Our Story of Wild Camping and Road Tripping in the Outer Hebrides 

Wrangling with tent poles in the savage coastal winds of the Outer Hebrides wasn’t how I pictured my first wild camping trip. My friend Helen and I thought we were so clever camping on a raised grassy verge on the beach (think of the pictures!) but as soon as we started setting up, the storm began. 

It was all good fun though, laughing with Helen as we grappled with the guy ropes attempting to peg them down. Cackling at our failure to prepare or stay one step ahead of the weather situation. At that point we had no idea of the sleepless night ahead of us and hastily finished putting up the tent. We were both eager to head back into Barra island’s main village of Castlebay for an Indian meal at Kisimul Restaurant, by the castle, to warm us up. 

The last time we would be warm for at least 12 hours it turned out. 

We spent that night inside the two-metre high tent – far too high for wild camping in a Scottish storm – desperately trying to get warm in our separate pods. The fly sheet of the ‘hastily’ erected tent was now flapping where we hadn’t pegged it, neither of us had put the top on so it was leaking, and what tent pegs there were, were slowly being ripped from the soft ground by the coastal gale.