Author: keith@finnett.net

We woke hoping for a less traumatic day – sadly we woke to no power! We’d heard various devices an appliances clicking on and off just before we woke up at 7am, and yes, Harris had no electricity. The supply comes from the Isle of Skye for Harris, but not Lewis – so whilst Lewis were OK, we were not.

Heading downstairs to the shop we found them in dark, unable to sell us anything unless we had cash. Clever us, we’d brought £200 cash with us for exactly this reason. Breakfast things bought, and consumed in our room, but unable to have a shower (electric showers don’t work without electricity!) we headed out, hoping power would be restored later in the day.

First stop, Luskentyre beach. Weather was patchy. High winds remained, which made the grassy dunes amazing to watch, but the rain wasn’t far away at all times – and when it hit, it was heavy.

We then decided that we’d head north to Stornaway on Lewis for petrol and lunch, as we knew they had power – and petrol stations around Tarbert weren’t working. We had half a tank of fuel, but wouldn’t quite have enough for our time on Harris and Lewis so needed to get some. It was around an hour drive, punctuated with a few stops to see waterfalls which were being blown upwards, and rain and wind which forced us to park up because of how fierce it was.

We found petrol and lunch – in fact we had a large hot meal in case on our return to Tarbert we found power hadn’t been restored.

Our drive back to Tarbert was in clearer weather (still very windy), and we saw some incredible views. Lewis is a lot flatter than Harris, which is quite mountainous.

One final stop of the day, the North Harris Eagle Observatory. We doubted we’d see any eagles given the high winds, but it gave us a 4km walk along a valley bottom. No eagles were seen. On the way back we decided to do a bit of trail running, to reduce any chances of being hit by rain. Apparently it’s harder to run in full waterproof gear with a rucksack packed with camera gear!

Back in the car we headed back to Tarbert….only stopped by another famous road block – more cows. This time we sat and waited for them to obediently pass.

Back at our accommodation we found power had been restored!! That allowed a shower before dinner, at a nearby hotel. The kind of hotel you walk into and can smell the 80s – the smell of wood and dank carpet, it was probably quite nice when it opened 40 years ago, but these days it felt largely outdated, with service and food to match. Not our kind of hotel – fortunately it was just for a quick dinner – no photos as it was average at best.

Back at Nook & Scranny – and a picture of a friend we have in our room.

Breakfast – whatever we could find in Nook & Scranny
Lunch – HS-1, Stornaway
Dinner – Harris Hotel, Tarbert
Hotel – Nook & Scranny, Tarbert

With the car waiting at the garage for its tyre repair, we left our hobbit house for breakfast – one of the best yet. I then left Jo at the hotel and walked down the hill (raining and very windy) to see how they were getting on with the repair – they weren’t, but soon made a start and I was back at the hotel by just before 10am, so not a lot of time lost.

Our plan for the day remained as originally conceived – visiting sights around the middle and north of Skye. First, the Sligachan bridge, and whilst it was very windy the rain wasn’t too troubling. There was a party of photographers there with some very nice kit (looked like medium format (read expensive), but I’m not an expert) and they were taking their shots very seriously.

Next, Fairy Pools. This is a series of small waterfalls, which are along a rising valley for a few kilometres. The weather was horrendous with winds over 50mph (couldn’t stand up at times) and driving horizontal rain. That didn’t put us off, and we walked a total of 7.5km over the course of 2 hours. Suffice to say the waterfalls look less tranquil and calm, and more raging and overflowing. We got VERY wet, despite having multiple waterproofs on. A few other tourists didn’t – it’s unclear why anyone would be visiting Scotland in autumn without even a waterproof coat, but yet again lots of white trainers. We had to cross shallow rivers, trudge through peat bog sections and put up with the constant barrage of needling rain which caused our waterproofs to wet-out within minutes of leaving the car. After walking half of the 7.5km we decided it was becoming too dangerous (winds and rain increasing) and turned around.

The good news was I got to try my new ND filter – basically sunglasses for the camera which allows you to take very nice waterfall pictures. Despite everything getting very wet (my camera gear is fortunately weather-resistant) the 2 shots where I used it worked fine, for a first time using it at least.

