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CalMac car ferry · Sound of Harris · North Uist to Harris
Berneray to Leverburgh Ferry: a smaller relief ship and new times almost every day
Service warning: MV Loch Portain is laid up in Greenock with engine vibration and CalMac does not expect her back before late March 2027. The relief ship MV Loch Bhrusda is running the Sound of Harris instead, with room for 18 cars rather than 34, and a timetable that changes from one date to the next.
Three round trips, the most Loch Bhrusda offers this autumn. Winter officially begins on Monday 19 October without any change of times that week.
From Berneray ferry terminal
08:3013:30
2 departures · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
10:0014:50
2 departures · to Berneray ferry terminal
From Berneray ferry terminal
08:3014:30
2 departures · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
10:0016:00
2 departures · to Berneray ferry terminal
From Berneray ferry terminal
08:3014:15
2 departures · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
10:0015:35
2 departures · to Berneray ferry terminal
British Summer Time ends overnight; the times shown are already local winter time.
From Berneray ferry terminal
08:3014:15
2 departures · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
09:5015:35
2 departures · to Berneray ferry terminal
From Berneray ferry terminal
08:3011:20
2 departures · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
09:5015:00
2 departures · to Berneray ferry terminal
From Berneray ferry terminal
08:3011:20
2 departures · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
09:5015:20
2 departures · to Berneray ferry terminal
From Berneray ferry terminal
08:3011:2014:00
3 departures · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
09:5012:4015:20
3 departures · to Berneray ferry terminal
From Berneray ferry terminal
08:3013:30
2 departures · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
09:5014:50
2 departures · to Berneray ferry terminal
No service at all on Sunday 1 November, a planned maintenance day.
From Berneray ferry terminal
08:4513:00
2 departures · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
10:0514:20
2 departures · to Berneray ferry terminal
CalMac's notice prints the first arrival in Leverburgh as 9:00; its sailing data gives 09:55, which fits the 70-minute crossing.
From Berneray ferry terminal
09:0013:00
2 departures · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
10:2014:20
2 departures · to Berneray ferry terminal
From Berneray ferry terminal
09:00
1 departure · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
10:20
1 departure · to Berneray ferry terminal
A single round trip, for the tide.
From Berneray ferry terminal
09:00 unconfirmed — see note
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
10:20
1 departure · to Berneray ferry terminal
The 10:20 from Leverburgh appears in both CalMac sources. A 09:00 from Berneray is printed in the amended timetable but is missing from CalMac's bookable sailings, so treat it as unconfirmed.
From Berneray ferry terminal
09:0011:40
2 departures · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
10:2013:00
2 departures · to Berneray ferry terminal
From Berneray ferry terminal
09:3013:00
2 departures · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
10:5014:20
2 departures · to Berneray ferry terminal
From Berneray ferry terminal
13:00
1 departure · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
14:20
1 departure · to Berneray ferry terminal
The afternoon round trip is confirmed. For the morning, the amended timetable says 09:30 from Berneray and 10:50 back, while CalMac's sailing data still shows 08:30 and 09:35; ask CalMac before travelling.
From Berneray ferry terminal
09:3012:45
2 departures · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
10:5014:05
2 departures · to Berneray ferry terminal
Not on Sunday 13 December, a planned maintenance day.
From Berneray ferry terminal
09:20
1 departure · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
10:40
1 departure · to Berneray ferry terminal
From Berneray ferry terminal
09:30
1 departure · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
10:50
1 departure · to Berneray ferry terminal
From Berneray ferry terminal
09:3012:10
2 departures · to Leverburgh ferry terminal
From Leverburgh ferry terminal
10:5013:30
2 departures · to Berneray ferry terminal
Pick the exact date: on this route the times follow the tide and the daylight, so they move every few days. Each crossing takes about 1 hour 10 minutes with Loch Bhrusda. Four dates have no ship at all: Sundays 1 November and 13 December (maintenance), Christmas Day and the first day of 2027. Nothing is published for January to March 2027: Loch Bhrusda goes for her own annual overhaul from 2 to 23 January, CalMac is still deciding which vessel will cover, and bookings between 2 January and 25 March are closed for now. Weather cancellations are posted on CalMac's service status page for route 23.
MV Loch Bhrusda amended timetables for 28 September – 18 October and winter 2026/27, published by CalMac and read on 13 October 2026; every time below was checked against CalMac's bookable sailings for the same date. Shown to 31 December 2026.CalMac — Berneray–Leverburgh winter 2026/27 amended timetable · 2026-10-13
Winter on the Sound of Harris, with the regular ship away until spring
Winter on the Sound of Harris officially begins on Monday 19 October, but this year the bigger change happened earlier. MV Loch Portain, the ship built for this crossing in 2003, has been out of service at James Watt Dock in Greenock while CalMac investigates vibration in all four main engines and their gearboxes. CalMac says it does not expect her back before the winter timetable ends on 25 March 2027.
In her place sails MV Loch Bhrusda, the 1996 ship designed for this very sound and now a relief vessel. She carries 150 passengers but only 18 cars, against Loch Portain's 34, and her amended timetable gives two or three round trips most days, with single trips on a few tidal dates.
Those times were set around the tide and the short winter daylight, which is why the table on this page runs by date rather than by weekday. The first boat from Berneray slips from 08:30 in October to 09:30 by December.
