Campervan Roadtrip on the Outer Hebrides - Pt2 Eriskay to Berneray

In part 2 of our campervan roadtrip to the Outer Hebrides, we take the short ferry crossing from Ardmhor on Barra to the beautiful small island of Eriskay and drive through the Uist islands.

The ferries between the islands are a life line for the islanders who need to commute and they book up pretty quickly, particularly in the summer months. They are really quite small taking probably around 25 vehicles. The ferry ports are also tiny - most just with a small harbour and a waiting room with a toilet.

There is a statue of 2 otters at Ardmhor port - the only otters that we saw for the first 2 weeks of our travels! It is a short crossing to Eriskay and we were lucky to have calm conditions and great views of the crystal clear waters and the gorgeous small harbour.

Eriskay

Eriskay is famous for 3 things.

The wild Eriskay ponies that roam freely around the island. We came across them grazing on the sand dunes. They are not bothered by the presence of humans and they carried on grazing while we took some photo's of them.

The second thing it's famous for is the AM Politician pub, named after the SS Politician which sank in February 1941 between Eriskay and South Uist. The story goes that there were 40 thousand bottles of whiskey on the ship and the islanders helped themselves to the salvaged bottles. The film 'Whiskey Galore' tells the famous story.

And finally, in July 1745, Bonnie Prince Charles landed on the beaches of Eriskay after he fled the aftermath of the battle of Culloden and there is a landing Cairn on the beach to mark the spot.

South Uist

After exploring Eriskay we drove over the causeway that now connects the island to South Uist. The weather was not the greatest so we headed straight to the campsite for the evening. Kilbride campsite is in a great location to explore South Uist from and at £25 inc Electric hook up, we thought it was reasonably priced. It had modern, clean facilities, an indoor kitchen area for washing up and laundry facilities if needed.

Heading north, we explored some of the historical sites, starting with the Howmore church ruins and the renovated Scottish Youth hostel popular with the hikers and cyclists of the Hebridean Way. We had a quick peek inside the Youth Hostel and could picture the fun evenings had there with everyone sitting around the fire in the kitchen area sharing stories of their travels.

We took a few turns off the main road to find different interesting places such as the ruins of the old Lochskipport and the statue of Hercules the bear. Richard was very excited to explore the ruins of a neolithic chamber cairn - Barpa Langais.

We stayed for 2 nights in the northern islands. First stop was at an old favourite, Clachan Sands honesty box park up which is basically in a field over looking the sea. It is an absolutely stunning location, particularly when the skies are blue and the cows are all feeding on seaweed on the shores of the beach! It is £15 a night and the only facility is a fresh water tap and a bin.

There are changes planned for the site as the farmer and his daughter are in the final stages of setting it up as an official campsite with toilet facilities and EHU, so this will be our last stay before the changes. It will be a fantastic campsite location and we will return when it is up and running.

I got very excited that the farmer also runs an honesty box cake shop - painted bright pink to attract the attention of folk as they drive past. Sadly, as we were there early on a Sunday morning, the cupboard was bare!

It was lovely to bump into two of our subscribers and fellow YouTube creators Naomi and Neil from 'Grape Soda Travels'

Our last stopover was another honesty box site on East Beach Berneray. At £10 a night it was excellent value and in the most beautiful location with views across the bay. It rained the whole time we were there but we were rewarded with a great photo of Nelson under a double rainbow.

The beaches on Berneray are simply stunning, particularly West Beach. We walked for over 5km on the beach and came across one other couple. The vast expanses of beautiful, soft white sand and the sea grass complimented by the blue skies made for some great photography.

As we were on Berneray on a Sunday, sadly all the shops were closed which was a shame that we had mis-timed our stay. There is a great community shop and the rather famous Coralbox gift shop run by Eilidh.

In our next blog we explore the islands of Harris and Lewis where the stunning beaches just seemed to never end and the historical sites wre varied and plentiful.

You can catch up with our roadtrip on our YouTube channel by clicking on the link below:

If you are planning a roadtrip to the Outer Hebrides or somewhere on mainland UK we would highly recommend The Robbie Roams travel books and if you use the code WANDERLUST and put both the book and the map in your basket - you will get the map for free and free postage. Orders to be made through the No Fuss Travels websites in the link below.

https://nofusstravelguides.com

They are fab books, easy to follow, with some suggested itineries and plenty of beautiful places highlighted to visit.

Jackie and Richard