Western Isles/Hebrides

And lots of beautiful memories, too, Grannyknot!

What were the highlights of your holiday Grannyknot ?

Highlights were: the friendly people; the food at The Pier in Uig and at The Anchorage in Leverburgh (latter being better than the meal we had at Langass Lodge on North Uist!); driving around the moonscape of South Harris to Huiskenish; the Golden Road; a long walk on Sollas; Luskentyre walk; Barra+++; Vatersay Beach+++; the Vatersay Boys in the pub; the food; Castlebay at night with the reflection of the castle in the mirror-like water; the food; the ferry home left early because as we found out there would be a "slight detour" and a few hundred people were picked up from a musicfest on the Isle of Tiree (what a lovely, happy bunch of [mostly] youngsters streamed on board ...! The Tiree musicfest is folk and ceilidh.

Oh and not forgetting the fab Harris Tweed jacket husband bought for me in a fit of impulsive extravagance (it was my birthday whilst we were away).

Sounds lovely Grannyknot. We had a lovely time on Barra too.
On N. Uist we stayed at the Langass Lodge and I have to say we were disappointed. The views were beautiful but our room was tiny with the shower almost inaccessible because the cubicle was so small. The food was vastly overpriced and very mediocre. I think they trade on the fact that it is run by the Laird of the Island and his wife.

Sounds lovely Grannyknot. We had a lovely time on Barra too.
On N. Uist we stayed at the Langass Lodge and I have to say we were disappointed. The views were beautiful but our room was tiny with the shower almost inaccessible because the cubicle was so small. The food was vastly overpriced and very mediocre. I think they trade on the fact that it is run by the Laird of the Island and his wife.

Sorry ! Posted twice by mistake

Hi Gorki that is interesting re the accommodation, because we also thought the food was overpriced at Langass, but had booked it because it had been recommended by so many people. Funny how a reputation doesn't always match up to the reality. I'm glad we didn't stay there, we had a very comfortable B&B on North Uist.

You never can tell, eh. The ferry from Barra to Oban was late coming back (because of the detour) and we had intended to head straight for Dumfries, but instead drove into this gorgeous little town called Thornhill in Ayrshire, about 15 miles outside of Dumfries and stopped at a B&B/Inn where the people could not have been more welcoming (I had to ring to get someone to reception, the man gave one look at me tousled and clearly tired and simply handed me the key to the room with a big smile, and it was not too much trouble to rustle up a meal at 9:30 p.m. and the room was huge, the place was spotlessly clean and the bed terrifically comfortable. All that for £80 for the night, plus breakfast thrown in.

The first time we went to the Western Isles we did not know what to expect and because we were coming from "down south" we booked with Hopscotch Holidays and let them arrange it and it was they who put us into Langass Lodge but when we went to Barra we decided to make our own arrangements and booked in to the little B&B near where the ferry comes in as we did not take the car and it was quite near the Family History centre where I wanted to do some research.We had a lovely room with a view of the castle. Next I would like to go to Mull in search of the sea eagles.

We had an interesting but nonetheless successful time in Barra with the accommodation - it was the only place we hadn't booked up ahead and decided to just wing it - only to discover that the place was 'chock-a' because there was a wedding on. So we had 3 nights there in 3 different places (1) Dunard Hostel in a private room with a double bed in The Lodge section of it (fewer people than the main hostel - £40), (2) Castlebay Hotel (about £100) and then the (3) Craigard Hotel which was much the same price as the Castlebay (but much nicer room). The stay in the hostel was great, lively and entertaining and comfy despite having to totter to the loo down the passage in the middle of the night at least once. The Craigard Hotel gave us a room with a view and I spent hours sitting on the wide window-ledge taking in the scene.