After waiting patiently for over 12 weeks, whilst living in our VW campervan, to complete on our new home in the Yorkshire Dales and with no move date insight, we booked a one way ticket to the Outer Hebrides and we were not returning until the solicitors had sorted it out!
In this weeks travel blog, after a week exploring the Isle of Lewis, we head further south to the Isles of Scalpay and Harris. Our first destination was the Eilean Glas lighthouse. We arrived at just before 4pm thinking that it would be a quick out of the van to take some photo’s. We were a little dismayed when the signs indicated a 2km walk and the light was rapidly disappearing. However, with the full moon rising and a clear sky, we armed ourselves with head torches and set off determined to capture the perfect photo. It was a scenic walk over the moors, only passing one old gentleman who turned out to be the owner of the holiday cottages that were underneath the lighthouse. Luckily it was a clear well worn path that was easy to follow in the failing light and the views did not disappoint when we rounded the corner to see the moon hovering between the clouds and the sea, lighting up the colourfully striped structure.
By the time we got back from our moonlit hike, we were both tired and hungry. Our plan had been to keep driving down to Luskentyre Beach, park up in the dark and wake up to beautiful views but we decided we would have plenty of other nights for that and we found a park up in the mountains just outside of Tarbert. It was a great quiet spot and we woke up instead on a lochside with cows grazing in the moorland surrounding us. The next morning we stopped off in Tarbert to restock on supplies and water as there are no shops for several miles once we hit the beaches.
The weather at this point was a little wet and windy, but there was a couple of hours of dry weather due later. We wanted to drive down the Eastern side of Harris on what is known as the ‘Golden Road’ apparently named so due to the cost of building it. Just minutes into the journey, the heavens opened! What else could you do in that situation but stop, have a cup of tea, read a book for an hour and wait for the storm to pass! After completing the sublime drive through the windy, narrow lanes with spectacular views, we emerged at the very southern tip of Harris in a small hamlet called Rodel, with a very scenic chapel sat into the hillside.
Along with no shops near the beaches we were heading towards, we knew from a previous visit that there was also absolutely NO mobile phone signal for miles. Not a major issue for us as it is quite refreshing being off grid, however, we needed to touch bases with our solicitor to check on the progress of our house move. We perhaps wish we hadn’t made the call as frustratingly the conveyancer informed us there had been no change since our last call and it could still be at least another 2 weeks at the mercy of Land Registry.
Slightly down hearted, we set off towards Luskentyre. It didn’t take long for us to cheer up again as we drove past the wide open beaches and sand dunes of Scarista. We stopped off at the West Harris Community centre on the way to check on their availability of pitches for later in the week as they have 3 motor home pitches with electric hook up and a warm, clean shower. Unlike our previous visit in June 2021, we were in luck so we booked a spot for the following evening.
The main reason we had earmarked Luskentyre as our destination for the night was due to the storm that was headed our way with predicted gusts of wind up to 50mph. The car park at Luskentyre is situated by the beach but set into the sand dunes and offers quite a bit of protection from the wind. The forecast was not wrong! In the calm before the storm, we had a walk along the shore line where we bumped into a local walking their dog. It was so interesting chatting to them about life on the island in winter and the impact that the tourists can have in the warmer months. For the rest of the evening, the wind howled around the van, whipping up the sand and lashing us with rain, however, once we are tucked up in the van it doesn’t really have an impact on us and we drank wine and cooked a nice meal before retiring to bed to read.
The next morning we set off on another walk along the beach, turning back after 2km. It was low tide and the beach stretched out for miles, it looked as though we could almost walk across the estuary to Horgabost beach but we gave it a miss as it would be about a 7 mile walk back along the coast road when the tide turned! It is a truly spectacular, World class beach with outstanding views wherever you turn.
The weather forecast for the next few days was still very changeable and generally wet. On our way back to the community centre, we stopped off at Horgabost beach. In the summer months there is an amazing campsite right on the beach front, sadly it was closed for the winter, but you can still park there and they keep the toilet facilities open. It is a popular spot for photographers and with the wild and stormy skies there were several on the beach. It was so dramatically different than our summer visit, yet every bit as beautiful. I have included photo’s from both visits to illustrate this!
The community centre was a God send by the time we got there as we were freezing cold and soaking wet. The receptionist was great and informed us that we could use the facilities in the community room as it was empty. There was a sofa overlooking the ocean, charging points for the computer, free and rapid wifi and coffee and cake! We spent the next few hours catching up on our weekly blogs and editing Youtube videos.
That evening it would have been so tempting to just stay in the van in the warm and dry and watch TV while we had signal, however, it looked as though there might be a sun set of some sort and the sky was quite dramatic so we decided to drive down to Scarista beach to take some photo’s. Wow! Were we glad we made that decision. I think it might be one of the most phenomenal sunsets I have ever encountered. Don’t get me wrong, it was cold, wet and face stingingly windy but we could not drag ourselves away from the beach until the last rays had disappeared.
By now it was Wednesday and we had been in the Outer Hebrides for 10 days. One of the locals in the community centre had mentioned that they were going to a croft further down the island that ran a small café in their barn and did a great bacon butty. As this was the first open café that we had come across we quicklyfollowed them there. It was superb and absolutely buzzing with life! The owner was a really friendly woman who chatted away as she prepared the food. Everything was freshly baked on the croft and there was an honest shed where you could pick up fresh produce and a few crafty bits and pieces.
We then decided to drive and get signal so we could get an update on the house purchase. Several messages fired through as we drove along, Land Registry had accepted our house plot! (For those who may not know we had put in an offer on a mid terrace house in a row of three that were owned by the same person and they had NOT split the plots BEFORE putting our house up for sale, they had also failed to take the name of a person who passed away 9 years previously off the deeds!) There was also an email from the solicitor to say could we print off the land registry title deeds, get them signed by a witness and post them back to him ASAP so we could exchange contracts on the Monday. We rang and reminded him we were in a campervan on the Outer Hebrides, we also informed him that at that moment in time there was a storm passing and that all the ferries were cancelled for 48 hours. ‘That’s fine, just get them in the post with guaranteed next day delivery’ he replied! We had to point out a) we were in the Outer Hebrides with NO PRINTER b) We don’t know anyone to witness the document being signed c) If there are no ferries, then there is no postal service d) Why did he not tell us we had to sign another document before exchange when we spoke earlier in the week! We would have got a ferry back sooner…
Luckily, we managed to get the last booking on the next ferry to leave Tarbert at 2pm the next day and managed to do the impossible getting all documents signed and submitted on time PHEW!
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