Scottish Islands

[The Mantis]

On 01/07/2021 at 15:49, jamamafegan said:

This photo angle is bamboozling me. I'm trying to imagine you taking the photo from Lewis and I cannot get my head round this. From left to right: Hirta, (wtf is that island?), Boreray, Stac an Armin? I'm on St. Kilda right now, I've been looking out the window trying to figure this out 

Must admit to being a bit baffled too. I took the photo below in 2012 and I still haven’t worked it out from the map. On the left is obviously Hirta and Dùn is the bit sticking out on the left. But Boreray shouldn’t be that big. The lighter lump on the left of it is the right shape for Soay but it shouldn’t have a big gap to Hirta. No idea about the wee one in the middle either. When I was there in 2016 I showed the 2012 shot to this older Lewisman who confidently named them, but I forgot, so I messaged him the other week and now he’s as confused as I am...

[Fife Journeyman]

Spent 7 days in the Western Isles and first time i have been to that part of the country. Got the ferry from Mallaig to Lochboisdale as was staying in a cottage overlooking the bay to the Eriskay causeway, visited Eriskay and also got the ferry to Barra and drove round Vatersay. Coming home drove through Benbecula and North Uist and got the ferry from Lochmaddy to Uig and drove back through Skye.

Will give an honest verdict as not my usual holiday

South Uist-/Benbecula and Nort Uist, not much to do bar walking and very flat mostly with little hamlets dotted  all over. Did play golf at Askernish which was lovely and different to any course i had played before.

Eriskay was a very small island but seemed to be a little busier than the other places mainly due to there being the only pub within miles.

Barra- we drove right round Barra and Castlebay was a nice village with more happening for tourists. we went to see the plane land on the beach but landing was aborted due to weather.

Vatersay- nothing here but if you drive round to the very south west corner there is a small community that has a hall and cafe etc, the beach there was stunning.

Skye i thought was incredible all the way from Uig to Kyle of Lochalsh, Broadford seemed to be the main hub of activity with hotels and eating places/pubs.

i enjoyed parts of the holiday but a week was too long and a lot of driving, having 2 teenage daughters with no mobile or wifi signal also a bit of a pain , we only really got a signal in pubs or ferries.

next time i may do Skye and onto Lewis and Harris.

[The Mantis]

3 hours ago, Fife Journeyman said:

Spent 7 days in the Western Isles and first time i have been to that part of the country. Got the ferry from Mallaig to Lochboisdale as was staying in a cottage overlooking the bay to the Eriskay causeway, visited Eriskay and also got the ferry to Barra and drove round Vatersay. Coming home drove through Benbecula and North Uist and got the ferry from Lochmaddy to Uig and drove back through Skye.

Will give an honest verdict as not my usual holiday

South Uist-/Benbecula and Nort Uist, not much to do bar walking and very flat mostly with little hamlets dotted  all over. Did play golf at Askernish which was lovely and different to any course i had played before.

Eriskay was a very small island but seemed to be a little busier than the other places mainly due to there being the only pub within miles.

Barra- we drove right round Barra and Castlebay was a nice village with more happening for tourists. we went to see the plane land on the beach but landing was aborted due to weather.

Vatersay- nothing here but if you drive round to the very south west corner there is a small community that has a hall and cafe etc, the beach there was stunning.

Skye i thought was incredible all the way from Uig to Kyle of Lochalsh, Broadford seemed to be the main hub of activity with hotels and eating places/pubs.

i enjoyed parts of the holiday but a week was too long and a lot of driving, having 2 teenage daughters with no mobile or wifi signal also a bit of a pain , we only really got a signal in pubs or ferries.

next time i may do Skye and onto Lewis and Harris.

Decent points but the words “teenage daughters” kind of sums it up

I’ve hardly ever met anybody who wasn’t blown away by the isles or the west coast. A mate of mine has just been to Oban with two young kids and he just never knew Scotland had anything like it, and he’s 40. Obviously I’m biased as I spent 10 days in Lewis in April, I’m here now for 12 days, and will probably be back in October. But I’ve always been into the hills, photography and a bit of bird watching. I’m even watching fitba here in the Lewis and Harris League. I was out taking photos at half ten on Sunday night. Horses for courses maybe.

Not sure where you expect to get wifi other than pubs and ferries (and cafes)? Mobile signal depends very much on which network. We were all over Harris yesterday and we got 4G nearly everywhere on Plusnet.  EE is great nearly everywhere but some networks are crap. In fact I find the islands better than the West coast where you can often be blocked by the hills. BTW Portree is the biggest town in Skye, shame you missed it.

