This road trip through some of the Western Isles was due to work on Benbecula, which is always a great excuse to get someone else to pay for my nomadic wanderings! We also visited North Uist, South Uist and Skye as well as several mainland locations. Deb came along on this trip too and we also brought the dogs, not such a great idea in hindsight. We had six days of spectacular scenery, mostly fabulous weather and great locations but it still felt rather rushed.
| Holiday Ratings | |
| Recommended days | 7 |
| Budget | ££ |
| Difficulty | Medium |
First stop – Carlisle
We started with the tedious motorway trip from Bristol to Carlisle and it really put paid to our idea that if we moved to Northumberland we’d drive back each month to visit people – the roads were busy and it was just a tedious drive until we got north of Lancaster and the scenery started to appear. We had the dogs with us so had to stop a couple of times for them so the drive took around 7 hours and this was the easy stage. It was also a great time for my car to point out that the service was due in 1350 miles and this trip was going to be around 1500 miles.
We arrived in Carlisle and parked in the hotel car park. After dumping our stuff in the room we headed out into the town, me regretting wearing shorts and Deb wishing she’d bought a coat! The castle had closed for the day just before we arrived so we walked around the outside although the Norman keep was obscured by scaffolding. Deb took the dogs somewhere quieter and I walked the circuit of the castle walls and then met Deb outside the cathedral.
Carlisle Cathedral
This was a huge red sandstone building that had evolved over the last 900 years and looks like a lot of the ornamental stonework was replaced recently. Outside there were the remains of the original Augustinian cloisters and a nice cafe area and inside I was almost the only visitor. There were a few original Norman features and some amazing medieval paintings too.
The ceiling had been repainted in the 1860’s and really added to the serenity of the building. There was a lot of magnificent stained glass and also regimental colours, now faded and darkened. Moving with the times the cathedral had contactless donation terminals which was a great idea as I had no cash.
I met Deb back in the rooms and we had a cuppa whilst working out where to eat. After the dogs had been fed and walked we left them and nipped across to the Thin White Duke after Deb had checked places suitable for her diet.
The place had quite eclectic decor but service was friendly and there were some nice choices. We both opted for sea bass which was a mistake as from our portion sizes there was probably only enough for one serving. It was nicely cooked and presented though and the dessert (a thick chocolate mousse with sorbet and caramel sauce) plus the cocktails redeemed the evening. We had a chilly walk back to the hotel before working out the next days route to include a stop for Deb to buy a coat!
Our Accommodation
We were staying in the Crown and Mitre, a grand old Victorian building in the centre of Carlisle that both had a car park and accepted dogs. Our accommodation was in a block behind the hotel that looked recently refurbished and had good sized rooms. More importantly, there was a small park area just round the corner which made it easy to walk the dogs.
The hotel had some fabulous windows inside and a grand staircase too, it must have been quite impressive in the Edwardian era. Service was excellent and professional and we had a lovely early breakfast before leaving the next morning.
Day Two – Carlisle to Benbecula
I really should have driven further yesterday and stayed near Loch Lomond. Today required eight hours driving then a 90 minutes ferry crossing and a further 90 minutes drive. We drove from Carlisle along the motorway without anything of interest happening and even the A82 along Loch Lomond was pretty dull until we reached Crainlarich and there were proper hills, views and bleakness and the road trip proper started, before we’d even reached the Western Isles.
Glencoe was as awesomely beautiful and desolate as ever and then we had a brief pause in Fort William for Deb to buy a coat! We did have a 30 minute delay coming out of the town due to roadworks but then were able to make good progress through rapidly darkening clouds. We had a brief photo stop at Eilean Donan Castle (stopping at the Dornie Community Hall), I have neither been inside nor seen it in sunshine despite visiting at least half a dozen times.
We carried on on to Skye, drove through Portree which was the furthest I’d been on the island before and then continued on to Uig for the ferry. It was the first of the Western Isles we visited on this road trip and really deserved a trip of its own as we basically did an outer circuit of the northern most quarter of the island. We stopped a couple of times for photos as it was both gorgeously scenic and had blue skies.
