Hiding Away In The Outer Hebrides

Oban and Barra and Uist, oh my! Kenneth Steven takes a tour of these magical Scottish islands and others besides

- Kenneth Steven

ARRIVING in Oban by train is the loveliest, if not the easiest, way to begin the journey to the Outer Hebrides. It’s not only that the train can be overcrowded in the summer months—and that both internet and mobile signal are a doubtful possibility on board— it’s that car hire once you reach Oban is very limited. If you book your car in plenty of time, however, it’s definitely worth it.

When you leave Glasgow behind (whether by car or train), you’re almost immediately into the West Highlands. Once you’ve reached Crianlarich, you’re into the heart of what I call real wildscape.

I always felt that the journey to the Outer Hebrides was like going to another country. The long spine of islands stretches like some dragon that crashed into the Atlantic millennia ago. Indeed, it was named ‘the islands of the strangers’ by the Gaelic-speaking natives, doubtless because it was here that the Norsemen settled and held sway over long centuries. The placenames they left behind are still familiar enough to any visiting Scandinavian.

There is no need to go far from Oban railway station to spend a comfortable night. Perle stands across the road, beautifully refurbished now, after years as just another rather sad and rambling Victorian hotel whose glory days had gone.

Oban is famous, these days, for seafood: a few hundred yards from Perle is Ee-usk (the phonetic Gaelic for fish). Anything and everything fishy is served in a restaurant that feels as if it’s surrounded by the sea.

I think beginning at the southern end of the Outer Hebrides and working north is best, but there’s no right or wrong way to make the journey. What is needed is a hopscotch ticket from ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne and a plan to link the times of your various inter-island journeys.