north and south uist info please

Dusty

Dusty

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Due up in the north in July. We are wanting to do Uist and skye. The current plan is to ferry across to Uist then up north and across to skye .... 2 days on each.


Can anyone advise a ferry crossing used recently? Primarily from mainland to Uist first. I think there is only one ferry out of the north to Uig in Skye.

Also overnighter location on Uist.. camping or other. We are 50-50 b&b campin so not bothered which.

any recommendations welcomed.

Cheers

dusty
 
It's all Calmac. Best to book as it can get busy at certain times.
https://www.calmac.co.uk/
Look for a 'Hopscotch' ticket which bundles all your hops into one ticket, or if you give them a ring they are very helpful.
The route to Barra is Oban to Castlebay. The view is superb. Then, like you say, N.Uist to Skye.
 
Great folks... yes we are on a last minute change of plan... so firing from the hip... as it wuz.

can we camp on Uist? Does the wild campin rules still apply...?

Cheers in advance...
 
No problem camping, hope the weather's good
 
Wild camping is allowed across all of Scotland. You'll not get any hassle if you use common sense.
But, if you want facilities there a good campsites all over the Hebrides.
This is a good site...
http://www.scottishcamping.com/
I recommend buying their paper map. It has all the campsites along with info like phone numbers.
The online map on the website is very good too.
 
Skip Skye and head up to Lewis and Harris. Both amazing places.


Actually best way is Oban to Barra and up through the islands to Lewis then back over to Ullapool

Skye is a let down really. Portree is nice but thats it. Best bit about it is the road to Kyle of Lochalsh .
 
Don't forget the SMIDGE.
I agree with Brads, go Oban to Barra then ride up, then Stornoway to Ullapool is the best route IMHO.
Do book CALMAC as advised, hopskotch ticket is good value.

M
 
Dusty said:
Due up in the north in July. We are wanting to do Uist and skye. The current plan is to ferry across to Uist then up north and across to skye .... 2 days on each.


Can anyone advise a ferry crossing used recently? Primarily from mainland to Uist first. I think there is only one ferry out of the north to Uig in Skye.

Also overnighter location on Uist.. camping or other. We are 50-50 b&b campin so not bothered which.

any recommendations welcomed.

Cheers

dusty
Click to expand...

We did Mallaig to Lochboisdale recently.Stayed at the hotel right next to the ferry in Lochboisdale and it was utter shite.

To be honest the Uists were a bit bleak and not very scenic.As others have said,Harris and Lewis much better.

We got the ferry from Berneray to Leverburgh and stayed at the Am Bothan Bunkhouse which was great and full of character.

I loved Leverburgh-great pub with food and the Butty Bus for a bacon roll and coffee in the morning.

Harris was just stunning,especially Hushinish Beach.

8aee8c6fcba3e2ea3ebd10ca13e84257.jpg
 
It all depends in what your after and what you think is good or not. I wouldn't call the machair on Uist bleak and none scenic where one cost of Harris is like a lunar landscape and personally I thought Lewis was the same as anywhere else in the lothians and borders. The truth is that every island has something different for everyone and I would highly recommend doing all of them. I this instance though time would seem to be an issue so it probably can't be done. I would definitely agree about dropping skye in favour of some extra time in the outer Isles though.
 
Completely recommend the Mallaig to Lochboisdale Ferry, not least because of the ride to Mallaig.

To be honest if you want to tick Barra off then go Oban-Castlebay, but with limited time you can afford to miss the long ferry crossing.

The Uists can be fantastic in decent weather and grisly if its wet, if you are interested in birds the spring early summer is great, but worth a scoot up to go up Berneray for the ferry to Leverborough on Harris.

Harris is the jewel in the hebridean crown. The beaches on the west are legendary, but the east coast road is as interesting as it is different.

