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Gallagher's Hebridean Adventure

by Paul Gallagher

Those of you who know Paul Gallagher will have realised that he has boundless enthusiasm for his craft. Get him talking about the Outer Hebrides, though, and things go right off scale - he really starts to fizz! We asked him to trace a journey through the Hebrides, assembled from images, anecdotes and experiences from his many trips to this string of islands, which sit about 25 miles off the coast of Scotland and play host to some of the most glorious open landscapes and skies that the photographer can imagine. At the present time it is a journey well worth taking. Caledonian MacBrayne provide the ferry services for the islands and in an effort to stimulate tourism in these cash-troubled times you can get hold of a Hopscotch ticket for £118 (Hopscotch 8 - Barra, Uists, Harris & Lewis). They have a really good website at www.calmac.co.uk.

The Outer Hebrides lies in a roughly north-south string about 25 miles off the north west coast of Scotland. They share their name 'The Western Isles' with the Inner Hebridean Islands - primarily Skye, Rhum, Mull, Coll, Tiree, Mull, Jura and Islay. However the Outer Hebrides are dissimilar to their varied and geologically-flamboyant inboard neighbours. The Lewissian Gneiss is the oldest rock in the world and bubbled to the surface about 3,000 million years ago. After a journey from the equator, down to the South Pole and then back up to where they are now, the rocks of the Outer Hebrides have been scoured clean by glacial action over numerous ice ages. In the meantime the Scottish mainland and the Inner Hebrides collected the fused rocks from four continents, forged, weathered and folded to make one of the most diverse landscapes in the world. The Outer Hebridean landscape bears a closer resemblance to Canada and Greenland, from which it was split about 65 million years ago, as the Atlantic Ocean opened up and the sea inundated the void between.

The islands have wonderful names, a mix of the tongues of the various nations that have taken residence there over the centuries. From the south you start with Mingulay and then move north across to Vatersay, Barra, Eriskay, South Uist, the Isle of Harris, Benbecula, North Uist, the Isle of Harris and then, finally, the Isle of Lewis. The spine of the islands is about 140 miles in length and you move from island to island via causeways, bridges or by hopping back onto the ferries. The journey time to the islands is 5half hours from Oban, which is itself about 2¼ hours, by road, from Glasgow. Paul joined the islands in the south and then worked his way northwards before boarding the ferry at Stornoway for the sea trip back to Ullapool and the journey back south.

It is not for faint-hearted southerners this trip; it will take several days to get there and back by car, but beware - you are likely to be bitten by the highland bug and need to return again and again.

For our overseas readers, Hebridean family names may resonate, particularly with those from the US, New Zealand, Canada, and Australia.

A combination of the British penal system, the Highland Clearances and religious persecution scattered the island populations far and wide.

They reused many of the local place names at their new homes. The main clans of the outer islands are the Macleods of Harris, the Macleods of Lewis, the MacDonalds (Clanranalds), the MacNeils and a smattering of Campbells. Like all the islands of Scotland they contributed in vast numbers to the British regiments which went off to bully the various nations of the Empire, men of fearless courage, led by upper-class twits from the 'English' gentry who served them badly both home and abroad. The islands bear the marks, in many places, of the crofting life; small, narrow strips of land from which it is (only just) possible to eke sustenance. Like all island communities they are welcoming to the stranger and happy to share their land with the photographic, painting, walking and wildlife-watching pilgrims who make the journey out there. Given what has been done to them over the centuries their ability to forgive is impressive, although much of the hardship was, in truth, visited upon them by their own kin, acting as absent landlords or religious fanatics.

Considering I have been obsessed with photographing the Scottish highlands for many years, there always remained one main area that I had never had the time or opportunity to visit, The Outer Hebrides.

Several times over the years I had seen the hazy outline of the islands on the horizon from the north west coast of the Isle of Skye and the coast of Wester Ross. Many times I had studied the complex archipelago in detail using Ordinance Survey maps, but never actually managed to get there. This is the first challenge in visiting the Outer Hebrides. You cannot simply decide to 'pop' up there or 'grab' a few days. The ferry crossings alone range from a one hour forty minutes sailing from Uig on Skye to Harris, to just about five hours sailing from Oban to Barra. For many inhabitants of the UK, just the drive to any of the ferry ports is an arduous one, sometimes requiring more than a day's car journey. It is these distances that make the Hebrides unique in the UK because it is this that keeps the islands quiet and remote. They are often only visited by people who have a love for, and respect these types of environments and make a pilgrimage to experience the total peace.

