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Saturday
Let me set the scene: The car, which looks like a space shuttle designed for Flash Gordon, pulls up outside the wrong block in Church Place and Nic & Andy disappear whilst I am waving frantically to attract their attention. We meet up, make a final visit to the facilities and off we set.
We arrive in Oban 4 minutes later than the GPS suggested but in good time to enjoy a coffee in Wetherspoons. The ferry is the MV Isle of Lewis, we drive on and our deck rises up a level and more cars park underneath, most impressive. The weather is good and we settle in the front row seats on deck 5 for a five-hour passage across the Firth of Lorn, up the Sound of Mull, pass Ardnamurchan Point, the most westerly part of mainland Europe, across the Minch towards the archipelago.
Lunch was taken, mackerel, baked potato with tuna and a bowl of chips. I leave it to the reader to decide who ate what!
The islands appear as a little smudge on the horizon but then become several until the whole chain is visible, our first destination is Castlebay on Barra, famous as the setting of An Island Parish. The ferry berths, she can hold 123 cars and we were the 123rd car off! Castlebay is not a large town, more like a small village and we could see our hotel from the ferry. A thirty second drive from the ferry and we were parked up, 5 minutes later we had our rooms and I was enjoying a McEwan’s Export.
A very short walk took us to the centre of the village, which comprises the bank, post office, petrol station and the only restaurant, which was fully booked but Nic arranged a table for the next night. Some photos were taken of Kisimul Castle and an interesting letterbox and we returned to the hotel where we enjoyed a light dinner which included a lemon sole and a very pleasant spinach & mushroom risotto. Midges were on patrol so we could not sit outside for long.
We are looking forward on Sunday to a tour of the island, a visit to the castle, a dummy run to the ferry terminal for our early departure on Monday, a walk across the causeway to Vatersay and dinner in the Kisimul Café, look it up on Trip Advisor.
View from bar in Castlebay Hotel
There will be pictures but technology defeats me at present!
Sunday
Alliteration defeats me, I so wanted to start this day with a Sun Sizzler along the lines of Super Scorcher but all I could think of was Hebrides Heatwave which just sounds boring. Whatever, the weather has been absolutely fantastic which has made today one of the nicest days of all time. I need to start at the beginning; breakfast. This was very good, I rarely have a full English or Scottish, normally only when I stay in a hotel but this one stood out. I wouldn’t eat grapefruit with Weetabix again, the combination lacked milk but at least it was healthy. The main course (without tomatoes!) had sausage, bacon, fried egg, black pudding and potato scone. The sausage was genuine and the bacon was outstanding. Andy had a haddock with poached egg. We followed up with toast and jam or marmalade, I remembered that jam is a preserve and marmalade is a conserve but I don’t know why.
The party decided to make the island tour in an anticlockwise direction and every stop just topped the previous one. We did a dummy run to the ferry-port for Eriskay, well it’s a good idea to check timings.
We were met by a stamp of seals, I doubt that that is the correct collective noun but it amused me. The seals were on a sandbar a little way offshore and were making great waling noises probably wishing they had more sun cream.
The next stop was Barra Airport,
we were not deliberately trying to leave the island but this is the place where the plane lands on the beach, unfortunately the tide was still in so there was no immediate arrival, we couldn’t wait, we are not train spotters and if we were really sad we could watch a plane land on Youtube.
We reached about 10am on our roundabout tour and stopped at an amazing beach, I challenge Imogen to find a better one on her travels.
Acres of white sand, brilliant blue Atlantic Ocean and washing powder white surf. It was difficult to believe that this was part of Great Britain and that there were so few people but let’s keep it this way. We sat on the memorial bench for Maggie Campbell, I wonder if she had anything to do with soup.
We are all watching our diets and decided to take a light lunch on Vatersay, why, because it is there and you get to it on a causeway. We found a picnic spot, one packet of crisps was stale because the seam had been ruptured, this caused a little angst but we had a few peanuts, a third of a tracker bar and a banana each. By the way the table was traditional but sheathed in fibre glass, it will outlast us.
