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.
