Take the fifteen-minute ferry ride from Sconser to the Isle of Raasay. Named from the Norse for the Isle of the Roe (or Red Deer), the island is just 13 miles long and, in parts, less than a mile wide. The island today is a nature conservation area and offers a host of opportunities to discover its serene and sublime beauty.
For centuries Raasay was the stronghold of the MacLeods. The island was virtually razed to the ground by Government troops as punishment for the Clan’s sheltering of ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ while the Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries did for the rest. A poignant poem by the Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean is inscribed in the monument to the cleared village of Hallaig. The MacLeod’s island seat, Raasay House has been fully restored (again) and acts not only as the hotel, cafe and restaurant but is also a popular outdoor activity centre.