GRAHAM MCTAVISH, ACTOR
Where is it?
The Outer Hebrides. From Barra to Lewis.
Why do you go there?
To me, it's like another Scotland, perched on the edge of the roaring North Atlantic. Next stop: the eastern seaboard of America. Its remoteness suggests the expectation of adventure. To live there requires a different character, I believe. The long hard winters and the weather that can change in the twinkling of an eye.
How often do you go?
I don't go often enough. I was lucky to go to Lewis with Sam Heughan this year, surfing of all things – my first time. Exhilarating, even though there is no danger of me becoming a threat to Laird Hamilton anytime soon.
Before that, I hadn't been since I cycled the length of the islands more than 20 years ago. Back then, I started in Barra after a long ferry sailing from Oban with dolphins leaping across the bow of the ship.
What did you enjoy most?
I remember the golden sands of the beach where you can land in a plane from Glasgow. The hills were fearsome. Then leapfrogging across the chain of islands. I love the names: Benbecula, Uist, Barra. They sound like a series of challenges thrown at you.
North Uist and South Uist, flat and peppered with lochs, rivers, and a single road. Harris, with its white sand beaches. I was lucky enough to be there on a cloudless day with no wind. An amazing memory. Then on to Lewis (on a Sunday – not to be recommended). I saw not a soul that day.
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But it was more than worth it for the side trip to the Callanish Stones. I first visited them long before Outlander. It is humbling to visit a manmade structure that has stood through the fall of the Roman Empire, the Pharaohs, Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great. Frankly, it is worth visiting Lewis simply to see these stones.
I was lucky enough to visit them again on a beautiful day in August with Sam, but I'm sad to say our attempts at time-travelling were unsuccessful.
How did you discover it?
Through the wonders of the Ordnance Survey maps and the fulfilment of a long-held desire to visit this remote outpost of the Gaels.
What's your favourite memory of being there?
The beach at Harris, the castle [Kisimul] on Barra where every morning a servant used to shout from the battlements "The Macneil has risen", the Callanish Stones in Lewis and the waters of Uist.
Sum it up in five words.
Remote. Mysterious. Contrasting. Surprising. Epic.
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What travel spot is on your post-lockdown wish list?
I would love to revisit Japan and India, two places I've been that seem closest to travelling to another planet. Also, Patagonia. I love standing on the edge of things, looking out towards the Antarctic.
Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish (Hodder & Stoughton, £20) is out now
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