In 2006 I could withstand the temptation no longer, and the trip-planning began. I wanted to travel through all of the Outer Hebrides in sequence and the simplest way to do this is either beginning in the north on Lewis and heading south or, the route I chose, which started on Barra in the south and headed north. Early one morning I made the seven-hour journey from my home in Lancashire to the small, friendly fishing village of Oban to catch the midday ferry. From here the ferry travels across the Sound of Lorne, through the Sound of Mull where you can see the colourful harbour of Tobermory, then across the open waters of The Sea of the Hebrides. Now a word of warning, if you happen to get motion sickness or do not posses a decent pair of sea legs then this is certainly the crossing that will catch you out. It did with at least 50% of the travellers on the day I travelled, including my assistant. It seems the toilets on this ship are regularly occupied often by the same ashen coloured poor soul for the entire crossing so remember to take those travel sickness tablets unless you are frequent sailor.

When the croft system was introduced, it was never intended that the people should prosper on the soil. The object nearest to the landlords' hearts was to clear them from the soil, and if possible to sweep them from the country. If their purses had been as capacious as their hostility to the people, they would never have stayed their hand until every man, woman and child was shipped to a foreign shore. But the expense of emigration was too much for their slender means and the project had to be abandoned. The croft system was then introduced as a temporary expedient to facilitate clearances, and to afford a refuge to the outcasts until an opportunity should arise of transporting them to their allotted homes in Australian or Canadian wildernesses."

Robert Somers, A Tour of Enquiry in the Highlands, 1847

"That year his agents began the evictions, and 90 families were forced to leave their crops in the ground and move their cattle, furniture and timbers to the land they were offered 20 miles away on the coast, living in the open until they had built themselves new houses."

My intention was to begin at Barra and Vatersay and then head north through South Uist, across to Benbecular and onwards to North Uist and Berneray. Next I would take the ferry to Harris and finish my Hebredian travels on Lewis and return to the mainland at Ullapool, via the ferry from Stornoway. If I was to provide a detailed account of the day-to-day experiences of these islands then I could easily write a book about my wanderings and the images I made during the journey. The travelling hardship is worth it, and since that first visit, I have returned five times with camera in hand. The islands differ mainly in size and topography which is, in turn, split between north and south, with the south islands being largely flat, long-narrow land masses and the north islands being larger and including mountain ranges. All of the islands have coastlines of outstanding natural beauty.

I began my exploration on Barra and the Uists, which instantly reminded me of photographs I had seen of the flat-lands of North and South Dakota.

Much of Barra and the Uists are quite barren, flat and peppered with small lochans and blanket mire. Although this sounds rather bland, it is not.

The road that travels north through the Uists is the A865 which generally hugs the easterly coast. When I visited these islands for the first time I was blessed with superb days of sunlight, little rain and calm winds, but is worth bearing in mind that, in winter, this island group is often subjected to ferocious, Atlantic storms, when only the bravest venture out. It is not just the flatness of the south islands that reminds me of the Dakotas but the element of desertion, particularly the farming crofts. When driving along the A865 you pass many tiny, one-track roads that lead towards to coast. Many of the crofts on the Hebrides were segregated strips of land which ended at the sea or loch shore. Today many are abandoned and in differing states of decay. When you see these old dwellings they seem to be preserved in a fixed state in time. This is because when folk left these shores in more recent times, they only took what they needed, so old cars and farm machinery and even old buses are left as they were, which makes for a fascinating wealth of photographic opportunities!

One of my greatest loves is coastal photography. I certainly come into my own when wandering beaches and dune systems, but here in the Hebrides the solitude and pristine bays make the experience awesome. In the south islands I visited the beaches on Vatersay and Barra and was stunned by the vast desolated beach of Traigh Eais. It is worth bearing in mind that there are two beaches at this location, either side of a tall, narrow dune system. One side is Traigh Eais and the other is a beautiful white sandy bay with a difference, which is where I first set up my camera. In the distance I could see a building; a 4x4 vehicle came hurtling towards me and I was politely asked to move off the runway! (The beach is regularly used by Hebridean Air Services and a flying windsock indicates that the service is active, a flashing light on the 'terminal' building indicates an arrival or departure - Ed). I happily spent the rest of the morning un-disturbed on Traigh Eias. I recall vividly that it was at this location that the sea breeze was soft and warm and I had set up my camera on the top of the dunes.

