Scottish Islands Summer Break

[First class]

Hi,

Managed to get some lucrative A/L - 2 weeks at the end of August.

I'm looking at going away to either Barra or Summer Isles and either:

1) Renting a self-catering cottage
2) Camping (tent etc)

My problems are:

1) How do I get to the Summer Isles without a car?
2) Anyone know of somewhere I can camp on Barra?- there are no actual camp sites! "Wild camping" is a new concept to me.

I'm looking to spend about £1200 in total for 2 people, 2 weeks (including getting there from Liverpool) to go to one of these two Scottish Islands.

If anyone can help with my problems or advise me of any other stunning Scottish islands that may meet my needs better, I'd be really grateful.

 

[flymo]

Well for Summer Isles you can get as far as Ullapool using Scottish Citylink bus 961 from Inverness. The fares quoted on the website are around £20 return. From there I would not have a clue how to get further but I'm sure that the tourist offices up there would have some information on this.

http://www.ullapool.com/

Also a bit more info here

As for Barra I remember the old fella Private Frazer from Dad's Army came from there "A wild and lonely place" Certainly looks like it

Hope this is of some use.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
A bit more info on the buses to get you there-ish. Stagecoach also operate buses between Inverness & Ullapool as a 61 and similar times to the Citylink services.

There is a boat apparently from either Ullapool or Achiltibuie to Tanera Mòr but no idea of the times. Bus 811 goes from Ullapool to Achiltibuie and is in the guide above.

Good luck, it looks like a beautiful place to spend a bit of time. Long summer nights should be awesome

 

[Bill EWS]

I can't help with the Summer Isles as I have not been there. However I used to do a fair bit of travel around the Highlands and Islands and have a web site of those times. You may enjoy having a look around. Just click on the Areas you are interested in. Most of the islands sections have photograhs.

I haven't kept things up to date and there will be many changes since back then. E.g. Both Vatersay, off Barra, and Mingulay, off South Uist are now linked by a causway rather than by ferry. However, I hope that you find this of some interest.

http://theatreorgans.com/hammond/keng/kenhtml/scottour(b)/TouringScotland.htm