Great Bernera Walk

About

In recent years Great Bernera was owned by one of Scotland's most dashing and much loved aristocrats, the late Count Robin de la Lanne Mirrlees, who despite having other homes, preferred to live in a croft house on the island. After an action-packed life with romps through both military service and reputedly through the beds of willing socialites, he became the inspiration for Ian Fleming's James Bond. Mirrlees claimed the title Prince of Incoronata, an area which includes a group of islands off the Dalmatian coast of the former Yugoslavia, which was given to him by the country's late King Peter II in the 1960s.

This circular route covers what was undoubtedly the best part of his Scottish kingdom. It may be small, measuring only six miles from north to south by about three miles from east to west. But on a calm summer day when the sparkling sandy beaches are washed by Caribbean turquoise waves, you could believe you were in the land of 007.

[This walk is described in detail and illustrated with Ordnance Survey map extracts in 'Walking on Harris and Lewis' by Richard Barrett, published by Cicerone Press 2010. Unless otherwise indicated, all images used here are copyright of the author.]

There is also a leaflet available to download if you click on the image below: