Hi There.
You will only find EHU at two sites, Laxdale in Stornaway on Lewis and Shellbay at Liniclate on Benbecula.
On Harris, North and South Uist and Barra, wildcamping is the name of the game.
Also on these islands, the smaller motorhome and the tent is the more obvious form of camping. The Western Isles is not geared for caravans.
Indeed the only caravans we saw there were owned by islanders themselves and these are towed to their favourite wildcamping sites at the beginning of the season and left there for the entire summer.
The roads on the Western Isles, whilst being improved at a phenominal rate, are still 70% single track with passing places and if I was taking a normal sized caravan there, I would only do so with a 4x4.
Of the two official camp sites we were on, only Shellbay had the room for us to use our awning. We were very disappointed in Laxdale as a campsite, however Lewis is by far the most interesting area of the group.
We found that the beaches, much advertised in the brochures, were either somewhat polluted where there were houses nearby, or clean but unaccessable where there were no houses nearby. Those in Harris that were both clean and accessable were usually overcrowded.
The beach at Valtos on the south west of Lewis is clean, accessable, not crowded and you can camp there for £4 per night. There are showers and toilets as well, but no ehu and you will need your 4x4 to get there.
This is where most of the seasonal Stornoway Caravans will be found.
For Barra, camp at the airport. Again no ehu but there are showers etc at the airport itself and the camping is free.
All in all, if we were going back, we would only go to Barra this time. We could spend a month there nae bother.
However, our unit is made for wildcamping, with our 55w solar panel and 2 x 110Ah batteries. It may be a caravan but even coupled to the car, it is no longer than your average motorhome and no wider than a car. It was specifically bought to cope with single track roads and out of the way exploring in places where I would we simply would not take a normal van.
The thing is, with the price of the ferry fares (£432 for us), and then the more expensive fuel out there, next year's trips are more likely to be spent on the UK Mainland.
We do not regret paying out the extra to explore all of the Outer Hebrides and we had a wonderful holiday and met many lovely people, but next year we will head south and give the folks in England, the pleasure of our company <G>.
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Lobey.
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Topic: Outter Hebrides Info Needed
