Monday, 12 May 2025

Western Isles - Day 8

We drove to Berneray and parked above the East Beach there. We planned to stay overnight, there's a sign for £10 in the honesty box.

We set off on a walk round the whole island. First along behind the beach and up to the highest point, Beinn Shlèibhe.

On the way down towards the West Beach we saw a pair of golden eagles. We walked the whole length of the beach, about 3 miles.


At the far end of the beach we sat in the sunshine and had our lunch.

We then rounded the rocky southern end of the island, past an old settlement, and some rocks where birds obviously dropped loads of cockle shells to break them open.


We took a short cut across a bay because the tide was out, then uphill again to a large standing stone.



The final part of the walk was along the road through the main village and past the harbour. There were some old thatched cottages, including the youth hostel.



Later for dinner we had beef chilli and rice.




Sunday, 11 May 2025

Western Isles - Day 7

We drove to Lochmaddy ferry terminal again. There we used toilets, showers, waste disposal, recycling, chemical toilet disposal and filled the van up with water - great facilities!

We drove half way back along the road and stopped for a walk at Langass Woodland. This has a statue and memorial to Hercules the bear, a tame grizzly bear who once escaped on North Uist and wasn't recaptured for 3 weeks. He is buried here, as is his owner.



We then drove further west and parked for our walk to Vallay island. This is a magnificent 2 mile walk over the sand which can only be done at low tide.



On the island are ruins of a farm and a large house, formerly occupied by the landowner.



We walked over to the far side of the island, passing Highland cows on the beach on the way, to a headland where we had our lunch.




We walked back over to the mainland well before the tide came in again.

We drove a bit further up the coast to our parking spot for the night, yet another car park near a beach with a £10 honesty box.

We went for a walk along the beach and back, then watched the tide come in. It almost covered the entrance to the car park at the highest point.

Later for dinner we made bacon, egg, fried potatoes and beans.



Saturday, 10 May 2025

Western Isles - Day 6

Scott had a mishap while making breakfast today, and broke the coffee pot. So we tried to buy a new one in any likely looking shop we passed today.

We drove to Lochmaddy ferry terminal on North Uist to use their facilities, then back down to Benbecula to go for a walk. We parked just off the main road, then walked along to the causeway across to Flodaigh island.

We had a nice walk round the island to a point where we could see seals out on the rocks, where we had our lunch.



On the way back we passed some interesting old farm machinery, and a thatched cottage.



We drove into Balivanich village, where at the village hardware store we successfully found a replacement coffee pot.

We drove on to cross the causeway to Baleshare island, where we parked overnight next to the beach on the west side for £10 in their honesty box.

We went for a short walk down the beach and back, and later had pasta Bolognese for dinner.




Friday, 9 May 2025

Western Isles - Day 5

We left the site and drove to a Co-op in Boisdale for some shopping. However we found that the recent cyber attack on Co-op systems had affected deliveries and there were lots of empty shelves. However we managed to get enough to keep us going.

We then drove to the start of our next walk, near Daliburgh. We parked next to a cemetery and headed over the dunes to the ruined Cladh Hallan roundhouses, which date from the Bronze Age.


The walk then took us down a white sandy beach, then back inland over the machair, which was populated by thousands of rabbits.

We drove on and parked in the car park of a church just outside Bornish.

From there we walked out to a headland surrounding a loch, that was a well known bird spotting area. Mostly we saw lapwings and geese.



We walked back past many plots of cultivated land. It looks like just sand, but apparently they can successfully grow grain and root crops there, in a combination of sand and peat, fertilised with seaweed.

From the church we drove back out to the headland, as we decided to wildcamp there for the night.

There was one other occupant, a German couple sleeping in a Range Rover. The bloke was quite active, spending his time flying a drone, taking bird pictures with a long lens, and skinny-dipping...

Later we went for a walk along the beach, and had prawn curry for dinner.




Thursday, 8 May 2025

Western Isles - Day 4

We drove the short distance to the ferry terminal at Ardmhor, and caught the 11.10am ferry across the straits of Barra to Eriskay, taking only 40 minutes.




We parked the van at the terminal there and went for a walk round the island. First we walked down the coast to a very quiet cove, passing a basking seal on the way.







We walked back up the road, then decided to climb Ben Sgritheann, the highest point on Eriskay. From the top we had great views of the village of Eriskay, and the causeway across to South Uist.

We then walked steeply down to Eriskay itself, and went into the Am Politician pub. This has on display artefacts from the wreck of the SS Politician ship, which ran aground nearby in 1941 with a cargo of 22,000 cases of whisky. This of course was the inspiration for the book and film Whisky Galore.



We then drove over the causeway to South Uist and checked in to Kilbride Campsite just 10 minutes away. It was warm enough to sit out with a drink.

For dinner we had sausage, mash, peas and gravy.