For several months I have been planning to travel to the Outer Hebrides to walk part of the way along the Hebridean Way, a 155 mile walking route from Vatersay on the Isle of Barra to Stornaway  on the Isle of Lewis. My intention was to walk part of the route from Vatersay as far as Lochmaddy which is about 80 miles and then catch the ferry back to Uig on the Isle of Skye and then travel back home with the intention of returning in the future  to complete the walk. It's about 425 miles  from Macclesfield to Castlebay including the ferry crossing which would normally take two days. I decided to use a combination of transport methods to complete the journey in less than 24 hours.

07/06/2026 Macclesfield to Castlebay on Isle of Barra

I left Macclesfield on the Sunday evening on the 11.00pm train and arrived in Manchester Piccadilly at 11.30 pm and then a 30minute walk across town to Shudehill Bus Station, a 2 hour wait and then leave on the 0210hrs Flixbus to Glasgow. Once in Glasgow at it was a 20 minute walk to Glasgow Queen Street railway station for the 08:22 train to Oban arriving in Oban at 11:27am to catch the 01:10pm Calmac ferry to Castlebay on the Isle of Barra. Once at the Castlebay it was a 10 minute walk to the Dunard Hostel where I was staying for the night. A rather tiring journey but all completed in 19 hours instead of two days.

09/06/2026  Vatersay to Borve Campsite

After breakfast It was a short walk down to the well stocked Coop and caught the 09:40am bus to Vatersay where the walk starts from and enjoyed a nice Bacon Barm and a pot of tea from the Visitor centre  and read the advisory notice about the path over the  moor beneath Beinn Tangabhal being washed away in recent storms classed as dangerous. So it advised walkers to use the cycle route for the next few miles. I duly set off along the narrow lane and then set off along the trail, then back on the road until I reached the camp site at Bourve where I stayed for the first night, the weather for the first day was excellent and I enjoyed an excellent pitch with great sea views.

10/06/2026 Borve Campsite to West Kilbride campsite on South Uist

After breakfast I packed my tent and set off along road at 09:30am and after a couple of miles it was decision time, whether to carry on along the road which was the cycle route or fork right over the moors and over a high pass and down to Ardmhor for the ferry to Eriskay  or continue along the cycle route, the ferry was at 15:20 hrs so a decision was made and I decided to continue along the cycle route , the ferries were quite freguent but I wanted  to try and reach the West Kilbride camp site so I opted for the 40 minute journey at 15:20. Once I arrived at Eriskay myself and a several other walkers set off at a brisk pace heading for one of the few hotels with the hope of getting a meal before reaching the campsite. We arrived at the Hotel 'Am Politican' ( named after the whisky laden  ship that ran aground in the bay and made into a film) and although the Hotel was busy they managed to squeeze us all in for a decent meal. We then set off along the road as the weather turned and it was waterproofs on and a long slog over the causeway (nearly a mile) and eventually arrived at the campsite.  A nice campsite well fitted out and the tent was soon errected and I dived in out of the wind and rain. I didn't emerge till the following morning.

11/06/2026 West Kilbride to Daliburgh

After heavy rain during the night I did not rise early as I was hoping the rain would subside to allow me to pack up and stow a reasonably dry tent, the rain did ease off and I packed up with only light rain and a stong breeze so it was 10:00am before I finally set off. After a short walk along the road the Hebridean Way pay branched off to the left and I was soon alongside the beach. The heavy showers and strong winds returned and I carried on along the track which wound between beach and field and I stopped for break in a sheltered place. I then carried on heading for the Borrodale Hotel at Dalabrog whichwas marked on the map. This was the first place I had seen where I could get some lunch so I entered and ordered a meal as places to eat were few and far between and I knew that ahead of me was a long stretch with no obvious places to eat or buy food. While there I enquired if there were any shops in the vicinity and was told there is a Coop just a few hundred yards down the road.  I went down the road and found quite a large well stocked Coop supermarket just like back in England. I bought some food  and set off back up the road and paused to consider my options, about 3 miles to my east there was a ferry terminal with sailings to Mallaig and if I caaried on along the trail I had about 50 miles to the next ferry terminal. I definitely was not feeling as fit as I hoped and my left ankle was beginning to ache so it was decision time.

Just down the road leading to the ferry I came across some accomadation Uist Travel Accomadation< gave them a call and they fixed me up, apart from the Hotel accomadation they had two cabins at the rear of the Hotel  I was allocated one of them and was pleasantly suprised as from the outside they did not look very appealing, however once inside the was immaculate with a spotelss single bed, shower room, large flatsceen TV, microwave, toaster cooker and everything you could possibly need incliding tea, coffee and biscuits. All that at a bargain price.  I would have been happy to stay there for quite a few days.

12/06/2026 Daliburgh to Macclesfield

Next morning as I left the owner offered me a lift down to the ferry which I was pleased to accept as my ankle was getting quite painful and I realised that I had made the correct decision in heading for home.  After about an hours wait I boarded the ferry and stowed my rucksack and went to the cafe  for a pot of tea and a sausage and egg bap. This was the satrt of the long journey home. On arrival at Mallaig another few hours wait then train to Glasgow, another walk to the Bus station, a few more wait for the Flixbus then a 4 hour journey to Manchester then another 3 hour wait for the early train to Macclesfield. I arrived back home about 06:30am along journey  which took me over 20 hours. I could have taken two days to do the journey but I like to get the travelling over with. I got quite a bit of sleep on the journey. I prefer a quick long journey, more time for walking and less days for travel. 

On reflection

I throughly enjoyed the experience, it's a remote group of islands with great scenery, wonderful people and amazing wildlife. The plan  was to have walked part of the Hebridean Way  which stretches 155 miles across 10 Islands, my intention was to walk about 80 miles to Lochmaddy and the ferry back to Skye and then back to Macclesfield. I only managed just over 30 miles in the three days but with hindsight the reason I did not complete my intended plan was the weather had taken a turn for worse, I was backpacking and carrying to much kit. with water and food my rucksack weighed over 12 kg which I think is too much for an 83 year old. Also there was a lot of roadwalking on this section of the trail and I had my heavy walking boots on and with hindsight I could have used my lightweight footwear which would have been a lot easier and may have prevented my ankle problem. I need to get the weight down to aroung 10kg if possible for the next time I return to complete the rest of the trail. My painful ankle did not help either and has been diagnosed as Achilles tendopathy so my walking at the current time is definitely restricted. I have put this trip down to a learning curve to understand the trail and the location of food shops.