haphazardly from one to the next. There doesn’t seem to be much of a boundary between each and all are built along the same central road. That’s not to say that these small towns and villages aren’t beautiful, quite the contrary! The island has a rich history of crofting and along the roadside it’s easy to pick out ancient settlements and shielings which hints to the community’s legacy.
After a time we reached Tiumpan Head and it’s lighthouse on the northeastern tip of the island. This location is famous for whale watching as the cetaceans move between the islands feeding and migrating. As well as these massive animals, there is a multitude of nesting birds - including a few I hadn’t seen before. The cliffs are alive with fulmars, cormorants, shags, kittiwakes and guillemots. Gannets can be seen flying out to sea as well as the rarer great skua and long-tailed skua - two birds I’d never seen before. The RSPB describes the skuas as “pirates of the sea”, taking whatever they can get from other birds. They harass nesting or feeding birds, they snatch away exposed juvenile birds and they bombard anyone foolish enough to get too close to their own nest sites. Needless to say, I immediately loved these birds. They’re impressive too, around the size of a black backed gull with a formidable beak. From the vantage point at the lighthouse we spent quite some time photographing the spectacle. Sadly no whales this time but we did spot a few seals bobbing around below us.
Anyone who knows me knows that I love a plan and so far we had run according to schedule perfectly and so from the lighthouse we headed back down south to Gearrannan Blackhouse Village, an ancient settlement restored and maintained for visitors. The Shielings were a type of building made from rough-hewn rock, wood, peat and moss which provided protection from the harsh Scottish elements. On the way there we made a couple of stops including at another small sheilings (and scratching post (pictured)) and at the hanging jaws of a blue whale in Bragar which was found harpooned on Lewis in 1920. The full story is here and is well worth a read: https://www.britainexpress.com/scotland/Outer-Hebrides/whalebone-arch.htm
I had had a plan to get some Astro shots above Gearrannan Blackhouse Village (http://www.gearrannan.com) but we were in fact well ahead of schedule and so instead, we opted to find ourselves a campsite. I use a fantastic app called Park4Night (not sponsored but if anyone reads this and wants to then…). It’s a cracking app which is user-led and offers top spots for usually roadside camping. Thats how we found this little gem - Bosta Beach. It’s on the south wester side of the island and is probably the most beautiful beach I’ve ever been to. To the right of the beach is a large iron are settlement with the remnants of Sheilings around and to the left is a commonwealth war grave which on this particular day was being tended to by two delightful and charming locals who took the time to chat and offer advice. The Isle of Lewis has these amazing sea-shell beaches which not only means that the sand is white, but also that the water is the most incredible turquoise blue. Despite having a tent on top of the truck, we decided that a view like that shouldn’t be wasted and so we set up a tent overlooking the beach and slept.
We woke up on May 7th (birthday eve!) overlooking the sea and cooked breakfast on an open fire before scrambling down to the beach for a swim in the sea. The waters around the outer Hebrides are a little warmer than along the Moray Firth because of the Gulf Stream which brings warmer water up from the south. This basically meant that I wasn’t a wimp and actually swam for once!
After a quick jaunt over the cliffs where we found yet more signs of ancient farming settlements, we started driving around to the eastern side of the island in search of Kneep Beach. The middle portion of Lewis is marked by more elevation and climbs. Not in the same league as the Scottish Highland but certainly more pronounced than the rest of the island. The beautiful thing about this is that mountains back straight onto the sea in dramatic landscapes which I’ve only really seen in Wales and the western coast of Scotland. This, coupled with the white sand beaches, made for some of the most impressive scenery I’ve ever had the fortune to see! Again, we swam in the sea, sunbathed out of the wind and chatted to the locals about how lucky they were to live in such a location.
