Day 2. Ferry To Barra! Weather Is EXTREME!

July 22nd 2019

Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip was the thundering noise that echoed of our wet, blue tent. I must have sleeped a little, but it certainly never felt like it with all my tossing and turning! That was expected though. We are camping after all…

Oban was covered in the horrible weather when we got up at 6am and prepared to leave. There wasn’t much we could do. Our ferry for the Isle of Barra was called in 4 hours earlier than it was due! This severe weather was uncontrollable and sadly, we just had to put up with that…

We got onto the mighty Caledonian ferry at roughly, 10.30am and set sail. Due to previous experience I could tell this was going to be a bumpy ride. I also knew how mouth-watering the pancakes were and decided to have them for breakfast.

This ferry was a bit different from the one to Tarbert from Uig. It never had a lounge area, but it allowed access to the outside. This gave me a chance to relax and take the view in for a moment. A moment in chaos you could say. The isle of Mull and mainland Scotland left me with a spectacular sight. I loved it.

Minutes turned into hours as this ferry slowly paced the Scottish waters. Wave after wave, I grew reckless and rather sick. I have never been seasick before and now I sympathise with everyone who gets it regularly. Each wave the ship withstood would make my tummy jump with dizziness. I chose to rest.

However, this may have not been a great idea. My Dad woke me to tell me he saw 2 dolphins leap from the baltic waters. He may have been kidding me on. He does that often. But he doesn’t usually go into that much detail. So I had to believe him. This just leaves me in a mood of emptiness though – I was really wanting to see a dolphin but I missed out because I was sleeping.

The ferry moored in at Castlebay, Barra at 5.30pm. 7 hours later! The ancient castle greeted us into the small town. As we finally made it to the Outer Hebrides!

The beaches and grasslands were ever so peaceful on our drive to Surrival campsite up near Barra Airport. Unluckily, due to weather conditions I don’t think we will see the plane swooping down onto the sands below.

Our day went downhill from here.

Trying to put the tent up was a massive hassle! The wind was vile and nasty throwing obstacle after obstacle at us as the force of the rain soaked us entirely! We gave up. There was nothing we could do.

After a fine shower in the facilities we had to take action. What do we do in this unpredictable weather? It isn’t like we could pack up and go home – we were on an island with timetabled ferries. We also came up here to see the beauty that Instagram has been preparing me for, for weeks. But camping it was out the question. We would be blown into the beach nearby.

Our plan was to shorten our travels. Drive around. See as much as we can in the weather given. Boat it to Uist. Repeat. Boat to Harris & Lewis. Get to Stornoway, where we have suddenly booked shelter for 3 nights. Head to Skye. Go home.

Right now, we are sleeping in the car. I thought last night was tight. This is certainly some experience, but we needed a plan B or we would be homeless on Barra in the pouring down rain.

This holiday isn’t going to plan due to nature taking its course, but we have to go with the flow and hopefully… fingers crossed… the weather transitions to what Summer should be.

In conclusion, even Scottish people aren’t ready for Scottish weather.