I reckon one of the most incredibly wonderful places I have ever been to is the eastern Algarve. There's a little known area there away from the usual tourist haunts which I am drawn back to over and over again. There's an archipelago of sandspits & islands on which are built thriving little communities. Not a car in sight, mind you, you have to land there by rickety ferry and taxi-boat.

It was a joy to read an article about the place in this weekend's Guardian.

"People-watching, snoozing, meandering - the most relaxing holidays are all about simple pleasures, says Kevin Gould, who perfects the art of idling in a sleepy enclave of the Algarve."

The full article is here.... www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/may/09/al...ach-holiday?page=all

I've been so tempted to journey back there this year but we've already started planning our holiday to Scotland. We want to go to the islands of Skye, Harris & Lewis and also further north to Orkney. We're driving up from Wales and taking the tent.

Has anyone got any useful advice (apart from 'watch out for midges') about how to go about booking ferries and which campsites to go to and which islands around the Hebrides we really must go to?

Well.....so far we've arranged a ferry from Oban to Barra where we're staying overnight in an hotel and then another ferry across to South uist and driving up to Berneray where we're staying here for a couple of nights.



Now we've just got to decide what to do for the other 10 days or so.

Oban is beautiful, been there many times as a kid,
of course we just complained about it being shit though

Afraid I don't have any advice apart from extra tent pegs, maybe an extra tent
Scotland is windy,

Ooooo!

You could spend ages trickling up Uist and across Harris and Lewis. If the weather's good there are some astonishing beaches on the west coasts. Empty, golden sands for miles.

Do - if you drink - tuck away some bottles and stuff for Sundays. You'll find the locals a bit kirk-y-fied. Take as many 1" OS maps as you can - you'll find all sorts of wee gems all over the place.

You mentioned Orkney too: it'd be an awful lot to cram in to go there as well, but Orkney is a very different place. Would deserve lots of time on its own. Full of neolithic (mmmmmm!) stuff: I doubt no-one can visit Skara Brae and not think that'd be a great way to live.

Annie wrote:


Doesn't Mong live in that part of the world? He doesn't seem to have been round these parts much recently, though.

We've already decided that Orkney during the same trip just wouldn't give us enough time to truly appreciate all of it - unless of course the weather and the midges become spoilers, in which case a back up plan might be useful.

How could I forget Mong? I shall give him a poke and ask him for advice and suggestions about it all.

We've ordered some Avon Skin-So-Soft because it's a really good midge repellant by all accounts. Apparently the SAS and The Marines use the stuff.

I'd never actually heard of Berneray before I started planning this holiday. Now I can't wait to see the otters and seals and we're even considering pitching the tent up there for a few days too.

On Lewis & Harris there are loads of places for wild camping amongst the sand-dunes. I might never want to come home.

You might, come October/November ...

Can I come please? It looks lovely in those photos

I'm getting more and more excited as the 28th of June approaches.
We've booked our ferry and out hotel in Barra and our B&B on Berneray. Then it's off to Harris for 4 days where we're camping in a place called Traigh na Beirigh near Cnip, which is not far from the Callanish standing stones.

On Saturday 4th July we're on another ferry across to Skye where we're shaking off the dirt from wild camping and holing up in the Duntulm Hotel for 2 days before spending our last 4 days camping down beside the Cuillins before sailing back over to the Scottish mainland for the long drive back home.

As well as the midges there'll be sea eagles and seals, otters & dolphins, whiskies and Scottish breakfasts, mountains and moors and castles and crags but very few stars as the sun doesn't set til around midnight and dawn breaks again before 5 am. We'll just have to rent out a cottage in the deep midwinter to seek out the stars and the aurora borealis at another time.

I'm currently reading David Yeadon's book Seasons on Harris, just to get me in the mood.

Reading what you have written as a description I am not surprised you are getting excited. I would be.
Annie have a great holiday and I hope your ailing back will improve with a bit of rest. Maybe a "firm" surface beneath your sleeping bag will help? Hope so.
Enjoy it and send us all an "Idle postcard here".

L x .Daisy.