Just two in a van again. The Outer Hebrides.

I don't know if many parents experience this, but when all three of our children fled the nest to various universities, a great sense of being let loose fell on Mrs B and I.  We did city-break weekends, spent more time in London, which is on our doorstep but seldom visited except for work, and we got back into the groove of trying out various motorhomes or campervans.  We rented twice around this time from a company based at Luton Airport called Amber Leisure.  http://www.ambermotorhomes.co.uk/  They now seem to have been acquired by JustGo who we'd rented from in the past - their website now just features the JustGo range.

Trigano Tribute - Isle of Lewis

Amber seemed a friendly bunch when I initially enquired and they also had some small van conversion-type campervans on their fleet that I had been keen to try.  Actually what I really wanted was to have a go at something much smaller again in the shape of a VW Transporter style conversion, but all the coachbuilt conversions we had hired before had two attributes that Mrs B was quite fond of.  One was space and the other was a separate room with shower and toilet.  So we plumped for their campervan option, which was a Trigano Tribute with a separate shower/toilet room, a seating/dining area at the front and bench seats at the rear that were easily converted into a double bed.  It also had a "wheel at each corner" style that I was looking for, offering more stability from a driving perspective and I thought it might be easier should we want to camp away from formal campsites.

The destination of our trips has a reputation for being "a bit fluid" and I think that the habit certainly started with this trip and this van.  It was pretty easy to drive and we could always find a quiet corner to park for a night or two, so the sky seemed the limit.  The original aim however was to head for the Outer Hebrides and at least for the first part of the trip, that's exactly where we headed.  We plumped for a route that started at the northern end of the archipelago and intended making our way slowly south.  We stopped for just a night at the campsite in Ulapool http://www.broomfieldhp.com/, which was a great spot right on the shore of Loch Broom.  It was also really handy for a short stroll into the village for a bite to eat and of course is the embarkation point for the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry to Stornaway on the Isle of Lewis. https://www.calmac.co.uk/

Ullapool's Posh New Ferry Terminal

Ulapool had evidently just had a swanky new ferry terminal built, maybe to match the swanky new ferry that CalMac now run on this route.  The ferry is the Loch Seaforth which appeared as new and shiny on the inside as she looked on the outside.  I don't remember whether there was a modern menu in the brand new on-board restaurant, because I was set on a more traditional breakfast option of a roll and square sausage for breakfast.  It has to be done - especially on the first morning.  My father always called square sausage "Saster" and I have never spoken to anyone in Scotland or from Scotland (even folk that live not many miles from his birthplace in Ayrshire) that uses the same name.

After a calm sail across the Minch, we intended to head straight to our first pitch and then stay a few days, putting the long journey and heads full of work-related thoughts behind us.  I had planned to stay at a campsite at Traigh Na Beirigh (Cnip Grazing), almost due west from Stornoway.  Kneep (anglicised version) has a beautiful long white sandy beach and a campsite with a small shower block.  I don't know why I didn't think of it before we travelled, but the first week in July is usually the first week of Scottish school holidays (the English schools are a couple of weeks later) and the campsite was packed full.  Fortunately we had spotted a small rectangular tarmac parking space down by the water in a smaller bay called Cliff just to the west of Kneep.  The parking spot was only big enough for a couple of vehicles and a note at the side of the tarmac mentioned that overnight parking was OK and that a voluntary donation could be made (I think there was an honesty box on a post).

Cliff Beach and Car Park - Isle of Lewis

It was an amazing spot and in our view, a much better option than the bustling campsite.  The grass bank behind us was in full bloom with wildflowers, the beach was deserted and we had the parking place all to ourselves for the first two nights, with only one other campervan on our last night.  What a glorious place and a resounding affirmation of our desire to visit the outer islands and to stay put for a few days to rest our brains.  We ran on the beach, watched fulmars soaring around the cliffs to the west, climbed the hills around the bay, read a little, barbecued and drank a little and settled into the pace of the place.

We had a chance to figure out the van too - what worked and what didn't.  I understand the rationale behind having two forward facing seat-belted seats at the front, so that additional passengers can be carried.  However, I think on this model, they didn't turn into a bed, so the occupants would only ever be day passengers - or bring a tent?  The seats and table made the front area cramped, made the kitchen area too narrow and even for the two of us just didn't work.  A bench seat in that space, facing the sliding door would have been a great option, albeit meaning that the van would be limited to two occupants.  Selfishly, that's all we intend to be on these trips.