Edited July 6, 2021 by The Mantis

[invergowrie arab]

I would need about three weeks to do that trip.

I think you need to be comfortable doing nothing rather than finding stuff to do. 

It's good to have reasons to go too eg you kayak or you are happy walking for half a day 

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

didnt realise this thread was a thing!

anyway, twice in the last 5 months I've been working/staying on the Isle of Canna.  had never heard of it before tbh, 4 miles long, 1 mile wide and a population of 15.  the second time we were there, boat dropped us off on the Tuesday at 1:30pm, job was finished by 5pm (fitting a new roller shutter) and the boat wasn't coming back for us until 12:30 on the Thursday so had a bit of time for fishing, exploring the island and just relaxing.  Some place, would recommend, especially if sea fishing is your thing.

[Le Tout P'ti FC]

Cheers Calmac. Had booked a trip to Coll in September, timed to give me a day trip to Tiree on the Wednesday. Due to "livestock sales", they've changed the times of the boat on that one day this year, and I've now got exactly 30 minutes on Tiree instead of the planned 6.5 hours. Extra day on Coll it is.

Bit of a pain, Tiree is kind of awkward for me to get to randomly from my base in rural Peeblesshire! Will just need to book another trip to Tiree another time...

[deegee]

I’m meant to be going to Arran for a work meet tomorrow but CalMac is full and the cal centre said they can’t say if a walk up with car might get on. We were in Mull last month and similarly the ferry to Oban was full however we rocked up and got on no problem.

Does anyone know if Ardrossan is the same and I would be likely to get over ( and back an hour or two later)? I see a page back that there’s another ferry from Tarbert area; is that a better option or is the long drive not worth the trouble?
 

Thanks in advance for any assistance lads.

[LongTimeLurker]

On 05/07/2021 at 23:09, The Mantis said:

Must admit to being a bit baffled too. I took the photo below in 2012 and I still haven’t worked it out from the map. On the left is obviously Hirta and Dùn is the bit sticking out on the left. But Boreray shouldn’t be that big. The lighter lump on the left of it is the right shape for Soay but it shouldn’t have a big gap to Hirta. No idea about the wee one in the middle either. When I was there in 2016 I showed the 2012 shot to this older Lewisman who confidently named them, but I forgot, so I messaged him the other week and now he’s as confused as I am...

Shiant Islands from the northern side off Lewis maybe?

Edit: think it fits what is in this youtube clip:

 

Edited July 8, 2021 by LongTimeLurker

[The Mantis]

9 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Shiant Islands from the northern side off Lewis maybe?

Edit: think it fits what is in this youtube clip:

 

We’ve already established that it’s St Kilda Lurky, a couple of us have been there. The pic on p24 is the same but clearer. The orangey pic is a sunset from the west side of Lewis, with a 400mm lens. The Shiant Isles are close in. I’m actually in Lewis just now and the weather has been fantastic since July began, but overcast and Misty for the last 2 days. I saw St Kilda the other day although it was hazy.

BTW there was a guy on Twitter last week with a pic of the Flannan Isles claiming it was St Kilda. A common mistake, but NW from Lewis and about a third of the distance. Looks like this one I took last summer:

 

Edited July 8, 2021 by The Mantis

[LongTimeLurker]

Not looking to get into an argument with you over this but the comments above such as the island that has to be Boreray in that scenario being way too big are still applicable to the clearer picture. From what I can see by map there's no way you can have a gap between Hirta and Boreray if the vantage point is from Lewis and there's nothing that should lie in between like that in the further distance beyond them. With the Shiant Islands you could see a gap between the two main islands from certain parts of Lewis and the smaller more distant island could be something around the northern tip of Skye.

Edited July 9, 2021 by LongTimeLurker

[The Mantis]

1 hour ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Not looking to get into an argument with you over this but the comments above such as the island that has to be Boreray in that scenario being way too big are still applicable to the clearer picture. From what I can see by map there's no way you can have a gap between Hirta and Boreray if the vantage point is from Lewis and there's nothing that should lie in between like that in the further distance beyond them. With the Shiant Islands you could see a gap between the two main islands from certain parts of Lewis and the smaller more distant island could be something around the northern tip of Skye.

No arguments here, this isn’t the EOS forum

Nobody can fault your logic, but I took the photos myself. They were taken from a small hill, Forsnabhal/Forsnaval in Uig.

What I’m going to do is pay a visit to Murdo, the skipper who took us there in 2016. He’ll soon clear it up. He did already, I’ve just forgotten what he said 5 years ago.

