We nearly didn’t bother going to Uig, it being a longish drive away, but we’re glad we did – a truly amazing expanse of golden sand with an atmospheric mountain backdrop (slightly too much atmosphere meant we didn’t get a view from our transmitter hill walk). The drive was also very scenic and allowed us to marvel at the extent of Loch Rog.

The next day, after a pleasant windy walk up our local transmitter hill (we’ve decided these are a good bet as they tend to have short walk-ins, decent tracks and good view-to-height ratios, plus occasionally exciting concrete structures), we discovered a hidden gem of a beach at Dalbeg. Warm turquoise seas, white waves, multicoloured sand, grassy headlands, sea stacks, gneiss boulders and a great little stream for paddling and sand cliff jumping.

Our last full day on Lewis consisted mainly of visiting various restored traditional thatched buildings. But the most surprising and authentic visit was to a retired local crofter doing ad hoc demonstrations of Harris Tweed weaving out of a collection of sheds in his garden (no pictures unfortunately!)

Shawbost, Stornoway, Callanish and the Butt of Lewis

After an early morning ferry across the Sound of Harris, we spent just over 24 hours exploring the fantastic beaches and local food of Harris, staying at the tiny but amazing Seilebost campsite (no tents allowed).

Three full days on North Uist: 1) Balranald beach and nature reserve (next to the campsite); 2) Berneray and Clachan Sands; 3) Langass and Lochmaddy. Mostly cloudy with some mizzle and a sunnier middle day.

We’re now on the Isle of Lewis after a rather fleeting visit to Harris. Bit more time here and potentially somewhat rainy, so we’ll try to get up to date with blogging…

Transfer day number two started very wet, exactly the wrong weather for packing up. Luckily, the gamble of fitting the tent in the roof box at the last minute after putting everything else in the boot paid off.

After a pleasant visit to Kildonan cafe (the museum was closed) we left South Uist and took the scenic route around Benbecula and Grimsay. Nothing seemed worth getting out of the car for until a late lunch at another Uist Sculpture Trail site, before a final leg to the new campsite.

Next we spent a couple of days in the company of Ian, Emma, Ellen and Neave who were campervanning in the opposite direction. We found that the toy swaps, toddler playmates and additional adult conversation gave us all a bit of a break!

A day at Howmore (Tobha Mor) and adjacent sandy beach/estuary gave us a good flavour of the flat, bleak and wild west coast of the island. Monday was cloudier and we explored the sea lochs of the east coast, though the highlight was an art installation consisting of tractor seats, whale bones and a curved wall, which Ellen and Jess decided was an excellent playground.

Our first real wet day saw us trying to work out how to family camp in the rain, but the preparation turned out not to be needed as it stopped raining at lunchtime and the wind dried everything off in no time (just as we were contemplating having to tumble dry our nappies for the first time ever). A (mostly) driving tour of a few remaining places of interest, plus a stores replenish, filled the day nicely.

Our last day on Barra was the hottest yet. Refreshments were required from the local distillery. We cooled off on the ferry northward the next morning, but found Eriskay, where we stopped for a beach picnic, just as hot. So we headed over the causeway to our next campsite at Kilbride on South Uist for some shade (the tent) and ice cream (from the on site cafe), before exploring a new stretch of local coastline.

We spent 5 full days exploring Barra, mostly on the many beaches and rocky shorelines, as the weather was fantastic. One of our beach trips was to the airport – this is the first airport visit for Jess so she might have a strange idea of what airports are like.

We found the island’s highest point surprisingly full of flies, but had a wonderful lunch half way down. The last three days were hot and sunny, but the sea remained very cold.

The campsite was one of the best ever, with great views, sunsets and excellent access to a small sandy and rocky inlet, with lots of jellyfish.

There’s another day’s worth of Barra photos but we forgot to upload them, so they can wait for the next post…

It feels like a summer holiday once on a ferry. Although this time we’re on the Barra ferry rather than the Calais one. However it hasn’t been the expected start to our campervan trip.

After an AA call out, trips to two Glaswegian garages, two trips to Halfords, many playpark visits, and a (relatively) quick trip home, we now have the car on the ferry, with a shiny new roof box.

Blogged from the MV Isle of Lewis, just off Ardnamurchan.

A few pictures of recent upgrades. Details in the comments.