Luskentyre - Isle of Harris - Western Isles - Outer Hebrides
Luskentyre (Losgaintir) is situated on the spectacular west coast of South Harris. The luskentyre beach has been voted Britain's best beach and also the beach has been said to be in the top top ten beaches in the world. Luskentyre is famous for the beautiful white sandy beach which runs for miles and the gorgeous green-blue waters lapping up onto its shores. Luskentyre Bay on the Isle of Harris is a tranquil unspoilt shell sand bay.

Luskentyre Bay - Isle of Harris
Luskentyre Bay is on the west side of South Harris a few miles south of where it almost becomes an island at Tarbert. When there is a high tide a lot of the bay becomes underwater, becoming part of the Sound of Taransay and looking out to the island of Taransay, one of the most scenic of Scotland's islands which gained media recognition after a BBC television programme based a group of people here for one year to live on the island's resources as 'castaways'.

Luskentyre - The Colours
When its is low tide the bay of Luskentyre emerges to show the very large beach. The colours make the beach just a beautiful scene, the beach having been covered by the aqua marine turqoise sea water, and the bright silvery whites of the sand. The colours of the rocks, greys and pinks and the grass provide the contrasts.

Winding Narrow Road with Spectacular Views of Luskentyre
Luskentyre beach is accessed by taking the narrow scenic winding road down to the beach access. You pass along the way, a few crofters farms, a few holiday cottages, and a few local residents dwellings, a graveyard, and lots of beautiful sandy coastline.

The long Luskentyre beach goes round to the west, having spectacular sand dunes on the north side of the beach. So with the Harris Hills and Mountains in the Background, Luskentyre has got to be one of the finest beaches in the World. Of course if you catch Luskentyre at the right time, you will see lovely sunsets and sunrises.

Ponies on Luskentyre Beach and Sand Dunes - Otters - Seals - Eagles - Dolphons - Deer
Frequently, wild ponies are spotted grazing along the dunes, or even down on the beach (as in some of my photographs ). If you are in the right place at the right time, you can also see otters, seals, dolphins, eagles and of course on the Harris Hills, the lovely red deer stags are a spectacle to be seen.

Luskentyre Beach Wins Appraisal in Travel Magazine as being one of worlds top beaches.
In May 2012 Luskentyre Beach on Harris was named as one of the top 100 travel experiences in the world. Travel Magazine have compiled the guide which ranks the Harris beach alongside Brazil, Florida and South Africa. The guide said “It’s got Caribbean-white sand, Maldives-blue sea, but an average temperature of 7°C! It’s heart-racingly beautiful — and often empty.”

Harris Tweed
A weaver who lives and works at Luskentyre - Donald John MacKay, in 2011 was given the MBE for services to the Harris Tweed Industry. Nike had been looking for a way to uodate their trainers and after seeing swatches of the Harris Tweed ordered immediately and many of the Islands weavers were put to work, to help meet the demand. Mr Mackay has been weaving for over forty years. Over the past 21 years, he and his wife Maureen have been independently producing the tweed, trading under the name Luskentyre Harris Tweed.

Luskenyre Flora - Wildflowers

Luskentyre also affords some of the prettiest and indeed in some cases quite rare wildflowers. I was lucky enough to spot a Lesser Butterfly Orchid one day, whilst walking along the road that leads down to the beach. You can also see other orchids, like the early marsh orchids, a lovely deep pink wild orchid, as well as the great flowers that make up the machair , and the lovely yellow flag irises.