Barra in the Outer Hebrides

Barra is an island of the Outer Hebrides, the most southerly of those islands to be inhabited apart from its near neighbour Vatersay, to which a causeway has connected Barra since 2011. The Barra Isles, also known as the Bishop’s Isles, lie south of Barra. This group comprises nine islands. 

In 1427, the Lords of the Isles awarded the lairdship of Barra and the Barra Isles to Clan MacNeil. However, after acts of piracy by the MacNeils, King James VI transferred ownership of the Barra Isles to the Bishop of the Isles. 

Many of the Barra Isles are small, with only Vatersay still inhabited. Berneray (also known as Barra Head), Pabbay, Sandray and Mingulay have been inhabited in the past (more about this later). The four smallest named islands are Flodday, Lingay, Muldoanich, and Uineasan. All the Barra Isles are visible from Castlebay, the principal town of Barra, but until you’re familiar with the geography, it’s difficult to distinguish them all.

I was lucky enough to fly to Barra from Glasgow Airport on a glorious Spring day and the approach for landing was from the south. The plane flew over Kisimul Castle, the home of Clan MacNeil, on its own island just offshore from Castlebay town, and then up the west coast, with its empty white-sand beaches and turquoise waters gleaming in the sunshine, towards the airport.      

Barra Airport is a short-runway airport in the wide, shallow bay of Traigh Mhòr at the northern tip of the island. The airport is unique, as it’s believed to be the only one in the world where scheduled flights use a tidal beach as the runway. The aircraft used is a De Havilland Canada Twin Otter, the pre-eminent airplane for short takeoff and landing with its twin turbo propellers. There are twenty seats onboard. Trials at Barra Airport with heavier planes than the Twin Otter failed, because those planes sank into the sand. 

As the airport is a beach, then there’s no difficulty in taking off into the wind. High winds are less likely to cause flight cancellations here than poor visibility. The airport buildings include a cafe that offers superb food and drink to all the visitors who come to watch the twice-daily flights take off and land on the white sand. There’s also a bus stop allowing people like me to use public transport to reach Castlebay. Prior to the airport, the bus will have been to the ferry terminal at Ardmhor, where the inter-island ferry from Eriskay arrives and departs from.

The Forest of Harris is a mountain wilderness forming the boundary between Harris and Lewis. This is a remote part of the island and contains within it the 22,000-acre area of land called the North Harris Estate. In 2003, the eight hundred residents of the estate received the right to purchase the estate for 2 million pounds from the Bulmer cider empire family. At long last, the community threw off the shackles of feudalism and were the masters of their own future.