In the Spring of 2013 Colin and I went to the Outer Hebrides. As in the past, I elected to drive to Skye first, and we stayed overnight at the Flodigarry Hotel on the northern tip of the isle.
We were lucky enough to get upgraded to their premier room, overlooking Flodigarry Island in the bay below the hotel, and this is where I proposed, and we became engaged.
The following morning we crossed from Uig to Stornoway, arriving on Lewis midday. We stayed in Valasay – the same cottage I had stayed in in 2006, where you have to cross ‘a bridge over the Atlantic’ to get from Lewis to the isle of Great Bernera, to get to the cottage – and spent a few days exploring Callanais (my third visit here), and the Butt of Lewis on the very northern tip of the isle – the windiest place in the UK.
Then we drove south through Harris, from Leverburgh to Berneray, across the causeways to North Uist, where we stopped to visit its magnificent Stone Circle at Pioball Fhinn. The causeways then continue across to the little isles of Benbecula, of Grimsay, and on to South Uist, where at the Hebridean Jewellery shop and workshop we got our engagement rings (which say ‘Gu brath’ [‘For Ever’] in Gaelic script).
Finally, we took the ferry across to the Isle of Barra where we stayed in a cottage for a week, visiting the isle of Vatersay to the south, exploring the local archaeology, and of course taking the boat out to the castle in Castlebay.
Sailing back to Oban, finally, the fortnight came to an end with the drive home from there.
[FGAL id=1516]