Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 35 on 15/11/2007.

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It has to be Harris

In the last of our series on Scottish islands, John Hannavy turns to the Hebridean Isle of Harris

I know Lewis and Harris are really two parts of the same island, and now know that the isthmus [a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land masses, bordered on two sides by water] at Tarbert is not the dividing line between the two that I always assumed it was. But they are so different in character and appearance that I am treating them as two separate destinations in my island odyssey.

The ferry from Uig on Skye had deposited us at Tarbert, Harris – a little later than scheduled – and we were booked into a small hotel a couple of miles from the village. Not our first choice but in the height of the summer season rooms tend to get booked up well in advance, so it’s best to get in there early.

According to the road signs, Harris stops and Lewis begins some way north of Tarbert – a seemingly arbitrary line drawn across the countryside. From Tarbert to that ‘line’, the road meanders, climbs and falls, following the contours of the landscape except where modernised stretches run straight and featureless for a few hundred yards.

Harris is a strangely alluring place. The landscape is like nothing you will have ever seen before – a bit like a lunar landscape punctuated with hundreds of small stretches of water.

The drive down to Rodel at the south of the island is a slow business – single-track roads with passing places for most of the way. On the way there, though, there is much to see.

Katie Campbell still works an ancient Yorkshire-built loom to weave her beautiful Ha.....

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By John Hannavy

Section : Scottish Islands

Page number : 18