Whilst out on our walk we got a message from Calmac (ferry company) saying our crossing to Harris and Lewis tomorrow morning had been cancelled, but instead we’d been booked onto the 6.15pm ferry tonight – the last out for a couple of days due to the next storm. We had a decision to make. Either go tonight, cancel our last Skye hotel and find somewhere to stay on Harris, or don’t go and then cancel 2 nights on Harris and Lewis, and the night we had booked near Ullapool. Easy choice, so we decided to visit our hotel for that night, explain and apologise (basically fishing for a refund) then head to the port.

On the way we called hotels on Harris and luckily our first hotel had space for tonight, so that was easy. Stops (which involved very short viewings as weather was getting worse) included Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls (pretty waterfall into the sea) and Quiraing (interesting rock formations). We couldn’t see Old Man of Storr from the road, so didn’t get out for that one!

Once all viewing was done, and hotel cancelled (yes, we got a refund) we headed to the port. A hot chocolate and scone from a café closing 8 minutes after we arrived was our only food since breakfast, then into the queue. We were first. The ferry was late, but on the way. As we sat there, spray was coming over the sea wall. Oh dear. But they docked the boat, unloaded around 100 vehicles and embarked the 12 idiots (including us) going back to Harris for the vessel’s last trip of the day. Apparently Tarbert on Harris is a safer berth for the boat, hence then need to take it back before the next storm hit.

The crossing was a bit rough, but nobody died, and the boat didn’t sink. And that’s all I have to say about that.

We were at the front of the boat, so first off. As the door opened the wind and rain were incredible. We drove off, and straight to the only hotel in Tarbert which served food at around 9pm. Unfortunately they had stopped service, but they were so kind and made us takeaway burgers. Big shout out to the Hebrides Hotel (we bought a drink for the the 2 lads who provided our dinner). Then we quickly found our accommodation (rooms above a little grocery store, ate food, unpacked the car, and went to bed. The blog (this entry) was done the following morning. We have no power….

Breakfast – Bracken Hide, Skye
Lunch – none!
Dinner – Hebrides Hotel, Harris
Hotel – Nook & Scranny, Harris

A most excellent breakfast this morning – kedgeree (which the waiter insisted was pronounced “kedegree” until the kitchen corrected him…then he got wrong again when he served it), kippers, pastries, venison charcuterie, and lots more.

When fed we set off, deciding to head back to the Skye bridge and Eilean Donan castle for a look, before returning onto Skye. The bridge was open for non high-sided vehicles but the wind was really strong. As was the wind at the castle, meaning the castle was closed – not because the castle had a problem, but because they didn’t want visitors being blown off the bridge!

We returned onto Skye, then the problem happened. We stopped at a waterfall in the middle of nowhere, got out and heard a loud hissing noise. Puncture. No mobile signal. So we quickly got back in the car, and drove towards our hotel (in Portree) through a bleak landscape….hoping to either get mobile signal or find somewhere that might have a telephone, whilst watching the tyre pressure drop rapidly.

Eventually we found a remote hotel, parked and went to the door. Locked. We looked around, and realised there were people inside, but no lights were on. So we knocked louder and someone eventually answered the door. They had no power. The whole island had no power. Luckily they had a landline telephone which worked (assume they had a small generator) and they let us call Porsche Assist. The tyre was now completely flat.

We waited 3 hours for a tyre man to arrive. Whilst waiting we saw countless Scottish Electricity vans, trucks and lorries with generators on their trailers pass by. We later found out that one of the main supply routes had poles down, meaning the island had no electricity, and they had installed temporary generators to bring the island back online.

When the tyre guy arrived he plugged the hole temporarily, and we drove the remaining 9 miles to Portree, to our hotel – which was fortunately just 10 minutes walk from the tyre repair garage that had helped us. They asked we leave the car with them tonight and they’d repair it in the morning.

Having unloaded into our hobbit home for the night, we took the car down the hill, had a walk round Portree then walked back up the hill – into the 50mph winds.

Dinner was in the hotel, with pre- and post-dinner drinks (two different whiskies before, and an old-fashioned and a Baileys coffee after). Food was excellent. Bar man however wouldn’t stop talking to us about the drinks he made, or would like to make, or how he was planning to leave Skye soon (though he was quite harmless).

Breakfast – Duisdale House, Skye
Lunch – nothing….bit tricky when miles from anywhere waiting for a tyre repair!
Dinner – Bracken Hide, Skye
Hotel – Bracken Hide, Skye

Customer service announcement. This post contains a catastrophic event, not for the easily disturbed. We are also currently (as of 10pm) marooned on Skye.

