BARRA

We’ll fly to the Island of Barra, landing on the beach and settling into our first island home which overlooks Castlebay. We’ll spend these days exploring Barra and the wee neighboring island of Vatersay by coach, on foot and by boat. In between, times of relaxation, chat, drams and a knitalong are all the order of the day! 

THE UISTS & BENBECULA

Off north we go, on the ferry to Eriskay, where the SS Politician complete with cargo of whisky ran aground in 1941, giving rise to the classic film Whisky Galore.  

Causeways connect the islands and we’ll wend our way through South Uist, Benbecula and North Uist, sampling freshly caught shellfish and a locally made tipple as we go. We’ll visit pioneering Uist Wool who have brought yarn and wool production back to the islands. 

Our home will be in Lochmaddy, North Uist, and across another causeway to the tiny island of Berneray we will meet fiber-champion Meg at The Birlinn Yarn Co and her seafaring sheep.

HARRIS

Over the sea to Harris, island of golden beaches and handwoven tweed. It’s obligatory to wander and take photos of the miles of sand and turquoise waters (weather permitting!) along the dramatic west coast of the island. Using our hotel by the harbor in Tarbert as a base, we’ll search out tweed and the much praised Harris Gin, fit in a wee walk on a another wee island and surely find more lush local seafood on our travels.

LEWIS

Our final island is Lewis, but it is firmly attached to Harris so we’ll simply drive north on a journey to the iconic Callanish Stones and Gearannan blackhouse village. Cue stunning photo opps! Still more to enjoy - a tweed mill tour and time to explore Stornoway including Lews Castle museum and grounds on our last day in the Hebrides. Will you try the world famous Stornoway black pudding at breakfast?

GLASGOW

Back on mainland Scotland, there’s a day to squeeze in more treats to round off our island-hopping journey, plus a little last-minute shopping time. 

HOMEWARD BOUND

Wake up refreshed in our city center hotel, and head off to the airport laden with island treasures and memories!

Colleen is knitting multiple projects right now, spinning hand-blended fibers on her Lendrum DT, and has found it difficult but not impossible to knit and watch a South Korean show on Netflix with subtitles at the same time. She is curious about makers' stories of the lineage and evolution of their craft and where to find truly awesome pie.  Her professional background in outdoor tour guiding and small business ownership makes a great match with RTT. Colleen loves to drive a convertible, swim in natural waters and hula hoops. Does she talk to her plants? That’s what her friends want to know.

Liz lives with her family on a smallholding in the Cambrian mountains in Wales.  A keen knitter since childhood, she remembers watching her mother spin yarn from the family sheep, and she now keeps her own small flock of Shetland sheep to indulge her passion for all things woolly. Liz is also a keen hill walker, and loves to escape to her beloved mountains, seeking inspiration amongst the colours and textures of the wild upland landscape of mid-Wales. A linguist and Latin America specialist by training, Liz previously spent many years studying and travelling in southern Chile, where she was bewitched by the alchemy that rural women could perform with some roughly-spun wool and a few leaves in a dye pot over a wood fire. It was here that Liz learnt to weave, and now settled back home in Wales, she teaches weaving, whilst also running wildwoven, a woolly fair trade business, providing opportunities for rural women in Chile to supply highly-textured, hand spun yarns to discerning weavers and fibre artists.