The Outer Hebrides

Holidays that make you question your whole life.

Travelling 1200+ miles by ferry and van, just to stay somewhere that might be colder and wetter than where you already live isn't for everyone, but it is what we like and frankly, it's kind of the point of having a camper van.

We're well seasoned roadtrippers, and have driven all over the world in all sorts of things. Indeed, we have been to the Outer Hebrides in this exact van before on a 10 day tour when our kids ages were measured in months, not years.

On that trip, we went to Harris via Skye, and we packed a lot in. It was great fun and we wanted to head to the highlands again, but this time do a bit less touring around to reduce the cycle of packing and unpacking the van.

So this time we decided to find somewhere we hadn’t been to before, head straight there and stay parked up for a solid week+.

The criteria were simple. Middle of nowhere, mostly avoiding other people, be as close as possible to those 🏝 Hebridean beaches, needs 'leccy and internet.

The isle of Barra, ticked all the boxes.

Barra is off the west coast, a 5+ hour ferry from Oban. It's a long time on the boat, but you don't have to go that far north of the border to get on it, so it works out.

It's beautiful, I got that weight-lifting-off-my-shoulders feeling the moment we drove off the dock and up the hill. The air feels brand new fresh on your face and the coast is breathtaking.

The campsite we found at the northern end of the Island was great. Only 4 other vans there the whole week and it was less than a minute to go from bed to beach.

Days consisted of mulling about, flitting between beach and van, drinking the odd beer rum or gin (or 10). We swam in the nippy, but crystal clear waters and watched the kids make friends. We also cooked a lot.

Most of the weather was sunburn territory which was fantastic, though the end of the week was the lead-up to and recovery from storm Ellen, which was also fantastic. At least in my opinion.

At peak Ellen, the impressive winds came straight off the Atlantic and barrelled into the campervan at over 40mph for 12 hours straight. The accompanying rain made it feel like some of the wettest & windiest conditions I've ever camped in.

Barra was a great choice. We ate seafood, drank every kind of hebredian gin available, took the dog kayaking and thanks to some pals we met, did a bit of paddleboarding. Mostly though we just kicked back.

When you're in the middle of a good holiday it makes you question your whole life. "Why don't we all live like this all the time", "Remind me why we are going home again?" it was definitely one of those.

Anyhow, don't go to Barra, I want to go back and I don't want it to be full of people like you. Piss off to Skye or Harris somewhere, they are really excellent. Spend a week on Horgabost beach it's incredible! Just, don’t come here.