Highlands to the Hebrides

Elgin to the Isle of Lewis

Holiday Ratings
Recommended days	3
Budget	£
Difficulty	Easy

Taking advantage of free time between flights and ferries I made the most of this work trip from the Highlands to the Hebrides! The roads in northern Scotland are great, no trees means you get plenty of time to look ahead and/or enjoy the views and traffic is usually light. Be aware that a downside can be landslides – we had a trip to Skye with a 5 hour diversion due to landslides on the main road!

Highlands: Elgin

After landing at Inverness from my excellent Easyjet flight I collected my hire car and headed to Spynie Palace and Elgin. This was actually the first time I’d visited Elgin and I knew nothing about it other than the association with the famous Parthenon marbles.

The palace was almost deserted so I had a nice wander round before visiting Elgin cathedral. This really was a most unexpected find – some superb architecture and carvings, very well displayed too. I then had a quick stop at Brodie Castle before the long drive to the ferry at Ullapool.

Hebrides: Lewis

After a relatively mild ferry crossing I landed in Stornoway and had a nice walk around the town and harbour before heading to Callanaish and my overnight stop.

Callanaish Stone Circles

Callanaish/Calanais is a superb set of 3 linked stones circles in a coastal setting. There is an excellent visitor centre and cafe but that was closed when I arrived. Selfishly there were also a surprising number of other people ready to watch and photograph the sunrise.

It was certainly a magical experience and a superb day for it, light cloud, no wind and not too cold. It also made me glad I chose that hotel rather than one in Stornoway itself.