From what I know the Hebrides are all mountainous and dramatic, but Shetland/Orkney are bleak and barren. Tell me some interesting things to see, perhaps I can make up my mind about which one to visit.

I’m assuming caravans aren’t practical on some – lots of narrow roads perhaps?

just got back from arran, islay, colonsay and Kintyre.
proper fantastic places. scenery is awesome.
lots of camper vans, free camping, quiet roads, good ale.
win!!

You could probably take a trailer and get some smugglers to land your package for you 🙂

To buy or rent? 😆

I had a return visit to the Hebrides this year (South Uist to Lewis) and can heartily recommend that.

Lots of caravans – loads more campers.

You need to like beaches, peace and quiet, great sunsets.

Not so many mountains as you’d think. Harris almost has the monopoly in the Outer Hebrides. Skye has the best if you are going that way.

The Western Isles (Hebrides) have a bit of everything from flat boring bog in the north through mountains with fantastic beaches to the south.
Orkney has fantastic archaeology and landscape.
Shetland is just a bit wild.

IMHO of course.

If you want a starter island, head to Arran – Scotland in Minature.

Are the ferries expensive generally?

http://www.calmac.co.uk/timetables/

You tell me.
http://www.calmac.co.uk/timetables/calmac-summer-timetables.htm

Are the ferries expensive generally?

hopscotch for a week with the bike. £27

Islay + Jura via ferry from Kintyre. Take a light MTB with panniers/frame-bag/bivi/light walking boots. Or take a backpack and bus/hitch. Don’t be afraid to use the decent hotels if the weather is a bit iffy for comfy bivvying.

The ferry crossing
Pretty Port Charlotte
Distilleries tours
Kildalton Cross
Jura Hotel
Paps of Jura
Orwell’s cottage
Beaches
Lovely welcoming people
The space, the silence and the wind

I assumed molgrips was talking about a family holiday with caravan etc, not an MTB blitz 🙂

Sadly, scotroutes is right…

North Uist is terrible. Don’t go there

Not so many mountains as you’d think. Harris almost has the monopoly in the Outer Hebrides. Skye has the best if you are going that way.

The Cuillin range on Skye needs to be treated with respect. Extremely changeable weather, magnetic rock renders your compass unreliable, and lots of slippy scree. I loved it!

Depends what you are after and for how long you are going.

If its not more than a week then I’m going to discount the Orkneys, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides as they really are miles away

Skye, Mull and Islay all have plenty to see and do. If I had to pick one it would probably be Skye, it has everything scenery wise and the villages on the island are big enough for you be able to go for a meal without going to the same place every night. It has a very handy bridge too!.

Don’t overlook some of the more remote spots on the mainland either, these days Ardnamurchan feels more like an island than a lot of the islands (best way to get there is by ferry)

Grand Tours of The Scottish Islands. New series starts tonight.

A few YouTube clips of similar stuff.

North Uist is terrible. Don’t go there

we used to stay at Benbecula and fire Rapier missiles off North Uist. (I think! :?)

Lovely beaches as you’ve just seen, but not sure if there’s much else!

(but if you want to get away from folk, theres probably nowhere better and more peaceful)

to visit…go for the Hebrides

to live…go for Orkney

Suggest you look at Calmac hopscotch routes (ferry tickets) and island rover – we used hopscotch to plan our route (motorhome) and note costs, in season I suggest booking.

(re Orkney – surprising amount of history there and you can mtb to Old Man.)

Arran is a truly mini Scotland has better facilities than a lot of other islands(well two towns with Coops and pubs etc) 3 or more decent sites – we stayed Lamlash – Middletons, Kildonan Seal Shore, Lochranza and will stay at all 3 again). mtb,familyb, walks, beaches scenery.

To start (assuming you’re down sarf) maybe Arran and Kintyre peninusla, you need to review Kintyre as it’s (imho) not the best area of Scotland but thumbs up for Carradale campsite and Lochgilphead to cycle Crinan Canal – which is a truly fab bimble[well last few miles at Crinan end].

Day trip to Gigha recommeded(bikes) – end to end bimble, flowers in the verges, bird song, cracking beaches, watersports hire (*seasonal)pub, saw about 3 cars.