[8MileBU]

On 06/07/2021 at 21:11, Le Tout P'ti FC said:

Cheers Calmac. Had booked a trip to Coll in September, timed to give me a day trip to Tiree on the Wednesday. Due to "livestock sales", they've changed the times of the boat on that one day this year, and I've now got exactly 30 minutes on Tiree instead of the planned 6.5 hours. Extra day on Coll it is.

Bit of a pain, Tiree is kind of awkward for me to get to randomly from my base in rural Peeblesshire! Will just need to book another trip to Tiree another time...
 

Get the plane from the wee airport at Connell and hire a car?

[8MileBU]

On 07/07/2021 at 10:59, deegee said:

I’m meant to be going to Arran for a work meet tomorrow but CalMac is full and the cal centre said they can’t say if a walk up with car might get on. We were in Mull last month and similarly the ferry to Oban was full however we rocked up and got on no problem.

Does anyone know if Ardrossan is the same and I would be likely to get over ( and back an hour or two later)? I see a page back that there’s another ferry from Tarbert area; is that a better option or is the long drive not worth the trouble?

Thanks in advance for any assistance lads.

Both options would be hit or miss. Kind of reverse of your situation but I ended up stuck on Arran an extra night due to a ferry cancelled by bad weather. The following morning to get back over to Ardrossan I had to join the standby lane at Brodick but got on the boat no problem. This was in February mind you so not entirely sure how it’ll be in peak holiday season.

There is a smaller boat sails from Claonaig in Kintyre to Lochranza at the opposite end of Arran. Where are you travelling from??

ETA: Ignore all the above. Misread your post so your scheduled trip will have passed by now. I seen your profile said you’re in Stirling so I was going to suggest a 3 boat journey if you  couldn’t get booked on the Ardrossan to Brodick ferry or be arsed with driving all the way to Tarbert.

Gourock > Dunoon

Portavadie > Tarbert

Claonaig > Lochranza

Edited July 9, 2021 by 8MileBU

[deegee]

47 minutes ago, 8MileBU said:

Both options would be hit or miss. Kind of reverse of your situation but I ended up stuck on Arran an extra night due to a ferry cancelled by bad weather. The following morning to get back over to Ardrossan I had to join the standby lane at Brodick but got on the boat no problem. This was in February mind you so not entirely sure how it’ll be in peak holiday season.

There is a smaller boat sails from Claonaig in Kintyre to Lochranza at the opposite end of Arran. Where are you travelling from??

ETA: Ignore all the above. Misread your post so your scheduled trip will have passed by now. I seen your profile said you’re in Stirling so I was going to suggest a 3 boat journey if you  couldn’t get booked on the Ardrossan to Brodick ferry or be arsed with driving all the way to Tarbert.

Gourock > Dunoon

Portavadie > Tarbert

Claonaig > Lochranza

Cheers mate for the advice. I was actually over yesterday and couldn’t get the car on so went as a foot passenger. Luckily the company I was meeting were only a short walk from terminal and one of their guys lifted me to their main office 3 miles away. I will probably b3 back over again but noted the need to book ahead in peak season.

As an aside, CalMac’s customer service tel line was awful with 20+ mins to get through to someone the other night. 

[ArmadaleKillie]

Went to Foula today, loved it!

Has a really interesting hour and a half guided walk from one of the locals when we landed as well.

[cowden0]

My summer so far has been great. Two trips to Skye and a week on Lewis and Harris. It’s addictive. 

[Don Diego De la Vega]

Over to Lewis on Wednesday for a week, got Uig Sands booked for friday night that i am looking forward to

[The Mantis]

2 hours ago, Don Diego De la Vega said:

Over to Lewis on Wednesday for a week, got Uig Sands booked for friday night that i am looking forward to

Can see it out the window right now, but it’s booked to f**k for weeks.

[LongTimeLurker]

11 hours ago, ArmadaleKillie said:

Went to Foula today, loved it!

Has a really interesting hour and a half guided walk from one of the locals when we landed as well.

You have no idea how jealous that makes me feel. Used to see Foula as this weirdly shaped island out on the far horizon from Dunrossness (8MileBU had a picture on an earlier page from one of the best vantage points but only of St Ninian's Isle and its tombola) but there was zero possibility of ever going there.

From what I remember being told Foula folk didn't really welcome visitors back in the old days and always stood upwind from them given how far they were from any high level medical help. Because of how remote it is, it's where the old Norn language of Shetland is generally believed to have died out around the 1780s.

[ArmadaleKillie]

Tbh, it was a great day away although i lost count of how many Skuas decided to dive bomb the shit out of me whilst I was there. I was over at St Ninian, Minn and Meal beaches today and though the view out to Foula was superb.