We proceeded on to Vatersay and parked up. The intention being to visit a monument to a large number of islanders who died in a shipwreck when they were part of the clearances. A very pleasant walk took us to within 20 yards of the obelisk but a barbed wire topped fence was insurmountable, we realised that we had taken the wrong path but the obelisk did not look worth the effort so we retraced our steps and had a reviver in the Vatersay Community Hall. The causeway was constructed to help the township survive and thrive, only a hundred people live here. The three islands further south have all been depopulated in the last century or so.
We returned to Castlebay, keen to visit Kisimul. A short ferry trip is required and you pay a lady in a shop for admission. I have just realised that there were no tickets to check and we could have taken the ferry, walked around the five rooms that were open and taken the ferry back all for free but we didn’t. In fact, they charged us 20% less than the advertised price as some rooms were out of bounds due to renovation, so we still had a result!
Update
Dinner was an entertainment, that was in the waitress’s own words. The Kisimul Café has a good reputation, to be fair it has little competition, there was another café at the other end of the village but I don’t think it opens in the evening, so if you can’t get a meal in your hotel this place is the only option. Notwithstanding the above we all enjoyed our meals but it was difficult to get what we wanted. Nic was after an achari dish which is soundly based on pickle but they had run out, it is not as if pickle goes off but there we are. Andy was after a lamb dish but they had none and the ferry was late. I cannot tell you how many sheep we have seen today, at least 2000 and many looked ready to eat. I think there may not be a slaughterhouse on the island and we have not seen a butcher. Actually the café has been advertised as providing both Indian & Italian food but there was no pasta sighting.
We required a post prandial and we knew there would be live traditional Scottish music in the well- known local, well the only local in town, the Castlebay Bar. It is odd because it is connected to the Castlebay Hotel but sells a different keg beer, Belhaven Best instead of McEwan’s, most strange but I digress, the music was provided by 5 young musicians, if any were over 15 years of age then call me a Dutchman. They were top notch and comprised a flautist, an accordion player, a clasaig (harp) plucker, a guitarist and a multiple pipe player, Scottish and Northumbrian. They were quality and drove us to bed but only because we were tired, bon nuit.
Monday
I always say, ‘start the day with a good breakfast’ and todays was special, two eggs and two sausages. This was finished early as we were allowing time to get to the port for our next ferry connection. This allowed time for us to watch the Oban ferry leave, this had arrived 4 hours late yesterday at 10pm, there is nowhere that any of the passengers would have got a meal once disembarked.
May I take you good reader back to Oban, whilst there Andy had noticed a smartly dressed couple, the gentleman was wearing a linen suit and shiny brown shoes, like Hannibal Lecter and there was some speculation as to what they were doing. Well they were spotted on the ferry and on Sunday we spotted them on bicycles on the best beach in the world, they went for a swim. Later, they popped up in Vatersay. Well, this morning we passed them on the way to the ferry and they followed us. We speculated what clothes they were using as they only had a pannier each but then a taxi arrived and disgorged two wheelie cases with luggage. These pedallers will return.
Blink and you will miss it. This refers to Eriskay, the island is less than 3 miles long, it took us all of four minutes to traverse and it was gone, even the coffee shop was closed. The causeway to Uist was obviously too inviting. We stopped for a few minutes at a café in Kilbride where Andy changed into shorts and we had a light snack. The bikers waved as they passed (told you) and nearly everyone trips up on the threshold between deck and café.
We did some planning, this makes for an easy life, first on the list was a visit to Flora McDonald’s birthplace. I am sure you all know that she was the lady who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape to Skye, I could sing the song but I won’t. Nic the Health Visitor thought it wise to make a house call but she was out. We will have to return in 6 months. I digress, before this we stopped at a Co-op to buy lunch, prices of crisps are the same as in Helensburgh and none of these had ruptured seams.
Our next stop was an ancient round house, if you find the brown sign that points to the turn off you have a fighting chance. We saw the sign and parked outside the local cemetery and started the great trek along a sandy track. I don’t think that it was really that far but there was no yardage countdown, it was probably less than a mile. What greeted us on arrival were some circular depressions in the sand with some stonework, pictures are included, I was not underwhelmed but neither was I overwhelmed. We wandered back to the car still thinking about lunch, my Irn-Bru was getting warmer. Back on the main road we passed the pedallars, we were looking for another castle but instead found a museum.
