But the good news for hardcore Mackintosh fans is that his legacy, neglected for much of the 20th Century, has recently been taken forward by a new generation of architects whose work offers the visitor new delights which help keep Glasgow's smile in place.. You mean the outer hebrides, then? You mean the outer hebrides, then?In part though this chain only represents a quarter of the almost 800 islands (and large rocks) strewn along the western and northern seaboards of Scotland. They stretch 400 miles from Arran, a day-trip down the Clyde from Glasgow city centre, north to Unst in the Shetland Islands, which is closer to the Norwegian city of Bergen than it is to Edinburgh.To help make some sense of the numbers, the islands divide into four main groups. Shetland is a distinct cluster of 100 or so islands way off to the north-west of the mainland (although often found sheltering in a small box off Aberdeen on maps). Orkney comprises some 70 islands scattered just across the Pentland Firth from John O'Groats.The Inner Hebrides are dotted along the coast from the north-west Highlands down to Islay, 25 miles from the coast of Northern Ireland.
The Outer Hebrides, also called the Western Isles, arc in a 130-mile chain of 200 or more islands to the north-west of their more sheltered siblings.A few mavericks do not fit into these categories, including Arran and Bute in the Firth of Clyde, and the remote islands of St Kilda, 40 miles west of the Western Isles. Where should i start?Only 130 islands have permanent inhabitants and thus some form of transport service to get you there, although others are accessible on day-trips or by special arrangement. Many share similar characteristics: communities built around crofting and fishing, and lives lived at a slower pace by people with a real appreciation of nature, the outdoors and the intimacy of island life.The Isle of Skye is the most visited of the islands. This is due in part to the road bridge making it so accessible from the mainland, though the island's breathtaking beauty is the chief reason it has been such a popular destination for a century or more. Over the years, some visitors have stayed on, and the island now supports a mixed community of locals and largely English incomers. Its landscape is also diverse, from the jagged ridges of the Cuillins and the extraordinary geological deformations of the Trotternish Peninsula, to the verdant Sleat Peninsula in the south. And for more solitude?Try the Outer Hebrides They can seem bleak at first. Low lying and treeless, with the exception of mountainous Harris, it's a landscape of moorland, peat bogs and lochs.
Yet they have a more remote and elemental beauty and boast some of the whitest, emptiest stretches of sand you could wish to find.In the main, the Western Isles are much less touristy than the Inner Hebrides. With fewer incomers, the islands' 29,000 population have retained a strong sense of tradition, with Gaelic widely spoken.Historical ties are also strong on Shetland (see box), where a distinctly Norse character pervades. Rugged and rocky, they certainly feel like the most distant group of islands. What about some ancient history?The Orkney Islands are greener, flatter and even more steeped in history than Shetland. More than 1,000 prehistoric sites have been identified, including Europe's earliest standing house on the tiny island of Papa Westray, which dates from around 3700BC. Others come for Orkney's 20th-century relics, diving on the wrecks of ships sunk during the First World War in the clear waters of Scapa Flow. See www.visitorkney Will i need much sunscreen?Sunburn is not a substantial risk.
