About Islandeering
Hi and welcome to Islandeering Islandeering is for people who want adventure in Britain’s wild blue spaces – our rivers, coast, lakes, canals and islands. You will find amazing walks, paddles and swims in the UK’s most special places, those recognised for outstanding natural beauty, incredible geology or special and abundant wildlife.
More About UsWe continuously find new islands, rivers, lochs, canals and coast to walk, SUP and swim in and meet plenty of great folks along the way. Join our community to get new routes and adventures, latest blogs and news by using the email box below. Tune in also to our Facebook and Instagram pages to see where we are going next.
About Isle of Scarp
A wild island west of Hushinish, Harris with a sprinkling of summer residences. Plenty of ruins to explore after the last remaining islanders left in 1971. Previously, the population of Scarp peaked at 213 in 1881. Even more recently the crofter’s life on the island was basic and with little cultivatable land families relied on potatoes, cabbages, oats, turnips, milk, fish, and some lobster fishing for their food and economy.
Scarp was one of several Scottish islands where all the men of the island would gather every morning in a so-called ‘parliament’, to agree the work to be done on that day – these meetings could last several hours.
The island was the scene of two unsuccessful experiments with rocket mail by German inventor Gerhard Zucker. In July 1934 Zucker two attempts at firing rocket mail between Scarp and Harris resulted in a small explosion and a flutter of singed envelopes.
Scarp is dominated by two hills, of which the higher (Sron Romul) reaches 308 metres.
Highlights of Scarp
- Wild and remote sand beaches
- Awesome views back to Harris
- Walk around the Isle of Scarp
- Exciting kayak trip to access it
- Climb to Scarp’s high point
How to get to Scarp
The island is accessed by a 1.6km kayak or boat crossing across the Kyle of Scarp from the jetty at Hushinish (Grid ref. NA 989 124) to land at the slipway on Scarp (GR 987 140), but the sound is very shallow and landing on Scarp can be difficult when there is a swell. Boat trips to Scarp run with Isle of Harris sea tours from West Loch Tarbert; and with Sea Harris from Leverburgh.
Things to do in Isle of Scarp
Aside from its glorious beach, there is a 14km round-island walk in Scarp – for full details of the walk check out the Islandeering tab. It is also possible to walk to Scarp’s highpoint, Sron Romul (308m). Rarely climbed there are spectacular views from its summit of deserted sandy beaches, turquoise seas and the mountains of Harris. There is no recognised route to the summit. It can be accessed either from the beach on the north side of the island or from the landing beach near the slipway in the south east.
From the north side of the island it is possible to head northwest and scramble up the gully then past Loch na Learga to the summit. From the south east beach near the slipway it is also possible to make the steep ascent directly to the summit. if you want to avoid climbing Beinn fo Thuath on the way, walk north along the coast away from the slipway before turning west to start the main ascent. It is also wonderful to poke around the ruins of the old community south of the pier.
Beaches of Scarp
Isle of Scarp walking route
A rugged and free-range route that follows Scarp’s coastline as closely as possible
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