We booked this as part of my Mum’s birthday celebrations. She had never been to Harris or Lewis before and Alan and I love it there so it was a perfect choice.
We started our journey with the long drive up to Ullapool with a pit stop at The House of Bruar, which was pretty impressive with the most amazing food hall!
Then we took the evening ferry from Ullapool to Stornoway. It was quite a choppy crossing but we were kept occupied by the Stornoway Coastguard doing a rescue exercise off the back of the Ferry! It was one of the most spectacular things I have ever witnessed. You can see my video of the whole exercise below:
Once we arrived in Stornoway it was pitch black and we had to still make our way down to Harris. On the way we encountered Stags, Sheep and Cows wandering next to and across the road!
We were staying in a holiday house in Amhuinnsuidhe, Harris, which turned out to be 9 miles along a mountainous single track road – very scary in the dark. This is a little video of a short part of this road taken in the daytime:
The house had a great position right on the water with this view:
We were in Harris for 3 nights and visited all the beautiful beaches. Still blows my mind that you are in Scotland and there are all these white sandy beaches with turquoise water! We even seen one of the famous Luskentyre Wild White Horses (in the distance, but still!!!).
While we were in Harris, we had some great food at the following:
Taste and Sea : Food truck with an amazing view of Loch Seaforth (12 miles north of Tarbert) – everything we had was exceptional!
The Anchorage : Lovely restaurant situated in Leverburgh Harbour
The Mote Bar : Situated within the Hotel Hebrides in Tarbert (while we were there, the crew from Call the Midwife were there doing all their planning for upcoming filming on the Island).
The Harris Distillery : Amazing Coffee baked goods + light lunches served here. Unfortunately they were fully booked for the tour.
Croft36 : Fantastic concept (not a restaurant) – Its an unmanned large shed (hard to explain - see pics below!) with freshly made food, all set out with a price list and you just help yourself and place the money into an “honesty box” – food was delicious! They are based in Northton. (TIP: Get there early in the day - once it's gone, it's gone!).
We left Harris behind and travelled up to Stornoway in Lewis to spend a couple of nights with our friends, the Macleods. What a welcome they all gave us – what an incredible family they are!
We went out for dinner in Stornoway both nights and the restaurants were fantastic:
We also had a delicious breakfast at Lews Castle!
While we were in Lewis, we visited The Gearrannan Blackhouse Village. It was fascinating seeing all these old houses and how people lived in the past. We also went to see the Calanais Standing Stones which are pretty special but it was so cold and windy on the day that it was impossible to wander around for the fear of turning into ice blocks ourselves!
We had a brilliant week in the Outer Hebrides and were sad to leave. Once again, thanks to the Macleod’s for making our stay so special.
My Photos of our Trip can be seen here
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