Glasgow - Nothing shouts summer like a spot of island-hopping. And off the west coast of Scotland, the Hebrides comprise an entire pepper mill of islands ground over the ocean.
These ragged rocks rise out of the waves, blanketed in wiry heather-sprung moorland, trout-filled lochs and towering cliffs painted with seabirds, backed by dunes woven with wildflowers and fringed by some of the most glorious sweeps of sand.
Add to that ancient castles and prehistoric stone circles, gourmet restaurants and whisky distilleries and you have all the ingredients for the perfect multi-island adventure – apart from the weather.
This is Scotland, and when the squalls sweep in, the horizon is lost in the waves. However, when the sun shines you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled into the Caribbean or Thailand, only without the crowds.
This sprawling archipelago is split into two groups, the Inner and Outer Hebrides. They are separated by the churning Minch strait. The cast of the Inner Hebrides, which features 35 inhabited and 45 uninhabited islands, includes Skye, Islay, Jura, Mull, Iona, Colonsay, Staffa and a sprinkling of Small Isles. Closer to Reykjavik than London, the Outer Hebrides is a string of rocky outcrops stretching featuring about 200 islands (only 10 inhabited) that include Barra, Benbecula, Berneray, Harris, Lewis, North Uist, South Uist and the far-flung, volcanic archipelago of St Kilda, evacuated in 1930.
Highlights
A highlight of Mull is the pretty pastel-painted waterfront village of Tobermory, the location for the children’s TV series Balamory.
Neighbouring Iona is one of the country’s most spiritual sites, home to Saint Columba and his monks in the sixth century. Staffa was the inspiration for Felix Mendelssohn’s overture The Hebrides, while the windswept beaches of Coll and Tiree are windsurfing hot spots. Islay is steeped in “the water of life”, with eight distilleries, while when writing 1984 George Orwell holed up on Jura – where red deer outnumber people by 25 to one.
In the Outer Hebrides you can go cockling on a beach in Barra, which doubles as the island’s runway. You’ve got prehistoric sites, such as the 5 000-year-old Callanish Standing Stones on Lewis, while neighbouring Harris is the home of tweed. Skye has bonnie Prince Charlie connections and the famous Cuillins mountain range draws climbers from around the world.
For a whistlestop small group guided tour, Rabbie’s (www.rabbies.com) has a five-night Complete Hebrides Experience, careering through the Outer Hebrides from Barra in the south to the Butt of Lewis in the north. Along the way you’ll tick off the Callanish stones, historic Rodel church and the white sand beach of Luskentyre, bedding down in Barra, North Uist and Stornoway.
Macs Adventure (www. macsadventure.com) has a seven-night self-drive trip, Outer Hebrides Island Hopscotch.
McKinlay Kidd (www. seescotlanddifferently.co.uk) can create a Fly-Drive through the Western Isles itinerary, flying into Barra and journeying north through the Uists, over to Skye, and winding up in Harris and Lewis.
Wilderness Scotland (www. wildernessscotland.com) has a new five-night guided cycling holiday on Islay, Jura and Arran. Highlights include sampling whisky from the cask on a distillery tour, and a high-speed inflatable boat ride to visit the massive Corryvreckan Whirlpool.
On the waves
One of the best ways to explore is by boat. The Majestic Line (www.themajesticline.co.uk) has luxury cruises (with a price tag to match) on two jaunty converted fishing trawlers, Glen Massan and Glen Tarsan, which weave through hidden coves, mooring at night in tiny bays. Trips range from three nights around the inlets of Mull and Loch Linnhe to six nights around Skye and the Inner Hebrides.
Hebrides Cruises (www. hebridescruises.co.uk) uses a converted survey and rescue vessel, Elizabeth G for its trips, including a 10-night St Kilda and Outer Hebrides wildlife cruise. Abandoned 85 years ago, St Kilda is now home to 210 species of bird.
Wildlife wilderness
The Outer Hebrides are among the UK’s last great wildernesses, home to the whales, basking sharks and North Atlantic dolphins. Overhead, sea eagles soar while portly puffins lap by. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserve on North Uist is one of the few places where you can see endangered corn crakes, while elsewhere road signs warn of otters crossing, and native Eriskay ponies, once nearly extinct, wander wild.
In summer, the machair is in bloom – an alkaline grassland woven with about 200 wild flowers and a unique feature of this area.
The Travelling Naturalist (www.naturalist.co.uk) has a six-night guided trip travelling by ferry from Oban (keeping a lookout for Manx Shearwaters, diving gannets and auks as well as storm petrels, porpoises and dolphins), exploring the birdlife and diverse habitats of the Uists and Benbecula.
Whisky galore
In 1941, the good ship SS Politician sank just off Eriskay with its cargo – 20 000 cases of whisky – and so was born a story that was to be immortalised in Compton Mackenzie’s novel Whisky Galore, which was turned into an Ealing comedy. You can take a dram in the Am Politician pub on Eriskay and see a few of the whisky bottles. But don’t imagine an olde-worlde drinking den – it’s a pebbledash bungalow.
Mackenzie also loved Barra and built a house on the island in the 1930s overlooking Traigh Mhor – the beach airstrip. He is buried just to the north in the cemetery at Cille Bharra in Eoligarry.
For a whisky-soaked road trip, however, head to Islay, famed for its smoky, peat-infused malts with no fewer than eight distilleries: Ardbeg, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, Lagavulin, Laphroaig and the new micro-distillery Kilchoman.
World’s your oyster
Skye is the Hebrides’ food capital. Last autumn, gourmet bolthole the Three Chimneys (www.threechimneys.co.uk) was awarded a Michelin star, the second establishment on the island to receive the accolade. A rustic-chic restaurant with rooms in old crofters’ cottages, it offers an eight-course Taste of Skye menu with such specialities as Sconser king scallop, cauliflower, rhubarb, blood orange and ginger.
Skye’s first Michelin star went to Kinloch Lodge (www.kinloch-lodge.co.uk) home to the doyenne of Scottish cuisine, Lady Claire Macdonald.
The Isle of Skye Baking Company (www.isleofskyebakingco.co.uk) is a funky bakery in an old wool mill in Portree, established by a young South African couple.
Where to stay
The accommodation options on Skye are some of the best in Scotland.
Check out the quirky Skyewalker Hostel in Portnalong (www.skyewalkerhostel.com), with dorm beds from £17 (about R340).
Canopy and Stars (www.canopy andstars.co.uk) has a clutch of gorgeous places to stay, including Kittiwake, an off-grid cabin on Mull with a big brass bed, and a roof topped with an old rowing boat.
The Outer Hebrides can be a bit more hit or miss. One gem that on the coast of Lewis is Hebridean Huts (www.hebrideanhuts.co.uk).
Lucy Gillmore, The Independent