"It is such a gorgeous place - heaven on earth! - relaxing quiet days we spent on the Strond - raw elemental beauty of the place."

"This is definitely the place to come for a relaxing holiday with good friends - I recommend it.

Cottage very comfortable and well equipped and we approve of no TV."

"The view from the window is marvellous - more absorbing than a wide screen TV!"

"The cottage is cosy with a good fire blazing in the hearth.  28 different birds seen from the cottage - 15 from the window."

"The beaches are beyond words - I've never seen such striking beauty - and always so unexpected.  We found the house perfect to our needs, very comfortable and well equipped."

Hello Tim,   Just to let you know that the cottage was excellent and very comfortable, and the views outstanding !   As requested, I'm dropping you a line to let you know how our journeys by public transport turned out.  

It all worked like clockwork - thanks maybe to my colleague arranging the times and being a bit over cautious as to what was possible in a day. We chose to travel in daytime, and stop overnight in Inverness - but we could have saved a day and used the "Highland Sleeper" to Inverness as you suggested (I noted that it had arrived on-time at Inverness on Friday morning before we departed).

We therefore left Hereford on Thursday morning at 06.48 (yawn) and changed trains at Crewe, which gave us a civilised hour and a half at Edinburgh for lunch before the afternoon Inverness train. Arrival at Inverness was just after five, giving us plenty of time to find a meal and a few pints before adjourning to separate guest houses (slight cock-up on the booking front !).

Next morning we left at 08.53 on the train to Kyle of Lochalsh - a beautiful run on a glorious morning and well worth the twenty quid fare (return). A wait of some 50 minutes gave us long enough to look at the shops and tourist Information before the bus across Skye to Uig - another spectacular (if slightly bumpy) journey.

The bus stopped at the Cal-Mac office at Uig to allow us to get tickets and boarding passes, before driving us along the jetty and almost onto the ferry - integrated transport at its best ! The crossing to Tarbert was good and 90 minutes after leaving Uig we were docking on the Island of Harris.

A number of buses were waiting in the car park just 100 yards away, including one for Leverburgh - but we needed to get to Stornoway to pick up a hire car, so took that bus, and rode for an hour for the princely sum of £3.40. The driver kindly dropped us outside the car hire place in Bayhead St.

As it was still only Friday, we had B & B booked in Stornoway and took the opportunity to look around the North end of Lewis before going to the cottage on Saturday afternoon. The return journey was just as easy - we'd dropped the hire car back at Stornoway on the Friday, and taken the bus back to Leverburgh (£4.75 for 60 miles !), so on Saturday we walked into the village and took the 09.45 "Golden Road" bus (actually a mini-bus) to Tabert (there is also a 10.30 via the main road which connects with the ferry, but our way was more exciting, and gave us time for a cup of tea in Tarbert before the boat).

The ferry took us to Uig, where we had a hour lunch break before the bus to Kyle and train to Inverness for an overnight stop. Sunday morning saw us on the 09.38 Inverness to London train as far as Edinburgh, where we had a leisurely lunch before taking a Birmingham train as far as Crewe, and a Cardiff train to Hereford (arrival at 20.30 on a bus - due to engineering works ! ).

Amazingly, there were a couple with three small children on the train from Inverness, also travelling to Hereford - from the Isle of Lewis; so we weren't the only people brave / mad enough to do it! It's unfortunate that the Uig - Tarbert ferry times are different on a Saturday, as we could have picked up the car and driven back to the cottage, cutting out the Friday night B & B in Stornoway - but it was good to have a full day on the Saturday instead !  

We will definitely use you (and public transport) if we travel to Scotland again !  

Regards,   John Crooks hd."