Just returned from a stay on Barra, one of the southerly islands of Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. The boat came too and after launching on a very smart slipway, stayed in unaccustomed luxury in Castlebay Marina on a finger pontoon. In fact, because of the weather, it spent quite a lot of time there.
Barra is stunning if you don’t mind a lack of trees. It’s surrounded by dozens of smaller islands to explore by boat and Caribbean-style white sandy beaches to enjoy on foot. I sailed as far as Mingulay (huge seal colony) to the south and Eriskay (‘Whisky Galore’, the wrecking of the SS Politician) to the north.
The Calmac ferry from Oban is eye-wateringly expensive (£435 return, £220 of which was for the trailer) but it’s a 75nm crossing of 4 1/2 hours. There’s a remarkably well-stocked Coop on the island but the main foodie draw is the fresh seafood, either bought from the retail outlet of the fish factory or direct from a fisherman. Big bags of crab claws, langoustine tails and monkfish tails cost around £10, while huge live lobsters are £20 each.
The 1,300 mainly catholic islanders are helpful and friendly and my BR20 attracted a lot of interest. Possibly one reason for this is that we were only the third boat to visit the marina in two weeks, no doubt because of the weather patterns at this time of year. In fact we left Barra two days early as a storm force 11 was forecast for the end of our intended stay. The ferry is frequently cancelled because of the weather, as is the Loganair flight from Glasgow, which lands on the beach.
Several Swallows have been there before. I thought that there was a comprehensive write-up of at least one of the trips, complete with photos of a mini Swallow fleet mingling with Basking Sharks, but haven’t managed to find it. See also Rob Johnstone’s posting on the Western Isles
https://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/smf/index.php/topic,1355.msg9748.html#msg9748.