Island Hopping

As most of you will be aware, Scotland is surrounded by hundreds of islands. The rough figure is 790, which as far as I know does not include islands on inland lochs – and may also not include some of the very small islands! Anyway, a fraction of the islands are inhabited and fewer still are easily accessible… however, that does not stop many islands being visited very easily!

So, with that in mind, here is a guide to Island Hopping – or as CalMac call it, Island Hopscotch! Actually, not all of their Hopscotch tickets involve visiting islands, but it can be a fun way to travel. Also, CalMac ferries are not the only way to access some islands and in fact are not the only ferry operator, but we’ll get to that in due course! So, where do we start? Well, I guess the best place would be the first island I visited – the Isle of Skye!

Once upon a time there were three ferries that took the visitor over the sea to Skye, although, before you all burst into song, we’re travelling from the mainland and the words refer to a certain Flora MacDonald taking Bonnie Prince Charlie, although he was known as Betty Burke that day, from Benbecula in the Western Isles back to Skye. The ferries I am referring to left from Mallaig (the one I used), Kyle of Lochalsh (now replaced by that bridge) and Glenelg (summer only). Anyway, the journey from Mallaig takes about 30 minutes and the views can be stunning – to the southwest are the Small Isles, Eigg and Rum; to the south the white sands; east is Lochs Nevis and Hourn with the Knoydart peninsula sitting in between. Then there is also the Isle of Sky fast (for a ferry at least) approaching in the northwest and what an island it is. The rugged Cuillins dominate the landscape from many points, but there is so much more to see – and there are a couple more ferries that leave from Uig, on the Trotternish peninsula, ready to take you on the 2 hour journey across the Little Minch to Harris or North Uist! Once on the latter, it is possible to drive across Benbecula and on to South Uist, which to some make these all part of one island… so maybe Skye isn’t an island any more either? Harris can also be reached by sailing from Ullapool to Lewis (a crossing of 3 hours) and then driving onto Harris as Harris and Lewis are in fact both parts of the same island! There are also summer-only sailings from Mallaig to South Uist and Barra with a further ferry also connecting these two islands. Small ferries also run from Mallaig visiting each of the Small Isles mentioned above as well as Canna and Muck.

Return to the Island Hopping Index here