We arrived at the terminal and had a bit of a wait before boarding. We had the option of taking the dogs onto the deck but as they don’t mix well with others we let them stay in the car and had some dinner during the short crossing to Lochmaddy.
The last part of the drive was from Lochmaddy to our accommodation for the night. This was a long drive – almost 90 minutes – along single track roads and causeways between the islands and I was very happy to finally arrive. The scenery was almost tree free (hooray!) and kinda like the Dead Marshes of Mordor without the photogenic quality.
Our Accommodation
Brae Lea House in Lochboisdale was about a minutes walk from the harbour area. Our host, Rupert, was very welcoming and we had a lovely, quiet room with plenty of power sockets – a frustrating absent feature in a lot of properties. We both slept well and had an excellent breakfast before leaving. One of the best aspects was that Rupert had obviously spent a lot of time composing a guide to the islands. This was extremely detailed and I really should have paid a lot more attention. The road to Lochskipport was as good as claimed too so thanks for that Rupert!
Day Three – South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist and Skye
The day started with a fabulous breakfast at Brae Lea and then running through our proposed tour with Rupert so he could give advice. We then had a 15 minute wander around Lochboisdale harbour with a very grey sky and some drizzle. These three islands of the Outer Hebrides have similar terrain, very low lying and wet, few trees (hooray) and seem to be composed of as much lake as dry land. They are linked by causeways so you can actually drive from one end to the other and there’s a small airport on Benbecula itself. It would be nice to do a road trip on just these three of the Western Isles and actually take an OS map and proper planning, rather than relying on road signs, sat nav and Google.
Despite the rain it was warm and incredibly tranquil with no wind at all. We then loaded the ridiculous amount of paraphernalia any dog holiday apparently involves and drove the short distance to Kildonan Museum. This was a small building with two rooms of exhibits, a cafe and a craft shop. The museum rooms were well laid out with a history of the islands, information about crofting and land clearances and also displays on the religion and lifestyle on the islands. The treatment of the tenant farmers by absentee Scottish landlords was quite horrific and this continued into the 20th century!
From the museum we took various routes across bits of south Uist to look at viewpoints although we didn’t find a lot of the places I’d intended to go as there was no phone signal and road signage was abominable. We did drive part of the way to Lochskipport to look at the views over Loch Druidbeag and that caused quite a few photo stops.
After we’d done the work we were being paid to do we continued across the causeway to North Uist and several more photo stops, especially as the weather was brightening up and we had blue skies.
I explored Trinity Temple at Carnish, which is now populated by sheep and on a hillside coated with yellow iris’s. The church was an important medieval monastery and seat of learning but was abandoned after the reformation and probably had lots of stone looted for local building projects!
We then took a detour to a ruined broch but we ran out of time getting to it so headed back to the ferry port at Lochmaddy. Typically the ferry was late so we probably could have seen the broch but I took some photos in the harbour and thanked various divine beings for the blue skies and smooth seas. Once on the ferry I periodically went on to the observation deck to take photos but until we arrived in Uig I didn’t actually bother as there wasn’t anything close enough to get a good shot of.
I’d planned a route from Uig that went a different direction round Skye from the one we’d driven in on. As this was a less travelled route it was a narrow road with pot holes in some sections that could have doubled as trenches for dwarves, I actually thought we’d lost a wheel after hitting one of them. This section of the road trip, following the A855, was some of the most dramatic scenery we saw in the Western Isles.
The reward was some spectacular scenery at Sartle with snaking roads and jagged mountains. Culnacnock gave us a cliffside waterfall and there were numerous other stops for the views. My favourite was at Glen Sligachan where there was an old bridge (built by Thomas Telford) and a statue to two mountaineers who mapped and explored the Cuillin range, plus a couple having their wedding photos done!
