The Western Isles - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 291

The Western Isles
Beyond Skye, across the unpredictable waters of the Minch, lie the wild
and windy Outer Hebrides, o cially known as the Western Isles. A 130-mile-
long archipelago stretching from Lewis and Harris in the north to the Uists
and Barra in the south, the islands appear as an unbroken chain when
viewed from across the Minch - hence their nickname, the Long Isle. In
reality there are more than two hundred islands, although only a handful
are inhabited, with the total population around 28,000. This is truly a land
on the edge, where the turbulent seas of the Atlantic smash up against a
geologically complex terrain whose coastline is interrupted by a thousand
sheltered bays and, in the far west, a long line of sweeping sandy beaches.
The islands' interiors are equally dramatic, veering between flat, boggy,
treeless peat moor and bare mountain tops soaring high above a host of
tiny lakes, or lochans.

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The major difference between the Western Isles and much of the Hebrides is that the
islands' fragile economy is still mainly concentrated around crofting, fishing and
weaving, and the percentage of incomers is low. In fact, the Outer Hebrides remain
the heartland of Gaelic culture, with the language spoken by the majority of islanders,
though its everyday usage struggles due to the national dominance of English. Its
survival is thanks partly to the efforts of the Western Islands Council, the Scottish
parliament, and the influence of the Church in the region: the Free Church and its
various offshoots in Lewis, Harris and North Uist, and the Catholic Church in South
Uist and Barra.
Lewis and Harris form two parts of the same island. The interior of the northernmost
part, Lewis , is mostly peat moor, a barren and marshy tract that gives way to the bare
peaks of North Harris . Across a narrow isthmus lies South Harris , with wide beaches of
golden sand trimming the Atlantic in full view of the rough boulder-strewn mountains
to the east. Across the Sound of Harris, to the south, a string of tiny, flatter isles
- North Uist , Benbecula , South Uist - linked by causeways, offer breezy beaches, whose
fine sands front a narrow band of boggy farmland which, in turn, is bordered by a
lower range of hills to the east. Finally, tiny Barra contains all the above landscapes in
one small Hebridean package.
In contrast to their wonderful surroundings, villages in the Western Isles are seldom
very picturesque in themselves, and are usually made up of scattered, relatively
modern crofthouses dotted about the elementary road system. Stornoway , the only
real town in the Outer Hebrides, rarely impresses. Many visitors, walkers and
nature-watchers forsake the main settlements altogether and retreat to secluded
cottages, simple hostels and B&Bs.

Gaelic in the Western Isles p.297
Religion in the Western Isles p.298
The Iolaire Disaster p.301
Peat p.304
Offshore islands p.305
Boat trips p.309

St Kilda (Hiort) p.310
Harris tweed p.312
Scalpay (Scalpaigh) p.314
SS Politician p.323
Boat to Mingulay p.326