Summer Holidays - Part 7, North Uist

That first afternoon we walked a section of the West Highland way from Carnish to Pobull Fhinn leaving a car at either end. The dogs had great fun in many muddy puddles and crystal clear lochs. The humans observed an abundance of wildflowers, Red Deer, Mute Swan, a very hairy caterpillar and a buzzard. The dogs slept well that evening and so did the humans, the rain had stopped and the sky was blue but there had still been a brisk breeze bringing an abundance of fresh air.

Dogs + Mud = Muddy Dogs

Zooooooooom

Just one of the spectacular views

clean-er dogs

red deer

a very hairy caterpillar

Buzzard

The second day there was a debate about where to go, as we had had a long walk the day before we opted for a quieter day on Berneray. First stop of the day was to Seal View and we were not disappointed. Sitting on the bench we looked out to some rocks sticking up out of the water and spotted a couple of harbour seals. Further watching and inspection with a pair of binoculars revealed that there were 14 seals in total, behind us there was a field full of small black Hebridean Sheep and Lambs.

Panorama of one of the views on the way to Berneray

Can you spot all the seals in this photo?

Seal and sheep watching over we carried on round the road and parked near the hostel. From the car it was a short walk to the beach where the dogs could run about and play tug with long stems of kelp and we could look over to Harris and Lewis and watch the bird life.

Lewis and Harris

Oystercatchers

The return journey has us stop off at Balranald where there were twitchers galore all carrying tripods and telescopes and not venturing too far from the car park all in the hope of seeing a corn bunting. We dropped down onto the beach and then walked round to the headland before going back to the cars on the dunes. We spotted Mergansers, Redshank, acres of Meadow Daisy’s (it looked like it had snowed on the dune) and half a dozen corn buntings. Not bad considering we had three energetic dogs running round and only a pair of relatively small (compared to the twitchers) binoculars each.

Balranald panorama

Redshank

Acres of Meadow Daisies

Corn Bunting

The third day was a full days trip complete with packed lunch. The plan was to park at the Grenitote Picnic area and walk round the Udal outcrop visiting the cemetery and trip point along the way. The sun shone and turned the sea a turquoise - aquamarine colour, who needs the Bahamas? So warm was the sun that once more the shoes and socks came off, the trouser legs were rolled up and I paddled with the dogs. On the walk round the eastern side to the cemetery we spotted seals and also that it was raining quite heavily on Berneray where we had been yesterday. The little cemetery was a lovely spot to rest in and as we looked out to sea there was a grey seal out at sea looking back at us. The rain clouds were now over Harris and Lewis while we were still in glorious sunshine but we decided to move on before they came over to dampen our day out. As we made our way round the headland we found some tiny little yellow violets growing wild and also a lot of sheep so the dogs went back on their leads.

Lewis and Harris from Udal

Raining on Berneray

Hilda with Cemetery in background

grey seal

Rain over Lewis and Harris

We climbed up to the Trig point where we had planned on having lunch, but when we got there the wind was relentless so we admired the fantastic clear view of St Kilda before dropping down to the most North Westerly beach on Udal where we sat on a handy outcrop of rocks to eat our sandwiches. We didn't rush lunch or the walk down the beach as we were sheltered from the breeze. At the bottom end of the beach we spotted great flocks of sandpipers and eider ducks. From the next beach we spotted what we thought were great northern divers, but they moved too fast for complete certainty in identification. The dogs racked up a total of 5 beaches that day and we saw only a couple of other people on our walk and always in the distance.

St Kilda panorama

Trig Point

Looking down onto the beach

View from the Lunch Spot

Eider Ducks

Reflections

It was decided to take the Committee Road back; this is known locally as Raptor Alley. If we were going to spot either a golden or sea eagle then this was the place it would happen. We drove slowly along it and saw plenty of twitchers camped out in motorhomes and cars, a few peat-cutters at work but no birds of prey. Not until we were almost at the end when a short eared owl appeared and glided along parallel to the car for about quarter of a mile.

Short Eared Owl

My friend's house looks out over a bay and as well as the most amazing sunsets there is a whole host of wildlife to see. I Think every evening and most mornings we saw a male Harris Hawk out hunting in the surrounding fields and one afternoon a Sea Eagle suddenly appeared, flew along their property boundary and then disappeared behind a hill. We were all too stunned to grab camera and it close enough that you didn't need binoculars.

Sunset across the bay

North Uist Photos
More North Uist Photos

Summer Holidays - Part 6, Benbecula

The original plan from here had been to have a night on Benbecula (un-booked) and one on North Uist (also un-booked) then going to stay with friends for a couple of night before catching a ferry back to the main land and going home. I dropped them a text message on the Monday morning to say we had survived the night and got a call to say the forecast for the next day or two was worse than the previous night so to abandon all camping ideas and go straight to them instead.

The car was loaded and ready for off but as it was raining sideways we started by going back South to Eriskay and the Community Stores there for a look at the craft section with a view to buying items for Christmas presents. After that we returned to Kilbride and stopped off at the cafe on the campsite and discovered that just about everyone else on site had chosen to do the same. I had breakfasted much earlier in the morning so had a cuppa and a slice of very good cake but the breakfasts looked and smelled tempting.

View through the cafe window

Hilda was persuaded out of the car and onto the nearest spot of grass then she made it perfectly clear that she would be more than happy to spend the majority of the day asleep in the car especially if the weather was going to continue to be as foul as it was there and then. I was happy to agree and we set of gently north to our first stop off of the day, Kildonan Museum. A lovely little museum plus cafe and craft shop. I spent a couple of hours pottering round the exhibits before stopping for lunch in the cafe and finding a few Christmas presents in the craft shop.