We eventually arrived in Kyleakin, next to the Skye bridge, after 9. The sky was blue and it was incredibly light still. We checked into our room at Saucy Mary’s and then went outside to watch the spectacular sunset. This was spoiled by midges. What a vile creation! What is their actual purpose? There were literally clouds of them so the photography was cut short, we put the dogs in the room and went to the pub for a pint. We left just before 11 and grabbed a couple of photos before escaping back to our room and starting to try and remember what happened hours ago after 10 hours driving and 3 hours on a ferry!
Our Accommodation
For this night we had to stay in budget accommodation. Having the dogs severely limited where we could stay and there were almost no locations on Skye itself available for below £150 for the night. We opted for Saucy Mary’s as it was on our route anyway and was 30 seconds walk from views of the Skye Bridge.
Service was helpful and friendly and there was plenty of parking. The downsides were that there were no blackout blinds so we were up before 6 and there was a definite lack of plug points. The decor was certainly dated but that’s not something that overly worries me, it was younger than I am so who am I to judge?!
Breakfast was decent with good sized portions and clean tables too. I wouldn’t say it was good value but it was better value than the other options we had and I imagine the tourism window is not exactly year round.
Day Four – Skye to Loch Awe
I was hoping to sleep in until about 8 but there were no blackout blinds and we were both awake by 6, a combination of light and noise from other residents. We bumbled around for a bit and then went for an early morning walk in Kyleakin. It was a very pretty area and the sky was almost cloudless and there was no wind but the most amazing thing was how clear the water was, absolutely crystal. The gardens in the houses along the lochside had very pretty gardens with azaleas in bloom everywhere.
We had breakfast in Saucy Mary’s ( so named because she used to attract sailors by flashing her boobs and then when they got to shore she’d charge them a toll for passing through her channel. I’m not sure if that’s a metaphor!) which was quite decent and filling.
Today was meant to be a reasonably quiet day but the 4 hours driving actually took closer to 6 and it was difficult to take in the spectacular scenery. We drove to Eilean Donan and I was finally able to get shots of it in the sunshine which was quite amazing. We stopped at my usual viewpoint and then drove on a very minor parallel road to find a viewpoint looking down on the castle. This took a couple of attempts but was well worth it. If we come up on a dog free trip we will have to go in to the castle.
We followed the road towards Fort William, stopping at a couple of viewpoints as it was just a glorious day with scenery to match. Lunch was at the Well of The Seven Heads cafe which was an excellent stop. Service was great and we had lunch in a picnic area overlooking the loch. I think the Scots are rather bored with lochs as the next one we drove past was called Loch Lochy, no effort spared with that one!
After lunch it was back to more driving and then pausing for a snack at the Castle Stalker viewpoint. It’s nice to see someone with the commercial nous to take advantage of something and the viewpoint had a good sized parking area, a good cafe and a nice little shop as well as indoor and outdoor seating. We walked down the hill to see the view – another castle that I’ve never seen before without grey skies – and then sat outside for coffee and lime cheesecake.
The car was low on fuel and we did have a bit of drama when the garage we pulled in to was actually part time and not open on Wednesdays! The next one had 2 pumps out of diesel but luckily the last one still had enough for me to boost the energy companies profits a bit more before their windfall tax grab. We continued on to the Ben Cruachan Inn and I had great plans to visit the hydro electric power station in the mountain and also Kilchurn Castle. Instead I went to bed and dozed for 2 hours.
I woke up in time for dinner – excellent planning there. The dinner was superb – beetroot hummus with focaccia followed by hake with gnochi – absolutely delicious. Had a cider too just to put me 1500 over my calories for the day as I’d done sod all, I did manage to refuse dessert though. It was nice to sit down in a civilised environment and unwind. Deb thought so too after 3 large glasses of wine! I planned tomorrow’s route with a stop for the dogs to go swimming and a couple of photo stops too.
When we got to the room I finally found my razor so was able to have a shave and stop looking like a hippy monk. Bliss. We then spent a bit of time looking at house areas to potentially move to in Northumbria before I started culling and editing the photos from 2 days ago. 3 hours later and I was still on the same day! Only me to blame…
Our Accommodation
Ben Cruachan Inn is set back from the road and overlooking Loch Awe. There was plenty of parking and the building looked like it had just been refurbished with both the common areas and the rooms looking excellent. Our room was actually an apartment with a cooker and separate kitchen (no fridge though) as well as the bedroom and bathroom. It was fantastically quiet and well thought out and in hindsight we should have stayed a couple of days instead of just the one. The staff were exceptional too, not fawning but just keen to do a good job.
