Cycling UK Forum

Hi,
has anyone been to Barra in the last year or so? If so can you recommend a place to camp for the night on the north side of the island. I visited there a few years ago and camped near the airport, but it seems that the islanders would rather you did not camp there any-more (at least that is what the island web site says). Will probably only be there for the one night, my first night of a barra/uists/harris/skye/arnamurchan/mull tour.

Oh and does anyone have any recommendations for a good place to stop between Mallaig and Kilchoan on Ardnamurchan? I've seen a few mentions of possible places in other posts but would welcome any up to date recommendations.

Planning on heading up there early may, I suspect that there may be a few others heading in the same direction! How busy are the islands these days?

Thanks

Andy

The camping bit at the airport has now been fenced off and is not available for motorhomes but cyclists could in theory, still camp there, but that might upset the locals and be bad publicity for cyclists. However, there is still plenty of wild camping.
Either go all the way down to the old jetty. Motorhomes are welcome there so you would not be alone or go towards the ferry to Eriskay where you may be able to find space for a tent just off the road at the terminal. There are now a few private campsites on the island. Dont know their prices, the tourist offfice would keep you right and is always open for the boat arriving. There are two past the airport at the very end of the road. They have simple facilities. You would be contributing to their already fragile economy if you used one of these campsites.

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. I've actually just got back from what was a great trip. I ended up camping down by the jetty which was ok. The night I spent there was very windy with the wind coming from the north. I was going to take a look at the sites up on the far north of Barra, but I had problems locating them, and given the wind decided to opt for jetty site where I managed to find a pretty sheltered spot just a short distance away from the road end. I would have been more than happy to pay for spot on that side of the island (I'd already done my food shopping in one of the island shops), but the conditions and time worked against it...

I stayed a couple of nights at the Gatliff hostels at Howmore and Berneray, which were excellent as always. For anyone planning a trip to Howmore, the local shop is now closed so make sure you have food etc. before you get there...

On Harris I had planned on camping on the west coast but the camp site at Horgabost was very busy (mainly with camper vans), and so I moved on. Ended up camping just outside of Tarbert in the ruins of an old blackhouse.

I didn't stay on Skye and had a night of Luxury in a hotel near Arisaig. My trip through Ardnamurchan was a good one (great lunch in the Acharacle tea shop) and I was enjoying the cycling so much that I pushed on all the way down to Kilchoan I had planned to camp there but just as I was heading down the hill I could see the ferry making its way to the terminal so ended up camping over the water at the camp site just outside Tobermory (which was very good and great value). I intend to head back to Ardnamurhan and explore that area a little more, perhaps later in the year..

All in all a great tour, would have been good not to have the rather cold north wind, but you can't have eveything!

Andy