I had decided that we were going to drive round the coastal road on Benbecula so we could look at the campsite. I looked at the map and decided it looked simple enough, after crossing the causeway take the first left turn. So off we set, we crossed a causeway so I took the first left turn we came to. On the map it showed that after a mile or so the sea would be on our left so I was a little confused when a mile or so later the sea turned out to be on my right. It took another mile or so to find a sensible place to pull in and haul out the phone, switch on the GPS and fire up maps to see where we were. What I hadn't realised was that there was a big loch at the top of South Uist and the road went over it on a causeway. We were still on South Uist and were now following the coast road south. One U turn later and we were back on track. Now on Benbecula we drove slowly past the campsite and decided that stopping there in the forecast winds would not be a sensible idea. Flat is not a word you usually associate with the Scottish Highlands and especially the Islands but this campsite was on a stretch of coast that would not have looked out of place in Holland or Lincolnshire. It was flat and bare and looked straight out to sea, I could feel the winds moving the car, tonight was not going to be the night to be in a tent.

Benbecula from South Uist

A bit further round we found a parking area by a beach and stopped, the rain had stopped so Hilda was quite happy to get out of the car and go for a little run on the beach. It was hard work walking in any direction. Walk into the wind and you made little progress, walk with your back to the wind and you were convinced you were going to get blown over. Sideways on and you couldn't keep a straight line so after about 20 minutes we gave up and retreated back to the shelter of the car.

Look Mum, seaweed

Back to the wind

Several causeways later we passed a sign that said Welcome to North Uist so we knew we had arrived. Fished out the direction to their house which included steps such as "turn right at the church" and "drive down the road past the sigh that says "no vehicles beyond this point" We arrived to be greeted by our friends and their two dogs glad to be indoors out of the weather and with room to stand up straight.

The next morning was still grey and wet and very windy so we left our friends to their work and chores and retraced our steps to the top end of South Uist to follow the signs I had seen to Hebridean Jewellery. It turned out to be a lovely little shop where I bought a few more Christmas presents, and it also had a cafe so tea and cake was on the menu again. This time we took the central road through Benbecula and stopped off a couple of times to admire the view and watch the wildlife before returning to our friends house for an afternoon walk.

Summer Holidays - Part 3, Barra

Our one night and day on Vatersay was over so it was time to head North and back onto Barra and Croft No2 campsite up at the top end of the Island. A small site but with fabulous views and a warm welcome from the owner and his wife. Straight over the road from the site was a path down to the beach (Hilda thought this was the best thing ever) or you could follow the road round and up behind the campsite to visit Spagen, the community wind turbine, and watch the sun go down over the ocean. If you set off from the west coast of Barra and continued due west you would not reach land until Canada. That's a long way and a lot of water.

Panorama of the beach at Croft No2

Flock of seabirds take off after Hilda get a bit too close

Our first day on Barra dawned grey and drizzly so I decided we were going to have a quiet 'touristy' day. We would stroll down to the airport and watch the planes land and take off, have some lunch at the cafe and stroll gently back again. It sounded like a gentle day. We got on th beach at the campsite and as the tide was going out we were able to walk all the way to Eoligarry before we had to come off and start walking on the road. From there it was 1.5 miles to the airport where we arrived just in time to see the first landing of the day. It may sound odd to go and watch planes land and take off but Barra's runway is the beach. They have the only timetable in the UK that alters with the tides. Watching planes take off and land here is far more interesting than anywhere else and is something that everyone does. The next months timetables are posted up and down the island and the airport has a car park far larger than you would expect for something that size just to accommodate observers.

Hilda waiting (im)patiently for the tide to go out

Beach from Croft No2 to Eoligarry

When we got there and had watched the plane land and take off the plan had been to have lunch in the airport cafe but a coachload of people got there just before us. The timetable said there were two planes due that day so we went over the dunes behind the airport and walked up and down the full length of the beach before returning to the cafe for lunch, to watch the second land and take off of the day, observer the three different colours of snail living in the dunes by the airport (blue, brown and almost colourless) and then retracing our steps back up to Eoligarry and a walk back along the beach to the campsite (keeping a careful eye on the tide as it was now coming in). I can't remember the exact distance but our quiet day ended up being just short of 10 miles of walking.

Click here for a Video of Take off and Landing

Brown Snail

faded snail

blue / colourless snail

Bored of watching planes

Airport and plane

Lapwing in flight

Our pitch at Croft No2 with Spagen in the background

Day two on Barra and another attempt at a quiet day. A trip to the co-op for provisions was needed so, as the day was dry, we would drive down to Castlebay and potter round there for the day before heading back to the campsite. For us it turned out to be a quiet day with only about 6 miles of walking in total. We started out with a boat trip out to Kismul Castle and spent an hour exploring the tiny island and building on it. After that we found a heritage walk about the local Herring industry and discovered the local toffee company which also does food so we treated ourselves to fish and chips sat on their decking in the sun watching the sea.

Barra from Kismul Castle

Hilda explores the castle

Castle with Barra in the background

Castle from the Church

After a trip to the co-op we made our way slowly back up to the campsite stopping off a couple of times for short walks on some of the beaches. that evening we went round to Spagen and watched the sun going down. We didn't stay until sunset as we were tired and ready for bed and at that time of year sunset is about 11pm at night up there.

Eriskay and South Uist

Hilda at sunset

Sunset

Green Veined Butterfly on Ladies Smock

Barra Photos