Outer Hebrides

Discussion in 'Scotland' started by pkrboo, Aug 1, 2020.

  1. Hushinish beach was the next stop, on the way finding the most remote and westerly tennis court in the UK., too many vans here for us though and it was too windy, so we set off in search of a more sheltered spot. first we went for a nice walk(not really)a good 6km round trip in the rain up to an eagle onbservatory, proper Marmitety weather and we saw F all. so off we went again looking for a sheltered spot. we found one eventually with an awesome view, popped the fiver in the tin and had a hairwash!! nice sheltered night, damn good sleep and we were ready to spot some eagles.
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  2. Next day (no idea what number day we're up to) was a 5 minute drive to a walk to look for eagles again, we started on the long walk and the kids werent up for it. so we turbed around and did a small loop walk. it took us to a small eagle observatory , where we saw no eagles, we then did the loop up and over. at the top we stopped to look for eagles and finally spotted some, a family of 4 golden eagles. no pics as it was all through the binoculars. absolutely over the moon to see them though. we spent about 20 minutes just watching them soaring and gliding, the two chicks were obvisouly on flying lessons from mum and dad.
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    Last edited: Aug 9, 2020
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  3. In the afternoon we drove to the very top north east of Lewis, to just beyond Tolsta to Garry Beach and the bridge to nowhere.

    The bridge was built just after world war 1 and was designed to join the east of the island to the roadway on the west meeting at Ness. however the entrpeneur who built it gave up after the locals bascially didnt want to work for him and want to just do crofting, for a living.

    We then drove around trying to find a place to stay that wasn't full of VW's and other motorhomes, we ended up driving all the way back over to the west side of the island and found and awesome quiet beach side spot and were treated to an amzing sunset.
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    Last edited: Aug 10, 2020
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  4. so from here the next morning we drove tp the top of Lewis and the Port of Ness. picked up some black pudding, visited the most north westerly point in Europe , wqent to a massive kids playground on the middle of some sand dunes. then drove back over to Stornaway for the ferry to the mainland.

    Cool Syncro Crafter at the port.

    Butt of Lewis lighthouse (most North westerly) [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]
     
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  5. We got the ferry back to the mainland form Stornaway to Ullapool, saw a couple of dolphins on the way.

    We decided to drive to the Isle of skye that evening, find sonhwere to stay and visit a couple of places on Skye.

    A super windy almost gale like night with lots of other campers. Skye was busy EVERYWHERE!!

    A short early morning walk took us to the bat part of skye, the fairy pools, an ice cold pools of water. A quick drive around the island and I got bored quick of the ridiculous amount of people all over. So we bolted and headed for home.

    Full disclaimer, this is where we ran into our first mechanical issue all trip. Just before leaving for home, (and what sealed us leaving) we lost the ability to select revere gear.

    Luckily forward gears were still OK, sort of. So off we went. I decided to make it all the way to our very first night stop at Finglandrigg Wood. [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]

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  6. Looks amazing.

    What was up with the gears & are you now sorted?
     
  7. Basically the one of the UJ's in the connecting rod between the gearbox and the shift rod failed.

    I have now bought a kit form fellows as after adding it up, it worked out not much more expensive than sourcing and making my own. [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]

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  8. Merlin Cat

    Merlin Cat Moderator

    Top photos Matt. :).

    I’ve just had a geography lesson too!! When I worked at COD Bicester I used to send stores to Benbecula and always thought it was in foreign climes! :p
     
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  9. So, the numbers:

    Miles covered: 1363
    Gallons: 56.6
    MPG: 24.08 it is a 2.5 Subaru engine and we do keep up with the traffic
    Fuel cost £288.94

    Oil: 1.5 litres (it does use a bit)

    Ferry cost: £250 we bought the HopSkotch 8 ticket and for 4 of us and the van it was approx £250 it inlcuded 4 ferries to get to and from the islands and in between, normally its a case of turn up and jump on the next ferry, but due to Covid we had to book a specifc ferry each time. no problem for us as we like an intinerary to follow.

    Most places we stayed were free, a couple had suggested donations of £5 for the night which we were happy to pay. I think this was a total of £15.

    Empyting the portaloo was £3 on the Isle of Harris at a local recyling centre where they have conveniently installed an Elsan point. it was generally easy to find public toilets though which we mainly used.

    We used Park4Night App to find spots that people had used previously mainly looking for the green tree sites that are out of the way.
     

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