Britain 09 - Day 23

Introduction

Sunday is a quiet time on the Outer Hebrides, with most shops closed for the day. After a nice breakfast at the Polochar Inn, watching the sun come up on a fine clear morning, we headed north through South Uist, Benbecula and North Uist to stay the night at Carinish. The islands of Uist are rocky and barren, with many small lakes, windswept coast on the west (the machair) and quieter, bays on inlets on the east.

Polochar Inn and South Uist

The Polochar Inn is a comfortable hotel on the south west corner of South Uist. It does seem a bit out of place, such a nice hotel in such a windswept, rock-strewn surroundings. In hindsight we should have stayed two nights here, to get a better feel for the area, and to experience more of the hospitality. The hotel has extensive views west across the Atlantic and features some remarkable sunsets. We arrived on the Saturday evening in heavy cloud and occasional showers, but these cleared overnight for a brilliantly fine sunrise. There are two ferry terminals on South Uist - the one on Eriskay that we arrived at from South Uist, and the larger one at Lochboisdale for ferries from Oban. We drove down toLochboisdale in the early morning, but as expected it is a small port with no major tourist facilities. Close to Polochar is the reputed birthplace of Flora MacDonald - the saviour of Bonny Prince Charles. Modern historians now dispute this location as her birthplace, but that has not stopped the locals continuing with this claim. Just north of Flora's house is the Kildonan Centre and Museum with a very welcome cafe. Although the cafe's website claimed it was closed on Sunday mornings, we called in and found a good pot (caffetaire) of coffee and scones.

Polochar Inn in the early morning sunrise	The standing stone in front of the hotel - probably a marker to guide ships into the small sheltered bay	Houses in a sparse landscape
The single lane road going north	Peat cut and drying is a common sight	The village of Crossdougal in the early sun
The welcome sign for visitors arriving at Lochboisdale	Typical landscape - rocks, heather, rusty iron and derelict buildings	The memorial to Flora MacDonald
The Flora MacDonald story	View across the landscape from the memorial	All road signs are in Gaelic, some with English translations
No parking does not apply to pallets of fishing supplies!	Eastern hills and tidal inlets	Typical low lying land
The remains of a country mansion. Built by a French architect in the early 18th century and burnt down a year later	Replacement house built inside the ruins	Haystacks
A modern building that looked out of place - an attempt to bring adult education to the island		Just a reminder - a bit late after 20 miles of single road

The Temples at Howmore (or Tobha Mor)

At Howmore is a collection of ruined chapels. There is no explanation of why there should be so many together. All are built in similar style but have been adapted over the years. Many now have headstones (and presumably graves) filling in the floor area.

The road sign to Howmore	A crofter's cottage near Howmore	A interesting sign on a small culvert - presumably refers to fishermen
The collection of ruins at Howmore	One of the temples with enclosed headstones	All that remains of one wall - note the thickness
More temples	Windows in the ruins	Details of the masonary around the window
An unusual headstone - an unknown sailor	Shell mural on the wall of the church	Following the mural theme

Loch Druidibeag

Loch Druidibeg is a large lake in the centre of the island. It is abird and wildlife sanctuary, a Scottish National Nature Reserve..

The entrance to the nature reserve	Dun Ragbaill	Loch Druidibeg
The causeway across the loch	Ducks in the western part of the loch	Peat cutting in the reserve
Close-up of the peat cutting	The rocky ground	Enough of the rocks, peat and cold winds, where's lunch....??

Radar domes and Benbecula

Just to the north of Loch Druidibeg, and dominating the skyline are the radar domes of the missile tracking facility of the Ministry of Defence. The road west through Lochdar and out to Machrach Point passes several well-tended shrines, many of them in glass cabinets as protection from the elements. At the Point lie the oldest rocks in the British Isles - Lewisian Gneiss.

Defence in the Outer Hebrides	The radar installation	Beneath the radar lies "Our Lady of the Isles".
The path up to the lady. (Despite the fine sky, a heavy shower arrived a few minutes later and those visitors got very wet.....)	Crofter's cottage near Lochdar	The ultimate "do'er up" cottage
The oldest rocks in the British isles.......	Lewisian Gneiss	Birds galore circling over the hay......
ignoring the symbolic scarecrow.	Across the causeway to Benbecula	and Sunday lunch at the Stepping Stone
Satisfied customers outside the Stepping Stone.	More MOD.	and water for Benbecula Airport.

North Uist and Carinish

Benbecula is a cluster is low-lying islands and tidal plains with a few hills up to 120m above sea level. The road meanders across a series of causeways, crossing over the small island of Grimsay before arriving on North Uist - our seventh Hebridean island so far.

The last causeway onto North Uist	The track leading to Carinish	The ruined temple at Carinish
The story of the Temple.	View through the ruins	Part of the building
Another temple now used for headstones	The second temple on the site	Remains of a window
The story of Carinishs	The sign from the main road.	View across to the village.
Long shadows as the sun sets	The other event at Carinish	The temple as the sun sets.
The 1601 battlefield.	View from the top of the battlefield.	The Temple View Hotel across the field.
The Temple View Hotel	Sign on the main road.	Margaret enjoying the sun and cider

Temple View

Our accommodation for the night was the Temple View Hotel at Carinish. It was well chosen, being a lovely rural hotel in ideal settings. The accommodation was comfortable and the evening meal superb, accompanied by a small but well-chosen wine list.

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Last updated: 16/06/2017