Do you know where you're going to......

The Outer Hebrides is an island chain of about 65 islands off the north west coast of Scotland  and about 15 of these islands are inhabited  They stretch about 130 miles from Barra Head in the south to the Butt Of Lewis in the north. It's a journey of just under 700 miles from Cardiff where we are now to Borve where we will be living from the beginning of June. The route we are taking is a 2 day journey with a stopover in Loch Lomond and then onwards for two ferry crossings, one from the mainland to Skye and then we travel across Skye for another ferry to Tarbert on Harris. 

Harris and Lewis is really one island separated by a magnificent mountain range and almost split in two by Loch Seaforth and Loch Resort. It's bigger than the Isle of Man and The Isle of Wight and after the British Mainland and Eire is the third biggest land mass in The British Isles. It's about 70 miles from one end to the other with a population of just under 20,000. 

Our little croft house is in the north west corner of Lewis in a village called Borve overlooking the Atlantic. It's about 15 miles or so from Stornoway which is the only town of any size on the islands. There's a couple of big supermarkets in Stornoway and many of the standard High Street stores. There's also a good selection of pubs and plenty of places to eat. It's the main port of the islands and is full of fishing boats, leisure and pleasure craft, ferries, cruiseliners and all manner of sea traffic. There's an art centre and cinema, a hospital, an industrial estate or two, garages, markets and everything else that we'll need. In fact, it's very much like any other British coastal town.

By way of contrast Borve is a tiny little crofting village with just about 150 inhabitants. However, it has it's own shop and petrol station, a medical centre and a pub. There's also a lovely little pottery there. The place is scattered with ancient ruins and standing stones. And here's an interesting fact - the founder of Crisis at Christmas, the homeless charity, was founded by the wife of a Borve man, Iain Macleod who was a former Tory Chancellor.