Outer Hebrides - Days 2 & 3 - Eriskay and South Uist

On Sunday morning, I shared a taxi from the guesthouse in Castlebay on Barra to the ferry/airport with a couple who were also staying there and who I hung out with at the pub the night before listening to music. They’re called Donald and Lyndsey McNeil and they live in Glasgow. As clans go, Barra is all McNeil clan as I quickly learned. In Barra, the ‘airport’ is 15-seater planes landing on the beach. We picked up a Swiss hiker on the way to the ferry/airport area who was heading down to the beach to watch the planes land. The ferry from Barra to Eriskay in a short one, only about 45 minutes across the Sound of Barra. I walked into the town of Eriskay from the ferry slip, passing ‘Charlie’s Beach’ along the way which is the beach where Bonny Prince Charlie landed to start the Jacobite rebellion in 1745. From the town of Eriskay, I took a taxi over to Lochboisdale in South Uist where I stayed the past two nights. A lovely family-run hotel, it’s really about the only thing in Lochboisdale. Yesterday morning, I got going early and took the first local bus north up the spine of the island to the ‘Our Lady of the Isles’ statue with plans to walk my way back to the hotel which I did eventually but it was definitely a looonnng walk. Along the way, I stopped off at the ruins of Ormicleit Castle and the Kildonan Museum which has lots of great exhibits about the Uists, the history and trades and clans. I had dinner here at the hotel and turned in fairly early. Today I’ll take the bus from here to Benbecula, the next island up the chain.

Beinn Mhor and shimmering lochs on South Uist

Sheep hiding from the rain showers on South Uist