A ferry-cancellation day on Barra

The text comes at seven. The morning sailing to Oban is cancelled: wind from the south-west, gusting too hard for the berth at Castlebay. The next sailing is tomorrow.

This happens. On the west coast it happens most often in the shoulder seasons and in winter, and less in summer. We plan for it.

What we do

The buffer night before any long crossing home is there for this. If the trip has one, nothing else moves. If it doesn’t, we rebook the ferry, move the next night’s hotel, and if a flight is at stake, look at the Barra plane, the Eriskay ferry north to the Uists and the crossing from there, or a later flight. The traveller gets one message with the new plan.

What you do

You have a day on Barra that you didn’t expect. The island road is about fourteen miles roundverify. Vatersay, across the causeway, has two beaches back to back, one sheltered whichever way the wind is blowing. The café at the airport watches the plane land on the sand at low tide, if it can. Kisimul Castle sits in the bay. There are worse places to be stuck.

The point

Island travel runs on the weather. A trip with no slack in it is a trip that will go wrong in a way that matters. A trip with a buffer night goes wrong in a way that gives you a free day on Barra.

Read how we plan the Long Island.