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Published: July 14th 2014
We left Tobermory by bus, travelled to Craignure and caught a ferry to Oban. From there, we caught another ferry out to Uist in the Outer Hebrides on a beautiful sunny day. The ferry glided past Mull and Tobermory before heading out to sea for a journey of over 5 hours to Lockboisdale in South Uist.
When we arrived in Lochboisdale, it was 7.00pm and the car was waiting for us. The arrangements were to use the car for the 4 days then drive it up to North Uist and leave it at near the ferry to be picked up. The car was to be left open and the keys left in the car under the sun viser. I love their casual attitude here.
The landscape is totally unfamiliar to us, moorland; peat covered with heather, moor grass interspersed with rocky outcrops set against rolling hills as a backdrop, peppered with many little lochs covered in white water lilies. The rocky outcrops could be compared to the Snowy Mountains, that would be the closest comparison I could make.
Uist is an island of contrasts, on the west side it is fringed with glorious sandy beaches with white, smooth
sand reaching into the clear turquiose waters of the Atlantic. To my surprise the water was warm as a result of the Gulf Stream. Here is summer, the Machair (Gaelic word for coastel grasslands), is carpeted with wildflowers. We even saw some orchids amongst the profusion of flower types and colours. To the east the heather moors are studded with shimmering trout lochs and the rugged coastline is made up of deep sea inlets and a myriad of tiny islands.
We had a day on the tiny island of Barra, taking the car ferry from Eriskay. It is one of the most beautiful of all the islands in the Outer Hebrides - "Barradise", some people say. It is only 14 miles around the entire island, so we had plenty of time to see everything.
We saw beaches, machair, peat covered hills, tiny crofting communities and Neolithic remains. We also saw the famous airstrip on the north end of the island. This is the only airport in the UK where flight schedules are shown, "subject to tides", and campers are warned to stay off the beach on hearing the drone of an aircraft. At Castlebay we saw the 15th
Century Kisimul Castle, which was the ancient home of the clan McNeils. Before we left we saw Compton McKenzie's home which was a beautiful large while home overlooking the beach where the aircraft now land. We also found the little cemetry where he is buried and found his very modest grave tucked away behind a drystone wall.
It was a delightful day, the sun shone, the sea sparkled and we felt we were in "Barradise".
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Pete Welsh
non-member comment
Happy Birthday !!
Hi Janey, wishing you a VERY Happty Birthday wherever you are in the northern hemisphere. So glad you and John are having such an amazing time. Thanks for all your SmileBoxes, Blogs and Youtubes, you've been very busy!! Take care, lots of love from Pete and Ness xx