In which Sid and Doris visit North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, Eriskay and Barra though do not swim to Kisimul castle.
We are up before dawn but this far north that is no great claim, driving from Tarbert past Presbyterian churches to Leverburgh for the first ferry of this busy day. Happily there is an Openo street food van and Doris orders up bacon rolls and a form of coffee we know as boat-drink. It is hot and brown and does not taste of tea or chocolate.
We drive onto the Landing Craft Tank and are sorry to learn we must stay in the car with no view, as the Risk Assessment officer has estimated that our chances of spreading Covid (non-zero) are higher than our chances of being taken down with the ship on a ferry which has so far never sunk (historically zero).
North Uist’s claim to fame might be lochs, there seems more water than land and a lot of the road is causeway. So Jyvaskala why only 1,000 lakes? To which the Finns might reply: so North Uist, why only one road? Which is a fair point.
South Uist is a Catholic Island. As we cross onto the island there is a phone box sized shrine. A little way further we find Our Lady of the Isles. This was built after the Ministry of Defence had proposed building a large military town to support a missile testing centre. The proposal was fought off by the parish priest at the time who commissioned and raised funds for this large statue in 1957. We get chatting with the other visitors, a woman accompanied by her sheepdog. She had come from Fair Isle with her camper van full of 65 fleeces that she wishes spun near here. That is a long way to come but more fun than putting them on the DHL lorry.
We both try for the Kildonan Heritage Centre which is shut though we can still admire the sailing boat with fold down mast and props for the boom. The double tiller comes around both sides of the stern post so the helm stands between two arms. Never seen that before.
Another covid-compliant non-scenic ferry ride takes us from Eriskay to Barra. Why might we expect any fun at Barra airport? It is because when the tide is out they land planes on the beach. There are signs warning that planes will whip up dry sand. There are runway numbers in yellow on black. There is a baggage collection point. There are all the airport crash tenders and little pick ups you would expect and if things have gone very wrong a large RIB. Today’s plane has been and gone.
And so to Castlebay. From our Scots covid dry hotel we can see the CalMac ferry waiting to take us to Oban at dark o’clock tomorrow morning. We can look down to Kisimul Castle out on its island in the bay, the only significant medieval castle to survive in these Western Isles. See but not visit as the tourist boat stopped running three weeks ago. Anyway, probably best seen from above.
We finish this post with a charming statue of two otters having fun and a fish having less fun.