Qualla: Summer Isles

Summer Isles: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bob Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. The post office on Tanera Mòr used to issue its own stamps. You stuck one on your postcard, added a regular UK stamp, dropped it in the box on the island, and the local mail boat carried it across to the mainland for forwarding. The Summer Isles Philatelic Bureau started doing this in 1970. Collectors loved them; the stamps became items in their own right. Then in 2013 the printing stopped, the islands changed hands, and the cafe and post office closed. A new owner has plans for a holiday resort. A decade on, nothing has come of them. The islands today are quieter than they have been in living memory.

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Image: Bob Jones | CC BY-SA 2.0

Summer Isles: The Islands

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Richard Harvey, CC BY-SA 3.0. Tanera Mòr is the largest of the Summer Isles and the only one with any kind of recent history of settlement. It has no roads, just a path around the Anchorage - the sheltered bay on the east side - where boats from Achiltibuie and Ullapool drop visitors. Scattered around it are ...

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Image: Richard Harvey | CC BY-SA 3.0

Summer Isles: Getting Out There

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Paul Hermans, CC BY-SA 3.0. Non-landing boat trips run in summer from two operators: Shearwater Cruises from Ullapool and Summer Isles Sea Tours from Badentarbet Pier in Achiltibuie. The trips loop among the islands, usually stopping for an hour or two off Tanera Mòr while passengers watch for wildlife, but...

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Image: Paul Hermans | CC BY-SA 3.0

Summer Isles: The Cafe That Isn't Open

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dave Conner from Inverness, Scotland, CC BY 2.0. There was, for a long time, a cafe on Tanera Mòr. There was a post office. There were five rental cottages. There were seasonal residents who ran the salmon farm and printed the stamps and took tourists' money for tea and shortbread. None of it is operating now. As of 2024, the c...

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Image: Dave Conner from Inverness, Scotland | CC BY 2.0

Summer Isles: The Achiltibuie Connection

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Postdlf, CC BY-SA 3.0. Most boat trips leave from Achiltibuie, a strung-out crofting township on the Coigach peninsula across the water. The drive there from Ullapool is a slow, winding affair on single-track roads, with passing places and the occasional Highland cow blocking the route. The reward at t...

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Image: Postdlf | CC BY-SA 3.0