AN uninhabited Scottish island more than 100 miles from the mainland has been bizarrely included in a list of the best “hidden gem road trip spots for this summer”.
St Kilda, which after 4000 years saw its last 36 inhabitants leave in 1930, was named third in the list pulled together by Leasecar UK.
How a normal holidaymaker could even get a car to St Kilda is a mystery.
The press release suggested that anyone wanting to visit the island, which is considered a part of Na h-Eileanan an Iar, could take a ferry – but that doesn’t seem to exist.
There is a “St Kilda Ferry” – but it runs between Williamstown and Port Melbourne in southern Australia.
Holidaymakers hoping to visit the Scottish island, which is home to the UK’s largest colony of Atlantic puffins, should instead pack their hiking boots and look at boat trips from Skye, Harris, Barra, or Uist.
Another Scottish spot also made the top ten, and this one is at least accessible by road.
Aberlady Bay just made the list at number 10, with Leasecar UK saying that it is “close to Edinburgh yet isn’t as popular with tourists”. Fancy that.
Other locations named include Lundy Island, off the coast of North Devon.
The problem with putting that one on a list of “hidden gem road trip spots” should be pretty clear from the National Trust’s description: “Undisturbed by cars, the island encompasses a small village with an inn, Victorian church and the 13th-century Marisco Castle.”
And it doesn’t stop there.
Number six on the list is the Teesdale Way in Cumbria. There’s a pretty massive issue with that as well. As the official Tees Valley website makes clear: “The Teesdale Way is a long-distance walking route.”
So another no-go for cars then.
It seems pretty certain whoever wrote the list has never visited any of the spots named, but they could have at least googled them.
After all, there is no doubt St Kilda is a stunning destination, just not for a road trip.
