Moco Adventures

Part 2 – Barra

Barra was probably one of the first items on our “Scotland Bucket list”, and it’s taken the longest to get to, for purely one reason, flying to Barra and landing on one of the only (or in fact only) tidal airport runways in the world. This trip didn’t actually take long to plan at all, it was a panic buy Christmas present for Mr Moco, however, by chance my phone went flat one night, and by chance I borrowed his, and being the lovely person I am, I closed down his browser pages – note I was not snooping – and just happened to see the ‘Logan Air’ page. Panic set in, and I had to ask, and so it went like this; “why do you have Logan Air on your phone?”, “why are you looking at my phone?”, “answer the question?” and on it went until by sheer luck I’d caught him in the act of booking a trip to Barra, or another trip to Barra.  There’s no such thing as seeing too much of Barra, though a week apart might have been pushing it! Having already booked and not been in the “process”, I won though my present had an early reveal – “Surprise”!

February is not the ideal time to visit Barra, it suited us as the flights were cheap, accommodation was available and a great price and there were no tourists. The down sides, there are no tourists, therefore not much is open, something we’ve become accustomed to when we choose to travel in low season. And its cold, but we are Scottish, and we like to talk a lot about the weather, and we are Scottish, so we just got on with it and packed well. Logan Air is fairly east to navigate for flights, as I looked from May onwards there was less availability and dramatic increase in price. Alternatively if you do not wish to travel by air (1 hour from Glasgow Airport), then you can sail from Oban to Barra, Castlebay on Caladonian MacBrayne (Calmac) this takes approximately 4 hours 50 minutes, plus travel time to Oban.

The flight experience is surreal in that you travel by Twin Otter (small propeller plane), a little daunting for those with a nervous disposition to flying! The take off from Glasgow airport and landing at Traigh Mhor beach on the northern tip of the Island, really is the stuff of Bucket-lists. Travelling by such small plane means you get a view of The City of Glasgow like no other, then over the hill tops and sea to Barra (head over to Instagram Mocoadventrues_Scotland to see videos of the flight). This Highland Airport will leave you a little giddy when you get there; a golf cart collects your cases, and you are met with the Fire service staff -come- Airport staff. A walk through the “Best Café” in Barra, that doubles up as the Departure lounge and out through the building into a bus shelter where your bags are waiting for you in “Baggage Collection”. The Airport staff were lovely and even offered to take our pictures with plane, something you will do at no other airport. Though Barra may be small, it is by no means flat, or straight, and the weather is unpredictable, so for us cycling was not something we considered in February, and we were warned the buses don’t exactly run to a time table. We decided to hire a car from ‘Barra Car hire’, and something we’ve found out during our trips to the Highlands, there’s no formality when arranging anything, including a wedding! If they say they’ll do it, why wouldn’t they? A quick phone call a few weeks before, and we were told “just collect the keys from the café”. It made sense that they would know who we were, with just 5 of us on the flight and 3 being local. One of the best decisions we made, we were only 6 miles from Castlebay, but still a 20 minute drive away.

We spotted three large hotels, a few holiday lets, but not much in the way of signs for B&B’s. There are three campsites on the Island and one local told us that the Isle of Vatersay are planning to building a site specifically for campervans and wild camping. Barra was not built for Motorhomes, my own personal opinion, there is not much in the way for space for pulling up at the side of the road, and the roads/travel system were not built for them, I can imagine it would be bedlam with them during the summer months. The cost of fuel is reason enough for not taking one over!

The host of our Air BnB pre warned us about how cold it gets in the croft at night, nothing prepared us for a scene from ‘The Day after Tomorrow’, huddled around the coal fire, the fear of having to leave the sitting room as the cold would instantly hit the second the door was open! Living in a croft built in 1937 sounded idyllic, and the views were amazing, the door led to a garden, which tumbled straight into the sea. There were no fences so sheep just pottered past the window, every morning a seal would come hunting, and could be seen without binoculars, we would just sit on the rocks and watch it, unfazed by us. Eventually we plucked up the courage to have a shower, baby wipes warmed by the fire just weren’t cutting it! Hot water bottles to warm the towels, clothes placed on the electric blankets and in/out as quick as we could! In the warmer (HA) months Rubha Charnain (or Stonypoint seaside cottage) will looks like a cliché piece of heaven; wood panel walls, antique furniture, drift wood, you get the idea.

There are plenty of things to do on Barra, Kisimul Castle – The castle that gives Castlebay its name – though closed for us, is well worth a visit particularly if you’re a National Trust of Scotland member.  ‘Our Lady, star of the sea’ statue overlooks Castlebay from atop Heaval, the highest hill on Barra. This is well worth the climb to the top (well 3/4 of the way to the top), the views are spectacular over the Bay to Vatersay.  Sea tours, paddling, walking, fishing, and exploring Barra by bike are just some of the ways to get the most out of your visit.  Though the beaches themselves, like a post card from the Bahamas are enough on their own.  The trip to Vatersay I will save for V in my about Scotland ABC, it requires the true dedication of a blog all to itself. 

Places to eat are limited, particularly for evening meals, and eating out seems to be restricted to the weekends (apart from hotels).  We were disappointed that Café Kisimul was closed that particular weekend, especially since the notice of this was placed the day after they were due to open, a favourite amongst the locals it is well advised to book your tablet here in advance!  God bless the trusty Co-op, since the few shops there is are close at 5pm, we would have gone without food, again.

A note about the locals.  Of all the Islands we have visited, Barra I would have to say was surprisingly the most hostile, I could imagine how visitors to St Kilda must have felt before it was evacuated.  The love of tourism isn’t obvious here, gift shops are few and far between, there seems to be no real “selling it’s self”. Or maybe they just aren’t interested in cashing in on tourism (or ripping them off) – take note Mull!  Though new faces are greeted with suspicion, rowdy pub chat quietened when we walked in the door, locals stared at us when we passed by in an unfamiliar car. There was no general chit chat, no helpful comments when we enquired about places to eat and certainly no life and soul.  I am not taking this personally, In Mull we were invited to a local Ceilidh, Knoydart a curry, a cup of tea at someone’s grannies and a lift home from ‘The Table’, on Islay the host of the accommodation offered to babysit so we could go to the pub (we kindly declined), but you get the idea. Some of the breath taking views were also obscured by scrap metal, rusting buses, of which there was a lot! I can only imagine how expensive waste management must be in Rural communities and particularly on Islands, but there was little attempt to hide this. Slightly disappointing.  

Having island hopped across the outer Hebrides, I would suggest this to fellow travellers; drive or fly to Barra and hire a car, spend a few days exploring. Take the 40 minute Calmac ferry over to Eriskay, see the wild horses (another bucket list), over the causeway to South Uist and over a few more causeways to North Uist, it takes around an hour to travel the length of Uist. Add a few more days to your trip (check with hire car company that this is ok) and pop over on the Calmac to Harris and Lewis, visit the famous Luskintyre beach, Harris tweed shops, Black House of Lewis. If you are in your own car, then I’d suggest from here take the Calmac ferry to Uig, a trip through Skye, cross on another Calmac to the gorgeous Mallaig (not that I’m biased). Mallaig is around 3,5-4 hours from Glasgow and is logistically better than a round trip back through the islands. 

No time for a weekend away, no problem, Logan Air offer day trips to Barra, and Barra Island tours can meet you at the airport for  a “whistle stop tour” of Barra and Vatersay, before you catch the last flight home.

We can’t wait to return to Barra, next time in the warmer months, for a chance to swim in the crystal clear sea, I’m only sorry I hadn’t visited sooner, as one of the beaches here might have meant a very different Highland Wedding for us.

Tarra for now Barra.