Scottish Islands

[Bobman]

Tend to stick to mainland UK for bike trips but fancy seeing some Scottish islands.
Where's everyone been? Which have best roads and worst roads for bikes?

[RandG]

Mull is fantastic but single track and will be mega busy at this time of year. Skye again, is fantastic and has some superb roads. Bute is nice but not much to it, roads to and from are very good. Western Isles are lovely if you get the weather though not much to the Uists but Harris and Lewis are lovely. Never been the the Shetlands so can't comment.

[Scanlan]

Orkney and Shetland are superb and usually empty.

[92kk k100lt 193214]

I can't comment on the roads as we sailed there but I have to recommend the Outer Hebrides for hospitality, atmosphere, pace, scenery, quiet roads for what we saw, people and of course the tweed and distilleries.
We did see the ferries making their way between the islands and Macbrayne is your man for tickets. We saw bikes and cars coming and going and I would love to go back. I have checked out the ferries a few times for a return trip but it hasn't happened yet.
Make sure you take in Iona and Staffa too and give the whole trip enough time to enjoy it.

[Stuartw]

Have been to a good pro porting of the inner isles off the west coast as well as the outer isles and up to Scapa flow on the bike for diving.
Sit down with the map book and cross reference it with Calmac ferries ferry website. You can do individual sailings to you're hearts content or do something called Hopskotch. These are pre-planned circular ferry crossings that allow you to take in a selection of islands in one day or over a varyiety of days. Very hard to find a road on the coastal west coast that isn't stunning in some respect. Probably best to avoid the much publicised NW500 or whatever it is and start the journey from Oban.
A few other small ferries around to, such as the one just a few miles south of Fort William. Cross over turn left and you can get a campsite that is run by a fella from here although I'm darned if I can remember what it's called.
Good luck and enjoy

[sprintster]

Skye has some great roads and amazing scenery.I try to get over at least a couple of times during the summer.
Orkney is an interesting island with Skara Brae,The Tomb of The Eagles and the Italian Chapel to visit for instance.A few years since I was there but the roads were in good condition.
I'm going to Arran in a couple of weeks time for a bit of hillwalking with the car.There's only really one road around the island but the scenery looks amazing and it's called Scotland in miniature for it's rugged mountains and pristine beaches.

[Bluebird]

I did the Shetland Islands a few years ago, really enjoyed. The roads were good, ferry up there was overnight from Aberdeen so no real time lost there. We spent some of our time chasing around the coastline looking for the Orka's. I will definitely return some time soon.

[Brads]

Outer Hebrides from Barra up to Lewis.
Breath taking.

[Mul001]

Bit of a fetish, Islands & Ferries ...

1 Arran
2 Mull
3 Skye
4 Seil
5 Carnac (* very very small Private Island & special, Off the Arnamurchan Penninsula)
6 Vatersay
7 Barra
8 Eriskay
9 South Uist
10 North Uist
11 Benbecula
12 Baleshare
13 Berneray
14 Harris / Lewis
15 South Ronaldsay
16 Glims Holm
17 Lamb Holm
18 Mainland (Orkney)
19 Rousay
20 Flotta
21 Hoy
22 Islay
23 Jura

Whatd'ya wanna know. Loads of free wild camping. ?

Personally if someone said you've got One Island to go back to, I guess I'd pick Eriskay. Despite being 3x already and not the easiest to get to; but I like the white beach / blue sea and have happy memories of cooking a lobster on an open fire with friends and a beer. Always been lucky with the weather too. I like the "Whisky Galore" link too. Of course there other remote white beaches in Scotland, but that's my choice.

More accessible Island, hmmm, Possibly Mull. Why, not sure (maybe it's a name thing ). Easy to get away from the crowds, perhaps, slightly more accessible and a quick hop over to Ardnamurchan Point, most westerly point mainland UK (via another Ferry !!!).

If you decide to Island hop I'd recommend the "Hopscotch" tickets from CalMac but with RET now not much of a saving more of a guaranteed crossing. Either Pentland Ferries or Northlink for Orkneys (Pentland Catarmaran slightly cheaper and a bit more quirky).

HTH a bit.

Chrz Mul.

[IainD]

Midgies have hatched and apparently abundant on Arran now as are Sheep Ticks. Take precautions.
I used to cycle round Arran with pals from work. You can do it in a day, but then you don't get a night out in Blackwaterfoot, so we took two with plenty detours - caves, standing stones, distillery etc.
There is a weekend ferry now running from Ardrossan, via Brodick (for some trips) to Campbeltown and vice versa. I cant remember the details, but may be of use if time is short.