Outer Hebrides - booking required?

[RubberMan]

Hi, we (two of us) are off to the Outer Hebrides in May aiming to do the Barra to Lewis route. We dont want to take a tent but plan to stay in B&B's or the hostels. The hostels dont take bookings and we dont know how busy the islands will be. Should we book accommodation in advance or will we be ok to find accommodation as we go? We are aware of the distances between villages and dont want to get stranded without a tent.

TIA

[rualexander]

The Gatliff hostels will let you sleep on the floor if they are full, which is probaby unlikely in May, they usually have spare mattresses stashed somewhere for this. I imagine you will be ok finding B&B in May also as long as you are a bit flexible with your destinations.

[Starfire]

The tourist information office at Barra opens for the arrival of the ferry from Oban (off the ferry, turn right up the hill). They have a brochure listing all the cycle friendly accomodations for all of the Islands, you can use the list to book in advance as you plot your route each day. Not all of the accomodation on the Hebrides are cycle friendly and they will turn you away if you cold call at the door, especially if you are soaked. You would think that they would be glad of your money but, I was turned away from several places when I did the trip two years ago even though they had vacancies signs up in the window.

[manybikes]

My wife and I did much the same route (but a bit more) 2 years ago in May/June and found little difficulty in booking in advance in hostels. However we did find this a peak season for the islands and many B&Bs were full. We tended to book just one day ahead to give flexibility but on one occasion had to make 7 phone calls and got the last room in the last place listed. If you are using a mobile phone check the signal - with Virgin hardly ever got a signal so had to use TKs when we found them.

[RubberMan]

Thanks to all, good advice

[Jezrant]

Hi, just noticed this thread and thought I'd add some more based on my own experience. I cycled up and back down the Outer Hebrides in the spring two years ago, outside Easter hols. Gaitliff hostels don't have any booking system. You just show up and hope for the best. Stunning locations, but they can get uncomfortably crowded. Stayed at two other hostels (Am Bothan and Rockview), booked in advance, but both they had plenty of room. Stayed in one unfriendly B&B in Uist close to the bird sanctuary 'cause we wanted to see the corncrakes. Highly recommend the corncrakes.