Lewis is pretty deadly apart from the stones at Callanish and the black houses nearby. Quick scoot round these then back to Tarbert for the Uig ferry. When you leave Uig, look for the A855 on your left, take it and a short while later take the minor road on your right across through the Quiraing to Staffin and then down to Portree....much nicer than the main road.
 
gerarddwatts said:
Completely recommend the Mallaig to Lochboisdale Ferry, not least because of the ride to Mallaig.

To be honest if you want to tick Barra off then go Oban-Castlebay, but with limited time you can afford to miss the long ferry crossing.

The Uists can be fantastic in decent weather and grisly if its wet, if you are interested in birds the spring early summer is great, but worth a scoot up to go up Berneray for the ferry to Leverborough on Harris.

Harris is the jewel in the hebridean crown. The beaches on the west are legendary, but the east coast road is as interesting as it is different.

Lewis is pretty deadly apart from the stones at Callanish and the black houses nearby. Quick scoot round these then back to Tarbert for the Uig ferry. When you leave Uig, look for the A855 on your left, take it and a short while later take the minor road on your right across through the Quiraing to Staffin and then down to Portree....much nicer than the main road.
Click to expand...

Cheers Litterly just been looking at that route ....can't bloody wait
 
Just back from there, an amazing empty place full of well paved single track with lots of passing places. Avoid the Loch Maddy Hotel, scan and wets are ok but the rooms are a total joke, its like a shite fawlty towers. You will love it, I did.
 
We were up there 3 weeks ago when the weather was good :D

https://www.calmac.co.uk/hopscotch Hopscotch 23 & 24 are Oban - Barra - Uists - Harris and then either Harris to Skye (what we did) or Lewis to Ullapool.

We stayed at the Dunard Lodge / Hostel (Lodge rooms better than the Hostel rooms) which is all of 200 yards from the ferry terminal on Barra and not too far from shops or pubs. After that we camped at Glendale Campsite http://www.southuisthostel.co.uk on South Uist. The campsite is a very small field with great views and a basic shower & toilet in a redundant farm building. The bunkhouse is small and cosy with its own facilities but you would want to have it yourself really. There's loads of places to camp along the west coast in the Machair on South & North Uist. Take any of the many little roads towards the West coast and keep following them when the tarmac runs out. You will soon be in the dunes with lots of short grassy areas and views over the beaches. Some of the tracks link up to make a decent off road ride but look out for soft sand.

Also check out the Gatliff Trust hostels on South Uist, Berneray and Harris. http://www.gatliff.org.uk/?page_id=10 I stayed at Howmore and Rhenigdale on a previous trip (where I got my Varadero stuck on a sandy track on South Uist and then got struck by lightning on Harris)

Next camping was wild camping at Hushishnis already mentioned by Arsey. Great ride there and the camping is not really that wild as there are very clean and daily maintained toilets with drinking water just above the beach.

Final camping was at Lickisto camping on Harris. Great quirky site (thats for sale incidentally) with good facilities, specifically the Blackhouse with free home baked bread and free range eggs but will be midge central in the midge season so I would give it a miss in July unless you are immune to the little bastards. In fact the whole place could be alive with midge in July so go prepared.

Have a great trip and I hope the weather is good for you. Its a bleak place when its windy and wet.
 
Just seen this :eek:

GPS Jamming - Hebrides - July
Notification Of GPS Jamming Exercise

Dates: The exercise will run over the period 01 to 31 July 2016.

Times: Intermittently in the time slots 09.00 – 11.00 and 13.00 – 15.00.

Location: Jamming aircraft flying a ground track based on the Benbecula (BEN) VOR 275° radial. The aircraft track will extend from 10nm west of the BEN VOR to 60nm west of the BEN VOR at 3500ft above mean sea level.

Frequencies: 24 MHz bands centred around 1575.42 MHz and 1227.60 MHz.

As in previous exercises, Safety of Life operations will at all time take precedence over exercise activities.

Could be something to do with the missile range but I thought that was no longer in use :nenau
 
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