Outer Hebrides May 2026

 Day 1/2 - Travel

Wednesday 20th May:

A late afternoon start from home to head up on the roughly 6 hour drive (including stops for me / Sam) to Ullapool.  Ferry not until the next day through so an overnight stop off required.  I decided to stop off roughly 45 mins away from Ullapool, a nice quiet forestry car park at Ben Wyvis.  Took Sam for a walk to tire him out a bit and then put the blinds etc down to keep us inconspicuous.   Absolutely silent the entire night and we left at 5:30am for our 9am ferry.

Ben Wyvis car park

Sam enjoying a snack after his walk

Arrived in Ullapool nice and early, checked in and went along to a local cafe for a rather excellent coffee and roll with Sausage.  Back to van after a short walk with Sam, onto the ferry and all very relaxed for our roughly 3 hour journey over to Stornaway.

Sam chilling on the ferry

Day 2-5 Camp1

Thursday 21st

Quick fill up of fuel in Stornaway then a drive to other side of island.  Campsite Shawbost  Lovely drive over to the north West of the island, checked in and setup at the campsite.  We stayed at the campsite apart from a walk to a nearby beach on the first day, a very relaxed scenic walk

Relaxing at the campsite

Sam not happy about being on the windy beach - wouldn’t come down from the grass area.

Friday and Saturday we did a few trips in the north of the island.  Up to Butt of Lewis to see the Lighthouse and then have a walk for a few miles over the hills and also to a very nice sandy cove.  Watched a couple of seals show off to the tourists for a while, was fun.

Lighthouse with my shiny van

Some of the views after the lighthouse were amazing

    

Some gulls having a rest 

 

Watcha looking at….. 

Nice cove just down from the lighthouse, lots of birds camped out on either side of this

                                              

On the way to Europie beach we stopped off for a walk.  I saw this empty cottage.  A lot of cottages and old house/stone ruins that could be used with some work, seems a shame.

After quite a long walk from the car park through sand dunes we got to the beach, Sam having a run down the last channel towards the ocean

Saturday after a good walk with Sam to yet another beach I went out on the bike  Cycled along to the Whale Bone Arch which was pretty impressive.  Pretty cool story behind it.

I weighed up going to one of the Blackhouse areas given the pretty crazy gale force winds and thought “what’s the worst that could happen, its only and extr 1 1/2 miles…)

Got there just a few minutes before closing, Blackhouse Arnol was pretty cool.  They keep it very much in the way it was back in the day.  Fire always running and the peat for it outside.

Day  5-9 Camp2

Mon 25th May Kneep Campsite (Cnip)

Overall while it had a few nice bits (Lighthouse area) I wasnt overly impressed with the north of the Island, seemed quite desolate.  On my drive a bit further South things definitely improved, much more mountainous and picturesque.  

On the way to the campsite I stopped off at the Blackhouse village (I actually preferred the single Blackhouse in Arnol

Then a drive to the Calanais Standing Stones.  These were very much worth the visit.  A pretty amazing historic site.  Parked at bottom of hill and walked up.  

Centre area

From the stones

Quite incredible

After that we had a walk on the local hills, some incredible views. Then onto the next campsite

My pitch on this campsite was pretty special, right over the beach with some quite incredible views.

Day 1

These were all taken either from or from just in front of the van

Tuesday we had a lovely warm day.  Headed out for a walk in the hills beside the campsite, some amazing views.  

From the top of a hill with campsite just on the left (thankfully it wasnt to the right of this….)

A small cove we found, deserted and was very peaceful.

This reminded me of many bugs bunny, road runner etc cartoons from my younger years

Hello

This bird (northern Lapwing) followed us for quite a while (was actually two of them). We walked the same area two days later and they were there again, same thing, followed us.  Im guessing the had a nest nearby and were protecting the wee chicks.

Up miles from anything and found this.  Remains of a house from rather a long time ago

Sam crossing probably the deepest water he has ever been in, he was very brave….

Second last night in Kneep, on a beach walk and this was the view - beautiful

Back at the van after the walk

Thursday 28th May

After a short walk with Sam i decided on a cycle.  Stuck to the roads and had some amazing views on my ride.  Roads in Lewis/Harris are so much better than the mainland.  Yes they have a lot of single lanes but virtually no potholes.

Stopped off at this beach area, the photo doesnt show just how incredible it was.  Guessing a lot of surfers there on windier days.

Back at the van and another long walk, Sam was crashed out rest of the day

Day 9 till home Horgabost Campsite

Friday 29th May

A really good and scenic drive much further South.  The weather was atrocious.  Drove by quite a few cyclists who im guessing were touring the island.  Jeez that must have been such hard work, not only torrential rain but incredibly strong winds. I went into the Harris Gin Distillery but was pretty unimpressed, moving on..

We arrived at the campsite, still raining so I decided we should head down to the southern tip of the island.  Drove to Harris Community Shop for some provisions, great place with a really good selection of food etc.  AFter that down towards Rodel and a visit to the church.  Was a good visit followed by a walk to watch the ocean being a bit crazy.  Was nice to be as close to the edge of the island as this.

A few of these graves dotted about the church

Saturday 30th - Its raining - lots

Woke up to torrential rain, again.  Was fine though, had some coffee, breakfast and enjoyed the nice views from the van.  Then decided, we are going out.  Got Sam cosied up in his waterproof coat and off we went.  Started from the van, along to the nearest beach (Horgabost), over some hills to Seilebost Beach and down onto the incredible sands.  Yet again the views were exceptional.

Horgabost beach

Sams not sure about this, way too much rain

Huuuuuman - can we go home, im soaked

Seilibost Beach - Beautiful

I quite fancied a walk round to Luskentyre beach (Id stopped off there on way to campsite, was very impressed).  The rain though was pretty hard going for Sam, he just doesnt like it so we turned back and got to the van.

Heating on, Sam dried off, nice big treat and in his bed covered up, a much happier pup.

Sunday 31st - Home time

Given the yet again shit forecast I decided to get the Slightly earlier 3pm Ferry back to Ullapool (rather than 7am the next day).  Only difference was going to be one night in Stornaway with a few hours to look around.

WIll update once I get home

Summary:

It was good timing this trip.  A lot going on at home and my first visit to the Outer Hebrides. It’s so peaceful here, very much detached from the crap going on in the world.  I was quite unimpressed with the north, but then the mid / South blew me away.  If I came back id miss the north completely, however for someone who has never been the Butt of Lewis is worth a visit (teehee). Great walks around the lighthouse area.

This has been the longest Sam has been away in the van with me.  He has adapted very well, probably enjoyed all the different / new areas for his walks.  Makes me much more confident that taking him away for 5 or so weeks later in the year will be a good decision (Spain so hopefully the weather will suit him much better).

This trip has also proven yet again that im no longer really made for normal life, being away from the horribleness of “real” life has been so good for me.  I do love “van life”.