This is an aside but something I think is worth noting… the people are so lovely. I’m sure there are plenty on the island who bemoan visitors and travellers (aren’t there always?) but everyone we spoke to was so forthcoming with advice and friendly curiosity. “Oh you have to visit *this* location”, “ah *that* would be a perfect place to camp” - it was just so refreshing in contrast to the snobbery and NIMBYism (not in my back yard) we find in other parts of the country.
Anyway, back to the trip…
That evening the weather changed and the wind and rain came in. Fortunately we weren’t camping that night and instead opted for a much more comfortable Air BnB. This gorgeous little shepherd hut was back up at the north of the island and tucked away in a small farming village. It meant that when I woke up on my 28th birthday I could go for my traditional birthday run surrounded by rugged, dramatic peat bogs and ocean. Perfect! Karen, the owner, is delightful and so is her adorable doggo! (https://is.gd/Zk6OLi)
After a speedy breakfast and more than a couple slices of cake, we packed our things and moved north to the Port of Ness - a small beach just about as far north as you can drive. This stunning beach is home to flocks of nesting fulmars and cormorants and, out to sea, we were fortunate enough to glimpse the behemoth which is the white tailed eagle fishing! From the port of Ness, there’s a path which follows the coastline to an ancient settlement called Dun Éistein. It’s pretty formidable and only accessible via a fairly rusty bridge over a 50ft drop to the ocean below. Nonetheless, it’s a remarkable place which looks north into the great expanse of nothing! More information on the site and the archaeological project going on there can be found here: https://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/magazine/augsep2002/dun_eistein.htm
The views from this remote headland are not only impressive but breathtaking and it was only the promise of cake which dragged me away from sightseeing.
We started our journey east, back towards Stornaway. Travelling through seemingly endless peat bogs and tiny pockets of civilisation. At one point we glanced up to see a golden eagle circling high above us.
Our accommodation for that evening was the hostel at Ravenspoint - Kershader Community Hostel. This quaint little hostel is attached to the museum and viewpoint at Ravenspoint and by the time we arrived in the early evening it was deserted. Our room keys were sellotaped to the entrance door with a friendly note asking us to pop cash through the door when we leave. It was such a trusting and friendly thing to do - a total testimony to the island and community. The hostel was gorgeous, with staggering views and an amazing walk along the shoreline. Not to plug them too much, but I would highly recommend this spot…! (hostel-scotland.co.uk)
After a good nights sleep it was time to return to Stornaway for our ferry back. There’s effectively one main road around the entirety of the island and so navigating is fairly simple… just keep the sea on your left. Sure enough this brought us back to the capital with just enough time to squeeze in a coffee and a walk around the stunning gardens of Lews castle and the Woodlands Cafe. Amongst so much brown peat, this spot is almost an oasis of lush deciduous plant life. It’s a flat loop which takes you alongside the ocean to the east before returning along a tributary to the castle. The cafe and cake at the halfway point made all the difference and the woodlands cafe feels like a little hidden gem amongst the foliage! Although the plant-life is diverse, there is also an abundance of wildlife in the area, with grey seals, seabirds and invertebrates all making an appearance! It was with a. Heavy heart that we boarded the ferry homeward bound but with the promise of returning and heading further south to the Isle of Harris in the future too.
Lewis is a remarkable place. I’ve never been somewhere so remote and yet so familiar. The community who life there was helpful, friendly and interesting; always eager to offer advice and ask questions about what we did. Usually I come away from a trip and think that there was *something* wrong somewhere… not this time; every business was a delight, every location beautiful and every bit of wildlife enticing! There aren’t many places in the UK where you can spot eagles, whales, dolphins, seals, otters, deer and so much more. The sad thing is that I feel like we only just scratched the surface of this wonderland, but on the plus side, it means there’s plenty more to see next time!
Alice spent a good long while planning and booking this surprise trip before we headed north and started our adventure. I love a surprise and so I genuinely had no idea where we were going until we got off the ferry - we just put the address into the sat nav and started driving. The Instagramers don’t tend to advertise the amount of work to make a trip happen so kudos to Alice for pulling it together…