We also did Islay – only 1 decent facilities campsite – Port Charlotte, would go again – day trips to Jura – take the car and Colonsay – bike, fab island lap and best beach(possibly in UK)).Islay had beaches, scenery but I’d say there were more spectacular places(sorry), however I am missing like crazy the attitude of Islay sheep, cattle and people – they truly were all chilled and happy. (day trip to Jura, scenery, – take car and insect repellent, Colonsay – take bike, see best(possibly) beach in UK, fab round island, beaches, lochs and a pub – lap maybe too big for kids ??)

*recommended – means on a bright warm sunny day…………
*also internet reception can be none, and our myfi was useless slow so suggest internetting up/researching at wifi places en route etc…. so you know whats’s in the area before you go.

I loved Skye…

Will be heading back soon…

Orkney is not bleak and barren! Sure it can be windswept, but there is a lot of fertile farmland.

I like Orkney. Really interesting place. Great if you like history from the Stone Age right up to WW2. Scapa Flow is quite dramatic and the Italian Chapel is worth a visit, as is Scara Brae.

I have never been lucky enough to do it, but scuba diving in Orkney is said to be amazing if you are into that.

Skye 🙂
[url=https://flic.kr/p/NGKDs]Sligachan Camp1 on Skye[/url] by Richard Munro, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/NHnDg]Short cut to Slig[/url] by Richard Munro, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/NRrWD]Heading out of Glenbrittle[/url] by Richard Munro, on Flickr

Leave the single speed at home though 🙂
[url=https://flic.kr/p/NR84V]maiden SS trip[/url] by Richard Munro, on Flickr

Mingulay and Pabbay are my favourites in the Western Isles; I’ve done ten week long trips there (for rock climbing) over the last 17 tears.
Caravan not recommended as there are no roads, infact both are completely uninhabited!

Best place in the world when it isn’t raining and the midges are away on holiday.

My favourites are Barra (wild camp on the beach at Eoligarry), South Uist (stay at Gatliff Trust hostel at Howmore), Berneray (off top of North Uist) again stay at Gatliff Trust Hostel there and Harris (Gatliff at Rhenigidale). You can camp outside the hostels (maybe not Rhenigidale) for 50% the hostel fee. Still get to use all the facilities (!) etc.

It’s all about splendid isolation, beaches, the sea, mountains on Harris and just having the place to your self.

http://www.gatliff.org.uk/

Chris

North Uist, Harris and the bottom bit of Lewis all good. Callanish stones are well worth a visit and I would be quite happy to be abandoned at Hushinish and forget the rest of the world!

Skye – the most stunning scenery of all the islands, no ferry fare as it’s linked to the mainland by a bridge which in itself is worth driving over. And getting there takes you along some breathtaking roads, passing Eilan Donan Castle Plenty biking once you’re there too. Easy to get to can mean full of tourists though
Hebrides – take the ferry from Uig on Skye, but check the prices first, a caravan won’t be cheap. Also, there’s likely to be more than one ferry involved, so you might want to look into where you’re likly to be going. The Outer Hebrides are bleak, you’ll really feel you’re at the edge of the world
Orkney – I use Pentland Ferries to cross the Pentland Firth and prices are reasonable enough but they leave from Gill’s Bay near John O’Groats – about 130 miles north of Inverness, not motorway miles either so a long tiring trip. Orkney’s not as bleak as the Western Isles, and less biking but more to do with history from mesolithic/neolithic (tombs, stone circes abd the like) to WWII (Italian Chapel/Churchill Barriers). Also, you can dump the car and fly out to the North Isles on subsidised flights to North Ronaldsay, home of the seaweed eating sheep, or Papa Westray. Both islands have hostels, the North Ronaldsay Bird Observatory will pick you up from the airport. Not sure about Papa Westray, but the hostels only a 5 ninute walk from the airport. Plan the trip and if the route includes you flying between Westray and Papa Westray, you get a certificate for taking the shortest commercial flight in the world. Other islands are reachable by ferry for day trips with bikes, IIRC, being free.
I really like Orkney, but expect to take a day from the central belt to the ferry. Or two, take the west coast route and prepare to be blown away by the scenery. And try and catch a game of shinty whilst you’re about it

Great thread. Love Teetosugars Skye photos, especially Trotternish

Anyone got a 3-4 day Islay/Jura/Arran route they’d like to share?