The museum was small but gave a fascinating insight into the crofting life, religion, domestics et cetera. On the way out I was followed by the pedallars. We were desperate for lunch so did a quick half hour circuit looking for a castle which we never found but eventually found a church (Church of Scotland) with a picnic table by the front door which was perfect.
A sandwich, a bag of crisps and a bottle of tepid Irn-Bru chased down with a satsuma, how the other half live. We passed an old house that appeared to be roofed with sods and another that appeared to be thatched like Dougal from the Magic Roundabout.Back on the road I feel there was another sighting of the pedallars and then we sighted the two balls. Actually, they are early warning tracking systems to spot Donald Trump. However, they are juxtaposed with the Lady of the Isles statue which is unusual. We were not trying to waste time but we didn’t want to arrive at our destination too early but Benbecula was only a few miles away. We crossed another causeway, spotted a ruined castle but gave it a miss, we are getting blasé. We needed to locate the B & B so we stopped at a tearoom, enjoyed the obligatory cuppa and squeezed the information from the waitress. I am writing this from the comfort of my sunny bedroom, this comes with a sea view and chickens. We will be walking to dinner tonight. An update will surely follow.
Monday Dinner
Well would you Adam & Eve it. Just like the famous scene from Casablanca we walked into Stepping Stones our chosen restaurant for the night and met the pedallers but more of this later. The weather was lovely so we chose to walk. On advice from our hostess we were given to believe that 1 mile and 20 minutes were the figures. A solid 40 minutes later with two miles under our belts we arrived.
The building is modern and light and busy. Pinot Grigot for Nic and Innis & Gunn for the men was taken. This beer, brewed near Edinburgh is matured in sherry casks and was good but why they could not provide a beer closer to source defeats me.
We shared one portion of black pudding fritters, you can deep fry anything in Scotland, Andy & Nic had haddock & chips, described as excellent and I had my favourite scampi. We had a scary moment when the food arrived without chips but were relieved when they arrived on a separate platter. We had to order a jug of water twice and more beers twice, it seems that if a request is not written down it will not be remembered or the waitresses are a breed of goldfish that has emerged from the sea. Whilst we were eating a couple came in and he was the spitting image of Benny Hill, who knows if we will see them again.
Nicola took the opportunity during a toilet break to introduce herself to Mrs Pedaller and of course they are a surprisingly normal couple. They reside in Tooting, he is in primary education and she isn’t. They denied being extremely fit but they have covered the same distance as us and they had also been swimming twice today. Sadly, we may not see them again as they are crossing the Minch to Skye, which sounds painful. However, Mrs Pedaller was envious of the fact that we were bird watching on Tuesday, me thinks she would like a rest.
As we are all healthy eaters we eschewed a dessert and washed down our meal with a single malt of the Balvenie variety, described as unchallenging but with caramel overtones and a hint of citrus. Let’s not bang on about the weather but it was still lovely so we walked the two miles home, had a cup of tea and retired for the night.
Dear reader you should be aware that I was awake at 0500 to write this piece, this will give me a chance to nod off whilst bird watching!
Tuesday
First things first this is not a food blog. As the attentive reader will know I woke early and went down for breakfast at 0800 and acquainted myself with the host. An ex Guardsman who went through Pirbright, (sounds like something you do at a good public school). Breakfast was good but perhaps a notch below the Castlebay Hotel. Every vessel that I touched that held liquid I managed to spill. I had two sausages, a rasher. A fried egg and a potato scone, all on a bed of toast. Andy had scrambled egg and salmon, quite exotic.
We gathered ourselves together for the visit to RSPB Balranald. On the way, we had a final sighting of the pedallers, we assume they were doing a morning warm up before they started their official trek North. We had been told to look out for a sign saying toilets which we ignored at first. We turned down a farm track and had to ask the farmer who had followed us in his Landrover how to find it. He confirmed that we had made a common mistake and directed us to the next turn where there was a sign for public conveniences. We saw our most rare bird outside the sanctuary, this was a buzzard which was literally cocking a snoop at the boundary. Once we arrived we put on our hiking boots, set ourselves up with a variety of binoculars and sallied forth.
