Summer Isles

The Summer Isles are a scatter of small islands and skerries, some no more than bare rock breaking the surface, at the mouth of Loch Broom, off the Coigach coast between Ullapool and Achiltibuie. None has a bridge or a scheduled ferry; the only way out is a boat trip, run in summer by Shearwater Cruises from Ullapool and by Summer Isles Sea Tours from Old Dornie, near Achiltibuie, both cruising past seal haul-outs, seabird colonies and sea caves on the way. Tanera Mòr, the largest of the group and the only one still lived on, is where most trips land for an hour or so; from 1970 to 2013 its post office printed its own local stamps, valid only between the island and the mainland post at Achiltibuie. Isle Martin, closer to Ullapool and reached by its own passenger ferry from Ardmair, is often grouped with the Summer Isles too.