Day 1. Ferry to Arran from Adrossan. Cycle over the String and round to Lochranza. Say there. Morning ferry to Islay. Spend a day or two pottering around on the roads there. Could maybe do a day trip to Jura. Then get the ferry to Colonsay and spend the day there. Last day get the ferry to Oban and the train home.

I think you are asking the question the wrong way round, there are 162 Scottish Islands – people have written whole books about them: Amazon Link to Hamish Haswell Smith – the Scottish Islands!. You’d be better describing what you want and people could narrow it down for you (or buy the book and pick for yourself).

Don’t go to Islay, too busy…
[url=https://flic.kr/p/f5Pkub]Islay 2013 010[/url] by jimmyg352, on Flickr

& It’s full of whisky factories, nowt else there.

Outer Hebrides are just as bad…[url=https://flic.kr/p/o2P95f]Uist[/url] by jimmyg352, on Flickr

I’d never seen an otter till I went over to Eriskay though & didn’t know they could ride bikes!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/oPVWXp]P1040337[/url] by jimmyg352, on Flickr

Hate the Scottish Isles me.

PS, can anyone reccommend a SC cottage near the sea on the West side of North Uist for 2 that takes dogs?

esselgruntfuttock, that Islay Beach is definitely too busy in that pic, there’s someone on it!

esselgruntfuttock, that Islay Beach is definitely too busy in that pic, there’s someone on it!

I know, that’s the Mrs. & it was in June.

esselgruntfuttock – Member 
Don’t go to Islay, too busy…

Have you tried to bury someone face down so you can park your bike, in that photo?

Have you tried to bury someone face down so you can park your bike, in that photo?

No! I mean, err…maybe.

I’ve ended up in that position after far, far too much Ardbeg (or was it not enough?)

Any more Islay and Jura route ideas?

[Any more Islay and Jura route ideas?]

In the summer there is a passenger ferry (fast rib) that runs from Tayvallich on the mainland to Jura (half way up the east coast. Jura only has one road but its worth a ride to the north end past Barnhill (where Orwell wrote 1984) and then hike up to the very north end where you might see the Corryvreckan whirlpool if you’re lucky to catch the right tides. To the south end of Jura there’s a circular hill track heading round the lower slopes of the Paps – its obvious on the OS map.

On Islay, there’s a good few landrover tracks to explore, a trip to Finlaggan (ancient seat of the Lords of the Isles)can be followed by a ride up through forestry then a good fast run down to Bunnahabhain. You can take in Caol Ila Distillery too on the same circular trip, then head back towards Ballygrant via the Lily Loch. There’s some nice cycling on B roads and tracks that end at beaches (see esselgruntfuttock’s pic for one).

If your looking for some places on Islay to play then give me a shout for some direction to our hidden freeride/DH trails. They are short but lots of fun

Hebridean – thanks. I was thinking of taking the CX bike

from Islay you can day ferry to Colonsay, we actually enjoyed it more than Jura (had more scenery variery and no midges[we got savaged on Jura], we liked Jura a lot – just that Colonsay was fabulous), Jura was very linear, cracking scenery to be fair, but it’s a fair drag end 2 end and only facilities are at Craighouse.
Colonsay is sort a loop with two offshots (*beware Oronsay is tidal, ask the locals, it looked doable when I was there but there is a deep channel at one point which fills early *so said locals to me so we didn’t make it) Kiloran Bay – just the best – really, machir by the non existent chapel at the N (down cart track then towards sandy beach) was the best I’ve seen, lakes at N ish looked great and has pub and shop, a fabulous (imho) bimble (to be fair we did it on a blazing sunny day), sarnies at Kiloran etc.

We found a leaflet on Islay with a few road looops – **Might be this – http://blog.islayinfo.com/article.php/islay-jura-cycling-leaflet-download-pdf **however work screened internet so may not, but we were at Port Charlotte and we did the road loops from there.

edit *vaguely related – Crinan canal bimble,- we love it esp the Crinan end and there are other tracks etc in the area