Day Five – Loche Awe to Morpeth
We had a great breakfast at the hotel, listening to the birds singing and looking at the view over Loch Awe. The plan was to visit St Conan’s Kirk and then Kilchurn Castle before heading south. I was going to visit the Ben Cruachan dam but that really needed more time so we saved that for another day.
The Kirk was close by and had a small car park. The garden was small but very pretty and there were lots of azaleas in bloom which stood out from the green of the surrounding pines and the blue of the loch. The kirk itself is a nineteenth century creation in a variety of styles, built by Walter Campbell. There was a small cloister which has some original mort safes that were locked around corpses to stop them being stolen and used for medical experiments!
Inside there were a couple of small chapels, one with Walter Campbell’s tomb and one with an effigy of Robert the Bruce and a beautiful windowed nave. It was very well maintained and had a contactless donation terminal, a great idea. There were lots of pretty stained glass windows too, some original and some nineteenth century. More visitors turned up while we were there and the place actually seemed to be quite famous. We probably only spent 30 minutes but it was a very pleasant stop and well worth it.
Our next stop was Kilchurn Castle, somewhere I have tried to visit a couple of times but been defeated by mud and poor preparation. We parked at the viewing area and this time this pathway was dry enough that I got to the water’s edge. There were a few guys fishing and the utter serenity of the location made it almost appealing but I’d get bored after a while. It was lovely though, almost no wind, sunny and spectacular views. I walked back to the car and we then drove to the car park for the castle itself.
The castle was about 10 minutes walk but this was on a proper path so there were no worries about mud although the castle was cordoned off for ‘safety reasons’ so I couldn’t actually go inside, or get decent pictures. I did a circuit of the ruins and then walked past some highland cattle and back to the car where Deb and the dogs were dozing in the sun.
That was it for Scottish sightseeing and we set Berwick upon Tweed into the sat nav and started driving.
Once we got to Loch Lomond the traffic really built up and that, compounded with delays on the M8, meant it was 5 hours before we reached Berwick. We had a look at the first house but ruled it out as although it had beautiful sea views the access road was just too irritating. We then drove to four other houses that we liked the look of in various towns in the area and were able to eliminate some areas from our future searches.
Finally we headed to our hotel in Morpeth, arriving about 3 hours later than I intended. The town didn’t look that impressive and the hotel doubly so but it served its purpose and we dumped our bags and settled the dogs down whilst we had a cuppa. After the usual photo sorting we chose a nearby restaurant and went out for a nice meal at a Greek place. It was busy but nice to sit somewhere that wasn’t a car seat!
Lessons probably not learned….
Although the trip was more rushed than I’d have liked, and particularly unfair on the dogs, it was fantastic to see Scotland at its best. If I was doing it again, without dogs I’d fly to Inverness and hire a car, with dogs I’d have probably extended it by two nights and had an extra night on Skye and an extra night at Ben Cruachan.
It was also noticeably how much more tiring the driving was. Normally I’d think nothing of a ten hour drive but even a six hour drive took it out of me – a combination of having to focus on the narrow and pot holed roads, looking ahead to spot traffic so we could judge passing places and trying to look at the scenery. I’d certainly plan for shorter travelling days next time and have rest days every 3 or 4 days. Which rather limits the ‘road trip’ element.
The weather was superb and the combination of lack of people, amazing scenery and blue skies ranks it amongst the most photogenic places in the world. Despite the midges. There are niggles – travel times, road conditions and lack of phone signal make it hard work and means that it takes a lot more planning than I put into it to make it a truly successful trip. It has planted the seed about hiring a motorhome for a couple of weeks and doing this type of trip again, if there are homes that you can hire and allow dogs in them. So that’s my ‘coming soon’ blog.