An early-ish start today to ensure we got off Mull as there were threats of ferry cancellations due to storm Austen. The dining room was like the Mary Celeste at breakfast and the waitress said everyone had already gone! The first ferry on our schedule was the short local one from Fishnish to Lochaline (the one the locals use) and there were only two cars waiting when we arrived. An uneventful (if a bit windy) 15 minutes later we were back on the mainland with a long drive ahead, as our second ferry of the day had already been cancelled.

We were planning to get the ferry from Mallaig to Armadale (on Skye) but that one was cancelled yesterday so our revised plan involved driving up to the Isle of Skye bridge via Fort William. We used a very small ferry at Corran to cut out an hour and a bit of single track road. This meant we had time for a short stop and a bit of a diversion when we got to Fort William, for a coffee stop (vegan coffee shop, good coffee, terrible red velvet cake, would not recommend).

A petrol stop was required and Google suggested a side quest to see the Harry Potter viaduct at Glenfinnan, so we topped up on fuel for the car and picnic lunch for us (Morrisons as we didn’t know they had an M&S Food Hall…sigh) and set off. The road was practically underwater with terrible drainage so aquaplaning was a constant hazard, as was the number of drivers terrified of the conditions, and the number of coaches. Our first exposure to large quantities of foreign tourists today as the rest of our trip has been very peaceful (spot the slightly amended photo).

The tourists provided plenty of amusement when we arrived at the parking for the aqueduct as they were not at all appropriately dressed for the wind and rain (we counted the number of box fresh white trainers turning rapidly brown!). We put all our gear on and took the umbrella so we were fine.

It was not a long walk and some pictures were taken, despite the cameras’ lenses getting covered in the pouring rain. A useful information sign said there had been a blue Ford Anglia spotted and to please contact the information office if it reappeared! Back to the car to strip the outside very soggy waterproof layers before heading back to Fort William. Traffic here was annoyingly heavy and the weather had got much wetter. We topped the car up again and then set off towards Skye.

A stunning vista was mostly hidden by rain and cloud but the bits we saw were very dramatic. It was at this point that we suddenly wondered if the bridge would be open… Traffic Scotland reassured us that the bridge was currently open but the forecast was for it to be closed from 9pm tonight until 3pm tomorrow.

That would stop us going back to visit Eileen Donan Castle tomorrow (as per the plan). Having said that, the weather forecast for tomorrow on Skye is for 70 mph winds so we might not be doing very much anyway!

The bridge was indeed open and the weather changed immediately we arrived on the island with the sun bursting through the clouds and a patch of blue sky opening up. We managed to get some great rainbow pictures and get the bags in from the car before the heavens reopened.

The hotel was fantastic, small and quiet. The first like it on the trip. Dinner and wine were both fancy and amazing. And we get an extra hour in bed due to the clock change!

Breakfast – The Isle of Mull Hotel, Mull
Lunch – picnic by Morrisons
Dinner – Duisdale House, Skye
Hotel – Duisdale House

The original plan was a boat trip to Staffa, an island with giant basalt columns, but we decided to not do this when the boat tour we’d booked cancelled the trip due to the weather, and when we looked at the forecast for today it wad clear rebooking with another operator wouldn’t be much fun.

So plan B was a trip onto Iona, a tiny island 10 minute ferry trip off the south of Mull. With a 2 hour drive to get there we decided to take the scenic route and make the most of the chance of seeing interesting things. Otters and buzzards mostly.

Once across (without car as they’re not allowed for day visitors), we headed to the nunnery (ruined) and monastery (well kept), which was interesting and kept us dry for a while! Lots of very ancient artefacts (1,500 year old stones and crosses) and spectacular views back across towards Mull. And lots of drizzly rain.

Once we had dried off, we went back out into the rain and walked north to a deserted beach – more white sand and turquoise sand.

Time for lunch, so we headed back towards the ferry to a hotel we’d seen, which grew their own organic produce (no idea how given how cold it was for most of the year), for cullen skink, before returning to the ferry for the return trip.

Once back on Mull we headed north, retracing part of yesterday’s route, stopping in a few places we’d used yesterday – and saw more golden eagles, deer and buzzards.

Different hotel tonight (thankfully) – with a very nice view, top quality room snacks, and dinner in the bar.

Breakfast – The Tobermory Hotel, Mull
Lunch – St Columba Hotel, Iona
Dinner – Isle of Mull Hotel, Mull
Hotel – Isle of Mull Hotel, Mull