Fares
£18.45 a car and £4.90 a head, the same rates all year
By CalMac standards the fares are modest: £18.45 per car plus £4.90 per adult, so with two people in the car a single comes to £28.25. Under-16s from five upward are charged £2.45, while bikes and infants ride free.
Watch the length of a motorhome. Up to 6 metres a camper is charged like a car; one centimetre more and the price leaps to £46.15. Returns cost exactly two singles, and Blue Badge holders can apply their concession online.
Passengers, single
Adult, 16 and over
£ 4.90
Child, 5 to 15
£ 2.45
Bicycle
Free
Vehicles, single — driver not included
Car
£ 18.45
Motorcycle
£ 9.25
Motorhome up to 6 m
£ 18.45
Motorhome 6.01–8 m
£ 46.15
Motorhome 8.01–10 m
£ 55.35
Caravan up to 6 m
£ 18.45
Caravan 6.01–8 m
£ 27.70
Blue Badge car
£ 13.84
Cycling parties of half a dozen or larger need to warn CalMac's port staff beforehand, and may find themselves on different boats. Light vans up to 6 metres pay £23.35.
A shallow, rock-strewn sound that needs a shallow-draught ship
The Sound of Harris separates the Uists from Harris and is notably shallow; barely twelve kilometres separate the two slipways on a map, though the navigable channel between them is longer. Loch Bhrusda was built in 1996 specifically for these waters, with Schottel pump-jet propulsion so that her keel would not snag, and she draws only 1.4 metres. She is smaller and slower than Loch Portain, which is why crossings now take about ten minutes longer than the hour CalMac quotes for its regular ship.
Terminals
Two unstaffed slipways, at the top of the Uists and the foot of Harris
From
Berneray ferry terminal
Ferry Terminal, Berneray HS6 5BJ · Berneray, North Uist
The slipway is on Berneray, at the northern end of the Uists, and nobody staffs it: CalMac sells tickets online or on board. The council's free car park is ten metres from the small terminal building, which has a waiting room, toilets and wi-fi, and there is a shop about 300 metres away. Fill the tank before you come, because the nearest petrol is eleven miles off in Lochmaddy.
57.70236, -7.17993
To
Leverburgh ferry terminal
Pier Road, Leverburgh, Isle of Harris HS5 3UB · Leverburgh, South Harris
Leverburgh, An t-Ob in Gaelic, is the village at the southern end of Harris, off the A859. The slipway is unattended too, with parking, accessible toilets, baby changing and an electric car charger beside it and a bus stop ten metres away. Fuel and groceries are at An Clachan, about three quarters of a mile off, and the nearest cash machine is in the post office.
57.76661, -7.02468
Before you travel
Booking, motorhomes and the bus at Leverburgh
Book, even on foot
CalMac asks every passenger to hold a ticket before travelling. With car space halved this winter, reserving a vehicle place matters more than usual.
Twenty minutes
Check-in for vehicles and foot passengers is 20 minutes before departure, at the slipway, with the crew.
Campervans
Campervan and caravan drivers are asked by the Western Isles council to stay only in campsites or designated overnight spots, and CalMac runs a standby process for them.
Text alerts
Disruption alerts for the Sound of Harris come by text if you send CALMAC SUBSCRIBE 23 to 60030; the subscription lasts six months.
Onward by bus
At Leverburgh the bus stop is ten metres from the slipway; on Berneray, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar publishes the local bus times.
For anyone touring the Outer Hebrides by car this is the link between the Uists and Harris: off the boat at Leverburgh you are on the A859 in South Harris, and back at Berneray the road leads on to Lochmaddy. CalMac also runs the Uig to Tarbert crossing from Skye and Uig to Lochmaddy, so a round trip out on one and home on the other uses this ferry in the middle.
Loch Bhrusda takes her name from the largest loch on Berneray. After eleven years on Hebridean routes she was moved to the Clyde as a relief ship, and her return to the Sound of Harris this year is a stopgap: from 2 to 23 January 2027 she needs her own overhaul, and CalMac has not yet said what will replace her.
Questions and answers
Sound of Harris questions for this winter
Why does the Berneray–Leverburgh timetable change every day?
Because the Sound of Harris is shallow and the sailings are fitted around the tide and daylight. With the relief ship Loch Bhrusda this winter, CalMac has published a separate list of times for almost every date.
When is MV Loch Portain coming back?
Not before the end of the winter timetable on 25 March 2027, according to CalMac. She is at James Watt Dock in Greenock while vibration in her four main engines and gearboxes is investigated.
Which days have no sailings at all?
No. Sunday 1 November and Sunday 13 December are planned maintenance days, and both festive bank holidays, Christmas and New Year, are idle days on the slipways too.
With Loch Bhrusda on the route, how long does the sound take to cross?
About 1 hour 10 minutes with Loch Bhrusda; for example, the 08:30 from Berneray reaches Leverburgh at 09:40. CalMac's port pages quote 60 minutes, which is the regular ship's time.
Can I book for January?
Not yet. CalMac has closed bookings and amendments from 2 January to 25 March 2027 while it decides how to cover Loch Bhrusda's overhaul from 2 to 23 January.
For a car carrying two adults, what is the fare?
£28.25 one way — the car's £18.45 plus £4.90 apiece for driver and passenger, because CalMac charges whoever drives as a passenger too. Coming back doubles it to £56.50.
Do the Berneray and Leverburgh slipways sell tickets?
Neither slipway is staffed; tickets are sold online or on board. CalMac still advises booking before you travel, foot passengers included.
Joining the Uists and Harris to Skye and to each other by sea
