Scotland's Islands

Back in March, we were fortunate to be joined by Lizzie from the National Autistic Society's Largs Branch who had recently worked with Calmac on delivering some autism resources and activities on the ferry routes in the Firth of Clyde, specifically the islands of Arran and Bute.

Scotland has many more islands and they are all in large groups. At the travel club meet up, questions were asked about other parts so we have created this blog as a follow up

Mull and Iona

Mull is situated in the Inner Hebridies and has many atractions. It is famous for the colourful waterfront on Tobermory (the set of the childrens TV show Balamory)

The island of Iona is located a short ferry link from Mull and is home to Iona Abby

Western Isles

This is a group of islands to the north west of Scotland (Lewis, Harris, Uist, Benbecula and Barra). The islands are famous for their beautiful beaches. In Barra you can even land on the beach when coming from the mainland. There are lots of accessible places on the islands to explore which you can learn more about on this website

Many of the islands described above are reachable via the town of Oban. This is a large town and got many attractions, hotels and resturants. There is a Roman Amphitheatre towering over the town which is well worth a visit. This town is also well served with regular train links via the West Highland line to Glasgow (where onward connections can be made accross the UK) as well as coach services to other parts of Scotland

Orkney

Orkney is a cluster of islands immediatly to the north of Scotland and is also extremely accessible. There is a helpful accomodation filter and more information on this website

Shetland

Shetland is the most northern part of the UK with parts of it closer to Norway than they are to the mainland.

There is lots to see and do here and more access information is avalable on this

Getting to the islands

For those on the west coast. Calmac operate a range of services and assistance is avalable. More information Passenger assistance | Caledonian MacBrayne

Northlink operate ferries to Orkney and Shetland and you can learn more about their services on this website. They also use the WelcoME system we spoke about at our webinar back in April. northlinkferries.co.uk/travel/passenger-info/accessibility-support/

Loganair- Logainair operate a network of internal flights accross Scotland between the mainland and the islands. More info on assistance is avalable on this website Mobility Assistance When Flying | Loganair Accessibility Hub