West of Scotland - Outer Hebrides

After a very comfortable night and hearty breakfast at our lovely B&B we headed 5 minutes back into Stornoway and to the marina where the Lifeboat Station is located.

Stornoway Lifeboat Station

Having taken our evidence photo we were met by Coxwain Donald, also known as DI. We stood and chatted for a while before Joanne arrived. She had been in contact prior to the visit with the arrangements. She had hoped that more crew would be available but there were several events that they were representing the station at. We never take for granted that anyone will be available to meet us and whilst Joanne apologised, there was no need.

The station in Stornoway is one of the oldest on the west coast of Scotland, established in 1887. Motor lifeboats were introduced from 1929 and were moored in the harbour until 1995. Their first was a Barnett Class called William and Harriot and was fitted with the first radio-telephone in the RNLI fleet. The current station was built in 2003 with the berth for the Severn Class Lifeboat being completed in 2014.

There were two Severn Class lifeboats moored in the marina, indeed just few days prior to our visit there were three. The Stornoway boat was transferred down to Poole for a refit which will take about six months and see the life of the boat extended by between 15 to 20 years. This boat, 17-18 Tom Sanderson, has been on station since 1999.

The two boats we saw were relief Severns. Relief boats are kept in the fleet and can be assigned to any station that requires them for whatever reason. Most commonly this is due to maintenance or refits. One of these boats, 17-46, was destined for Mallaig whilst their Severn, the one we had seen a couple of days earlier, is away for maintenance.  The relief boat assigned to Stornoway was 17-38 Daniel L Gibson.

DI kindly took us down to the mooring to get a rare close up photo of the two Severns.

Back at the station we said our goodbyes and let DI get back to his Saturday with his family.

Leaving the town we headed south through Lewis and Harris, passing some spectacular scenery, and on to the small village of Leverburgh.

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Leverburgh Lifeboat Station

Located in the small ferry port of Leverburgh, the lifeboat station comprises a portacabin and an Atlantic 85 Lifeboat moored on a versadock. Unfortunately the station was about to close due to lack of crew and seeing the size of the village it is completely understandable why recruitment and retention of crew is a problem. Such a shame that this long stretch of remote coastline will lose inshore coverage.

The station has a checkered history being established in 2012 following a petition from the local community concerned over the safety of increased offshore fishing, renewable energy projects and leisure boats. A relief Mersey class lifeboat was assigned to the station and became fully operational in 2013. A new Shannon Class replaced the Mersey in 2018 but was withdrawn the following year due to the challenges of finding sufficient crew. The station closed until 2021 when an Atlantic 85 Inshore Lifeboat was introduced, requiring fewer crew. In 2022 the station became fully operational but alas just three years later and the same issues of crew numbers exists. Whilst the station was still open at the time of our visit, it was understood to be closing in early September. The Atlantic 85 we saw was B-870, John and Louisa Fisher. After closure this boat will likely join the relief fleet.

After our evidence photo and a photo of the boat we waited for the short ferry crossing from Leverburgh to the island of Berneray and an overnight stay on Benbecula.

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By the time we had reached our accommodation, the weather had started to take a turn for the worse and along with strong winds, the rain was coming down horizontally. We were therefore quite concerned about the following mornings final ferry crossing to the island of Barra.

We ventured out to get a Chinese Takeaway and took it back to the cosy B&B where we met a lovely couple and their daughters who had found themselves stranded due to cancelled ferries. We had already heard that our final ferry of the trip had been cancelled the following morning and we had everything crossed that it would sail on our departure day. It was a bit of a sleepless night of worry.

The following morning, we had received notifications of disruptions and cancellations on the Eriskay to Ardmhor route and so we left the accommodation very early for the 30 minute drive down to the small ferry port. First in line we waited, keeping an eye on the weather and Marine Traffic apps. We received further notification that the ferry would attempt the crossing but it would be a load and go so we were glad at least to be the first on the slipway. It duly arrived offloaded and loaded us in a matter of minutes. It was too cold and wet to sit up on deck and so we hunkered down in the car. The crossing was rough, bouncy and the car got a good soaking from the spray coming over the bow of the ferry and lapping at the tyres from the loading ramp. Finally we made it to the Island of Barra – a hair-raising experience.

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Barra Lifeboat Station

Arriving in Castlebay, we parked up and headed for the small station building. We had received messages from Coxwain John during our crossing and he very kindly kept us up to date. We knocked on the door and was welcomed by Lifeboat Operations Manager Raghnall and John. We enjoyed a lovely cup of tea and biscuits and a good chat about their station and crew, most of which are from a marine background.

The station was established in 1931 following increasing numbers of shipwrecks off the remote island. In November 1979, along with the Lifeboat from Islay, the crew attended a Danish coaster called Lone Dania. Both lifeboats capsized during the service but successfully righted with no loss of life. The station building was opened in 1991 providing a small crew facility. Discussions were ongoing with the RNLI to improve the facilities as they were quite cramped .

They have a Severn Class lifeboat which sat on its mooring next to the imposing Isle of Lewis Ferry which hadn’t sailed that day due to the conditions. 17-12, Edna Windsor was on station in 1998.

Thanking John for his time, we headed back round the island to the famous Barra Airport, where we had lunch. Here, aircraft land on the sandy beach. Unfortunately due to the weather the two flights due in were delayed and so we headed back to Castlebay to our hotel where we enjoyed a lovely final evening meal before heading home on the early ferry which thankfully was back in operation as the weather had improved.

Our long drive home from Oban took us a couple of days as we stayed at the Royal Station Hotel in Carnforth again to split the journey. An epic 10 day trip with some incredible memories of amazing crew and stations.