The two longitudinal bench seats in the rear made up into a double bed and pretty quickly we decided to just leave it like that, so in effect we ended up with a fixed bed campervan.  Parking the van with the rear facing the sea meant that we could swing the two rear doors open and luxuriate in bed, viewing our own private beach.

It was tempting just to stay.  Our reserves of water were fine and we'd used hardly any power, but we moved on, reminding ourselves that we had rented a campervan to see the Outer Hebrides, not just one beach.  We headed south through Harris, with a short stop in Tarbert before heading northwest again to Hushinish.

Hushinish

There is a small spot for campervans at Hushinish now - https://www.north-harris.org/?page_id=7366 - and a visitor centre, but at the time we stopped, there were just a few motorhomes and campervans scattered around the beach.  The area is spectacular, with a stunning south facing white sandy beach and turquoise sea (at least on the days we were there).  There are one or two more glorious beaches within a short walk and whilst we didn't get to it, the stretch of sand directly across form the Island of Scarp looks well worth a visit.

We headed south again, stopping for several unsuccessful eagle spotting hours at the North Harris Eagle Observatory - https://www.north-harris.org/?page_id=2421.  It was a nice walk though.  We had read about the famous Luskentyre Beach and were originally going to stop there, but spotted a small campsite on the opposite side of the bay at Seilebost.  We needed a quick campsite stop to top up water and had planned on a shower.  It turned out that Seilebost School campsite - https://www.westharristrust.org/camping/ - didn't have showers or toilets, but we were able to use the tiny shower in the van once we were fully charged with water.  This side of the bay has it's own stretch of white sand to be proud of and on that evening a storm blew in, making the contrast between the beach, the bright, aquamarine sea and the brooding dark storm clouds look more intense than the blue skies we had been spoilt with thus far.

The stormy weather continued the following day as we caught the ferry from Leverburgh to Berneray.  The boat weaves an extraordinary course around all the little islets that are scattered in the channel between Harris and Berneray and the stormy weather plus the winding course made for an adventurous island hop.  It was also amazing from a bird life perspective.  I have never seen such a variety of seabirds and in such abundance anywhere in my Scottish travels.  They peppered the sky and crashed into the wild looking sea all around us.  There were gannets and shearwaters, guillemots and fulmars, and darting amongst them was an Arctic Skua - an amazing display.

I should apologise at this point to the islands of North and South Uist and sandwiched in the middle, Benbecula.  We had one of our change of plan moments and decided that we would certainly want to visit Barra, but after that we might head for somewhere else like Mull or back over to the mainland.  Whatever was in our minds, it meant that we drove swiftly south across the islands and their joining causeways and bridges without really stopping, heading straight for Barra.  We knew that to our west were miles and miles of beautiful white sandy beaches that we were driving straight past, but we were intent on making full use of our hire and had been spoilt already with stunning strands.

At the southern tip of South Uist is a decent wee campsite at Kilbride which was handy for us to grab the Eriskay to Barra ferry the following day - https://kilbride-campsite.business.site/. The site has a cafe and is an easy walk to the Polochar Inn, where we took the chance to let someone else cook for an evening - https://www.polocharinn.com/.  It was a beautiful spot and a great meal.

I had been to Barra before, a few years ago on a boys trip with my father and my brother.  We had flown in from Glasgow to spend a weekend Father's day treat.  The flight itself was one of the highlights, in a small twin-engined 10 or 12 seater and as the airport runway is actually the beach, the landing is amazing too.  This time we arrived by ferry and I remembered just how small Barra is.  It is only about 8 miles long by 5 miles wide and doesn't take long to get around.  We took a run south to Vatersay, another island linked by a causeway.  There is a thin strip of land that separates the north and south parts of Vatersay and on each side of the strip is a long stretch of beautiful beach.  One facing west and one facing east - a feast of beaches.

Another white sandy beach with aquamarine sea - Vatersay this time.

We found a spot in the north of the island to stay that night at another gorgeous beach called Cleat.  There is no campsite, but we found a level spot off the road that was not too exposed.  There were one or two cottages scattered further down the shore so we walked towards them intending to ensure that they were ok with our parking for the night.  We met one of the residents walking their dog and he seemed more surprised that we'd bothered to ask.  He certainly had no problem with us staying.  The beach at Cleat was astounding and writing about it now reminds me that it is easy to become quite blasé about spectacular beaches in this part of the world.  Adding to the amazing colour palette of the last few days the sunset grew into an extraordinary scarlet wash over the whole of the northwestern sky, dotted with stunning red-tinged cloud formations.  A glorious goodbye from the Outer Hebrides.  A truly beautiful place.

Goodbye from the Outer Hebrides