The moment was so peaceful that when I had made my photograph and was ready to move on I then heard my assistant snoring whilst lying atop the marram grasses! All in a day's work.

As you leave the Uists behind, you cross a narrow causeway which takes you onto the small island of Berneray. When you arrive it looks like a combination of pure, small, white sandy bays and flat 'bowling greens' which are actually grasslands kept neatly trimmed by the local sheep. If I was to list the greatest beaches on these islands it would be difficult to rank them in order of beauty but one that would certainly be up there in the top ten would be the single long beach on Berneray, which looks out over the Sound of Harris.

You leave Berneray from its quaint ferry jetty and the crossing is a fascinating affair. Because of the scattered nature of the Hebrides the waters that separate them contain many small outcrops of rock and mini-islands which the ferry has to navigate around. This makes it well worth standing out on deck as the ferry travels at a leisurely pace and winds in and out but close to these individual environments hardly which ever visited by humanity. As you approach the southern coast of Harris a change in the landscape is clearly evident. From here the flat lands are left behind and you enter a place that resembles the mainland in many ways, with mountains and glens. I left the ferry port at Leverburgh and headed north once again on the A859. As the road hugs the coast and winds upwards you begin to realise the scale of Harris and the adventure starts again. The first bay you will encounter is Traigh Scarasta which serves the whet your appetite for things ahead. The beaches and bays on Harris are vast in size and consist of turquoise seas and white sands. When I say white sands I really do mean white sands. Not pale yellow or bright, but tropical in appearance. After Traigh Scarasta you will encounter the biggest and best beach of the all, Luskentyre. My advice is to prepare yourself; slow down the car, as you will be at risk of careering off the road when you see the beach from the road above. Stop and soak it up; then please allow yourself half a day to explore this expanse in your own time. Rushing will not do the location justice and you need to watch the transient light passing.

Try to make time, whilst travelling north from here, to take the small road which leads to the small island of Scalpay. Here there are abandoned crofts, some of which have not been touched since the clearances. It is easy to retrace your steps back to the A859 and head north to pick up the B887 which concludes at the stunning Hushinish Bay, with more white sands and amazing views across the Atlantic south towards Taransay (where the TV series Castaway was filmed).

Harris and Lewis have a varied history, but one of the oldest stories they can tell lies in the rocks that appear particularly beautifully at Uig Bay.

The Lewissian Gneiss is the oldest rock at the surface of the earth and is displayed in its wonderful pink-banded nature at Uig Bay. Once again, Uig Bay is vast and is backed a wonderful mountain range and deserves time to explore and walk across the bay that can take up to five minutes when the tide is out and the white expanse is like a blank canvas. From Uig Bay there is a tiny single track road that leads south, far away from any sense of civilisation and down towards the Lewis west-coast cliffs.

En-route you pass Mangurstadh Bay below the road which is flanked by cliffs and outcrops. If you continue to the area surrounding Aird Feinis you can park your car and wonder over to the cliff tops to experience the Atlantic crashing at their feet. This area is fenced but is often breached in many places by visitors wanting a closer look. I too ventured beyond the fence line but it goes without saying that one wrong foot would prove to be fatal.

Further north on Lewis there is the wonderful bay of Reef which is not far from the aptly named hamlet of Cliff and from here the B8011 wends its way over the moonscape surrounding Loch Roag towards the ancient Callanish standing stones. The further north you travel on Lewis the more the landscape begins to resemble the Uists again and abandoned crofts become plentiful. The exquisite bays of Bal Beag and Dal Mor are a 'mustvisit' on your way up the west coast. At Barabhas my time ran out and my week was up. As I said in the outset there is quite simply too much to mention in one single article but one thing I will stress is that the Hebrides are well worth the effort and the initial journey to get there. Once on the islands, the pace of life is slow and you and the elements become one with the lovely hospitality of the Hebredian folk.

What the Clearances started, however, the First World War almost completed. A huge percentage of Scots were among the vast numbers killed, and this greatly affected the remaining population of Gaelic speakers in Scotland." Wikipedia



Updated 27/04/2026 16:44:22 Last Modified: Monday, 27 April 2026