We had missed the guided walk and chose to avoid the large party when they crossed our path. We headed down to the beach and Andy who must be David Attenborough’s sidekick quickly pointed out plovers, oystercatchers, lapwings. We witnessed what appeared to be a mass suicide of jellyfish and heard but did not see the elusive corncrake. We had a blast. And so to lunch. We had debated stopping at a shop for supplies but luckily, we passed the Westford Inn first. We entered to familiar sounds, our favourite traditional Scottish music combo were playing a lunchtime set but I was distracted by real ale. Fyne Ales Jarl was available and a very satisfactory pint was quaffed. Nic necked a half of cider and the designated driver enjoyed a lemonade, Andy chose a cauliflower soup which went down a treat and Nic & myself went halves on a panini filled with beef and onions, scrummy.
Back to ancient monuments now.
A stone circle needed to be visited and we found it on the side of a hill surrounded by heather. This was not an insignificant structure, 30 metres across. There was no man with a peaked hat and it is as though Scotland doesn’t want visitors to find it, does anyone really know who built this and what it was for, we need to be told.We did visit a pottery shop but the wares were all a bit delicate for our tastes, so we left as politely as we could and headed home. We are all tired but Andy decided to find the beach, the remainder of the group are lightweights and are building themselves up for dinner. We are returning to Stepping Stones which we have now measured at 1.5 miles away, we have already been thinking about what to eat, remember this is not a food blog. As you can see from the pictures the weather is not as 'scorchio' as before but it has not rained yet, this is due to change on Wednesday when bucketfuls of rain are due.
Update
As we were returning this afternoon we noticed that at least three chickens had escaped. I felt that as the coop was about 200 yards from the house the owner may have CCTV, to which Andy piped up “Chicken Chicken TV”. Which we all thought was very funny. We had a quick cuppa and then Andy went to the beach to dabble his toes.
Nic drove us to dinner tonight, in the car not what you were all thinking. Two vegetable soups were followed by roast lamb for Nic, which was wolfed down, Cajun chicken for myself which was eaten at a more sedate pace and take a deep breath, gooseburgers for Andy. This evening was adventurous because Nic & Andy then had a seaweed ice-cream.
We are waiting for the weather to turn, the forecast is not good but we have planned a flexible day, museums and walks.
Wednesday
The weather changes everything. Today after 4 days without rain we have lots of it and the promise of more to come. You have never seen three people so glued to any source of weather information and we can do passable impressions of Michael Fish or Carole Kirkwood. Having sourced outdoor places to visit we are now very much like snails retreating into our shells but I am sorry I have not reported what occurred at breakfast. We all partook of scrambled egg and bacon with a solitary black pudding thrown in and then Andy decided to have cereal. He has created the reverse breakfast but then he decided not to, what a let-down. I may try it myself tomorrow, I am now keen to find out how it would affect either part of the meal.
We took the longer way around to Loch Maddy, we need to burn time before we can enter our new digs, however, by 1025 we were in our first shell, the local museum. This is most informative and had a special exhibition, The Lobster and the Lacuna (google it, you will be surprised). Today I am trying to write this as contemporaneously as possible, which will all help to fill time. We are hoping for a weather window.
Part 2
We had exhausted our time in the café, the shop had been explored and Nic bought a most unusual poster which you will be able to see time you visit chez Lennard. We also looked at the art gallery where the most impressive
installation was a flotilla of ceramic boats. We made a run for the car in a lighter moment and passed the time discussing options which mainly revolved around the pub and how long we could stay in it. Having decided the pub was a possibility we then spent a few minutes perusing the London A to Z for street names with an outer Hebridean connection, apart from Harris & Lewis we could find no others. Suddenly at 1230 the rain stopped, we walked off to see the ferry terminal, the few yachts and visited TIC for advice of what to do in inclement weather having been to the museum. She grinned knowingly and said that the rain had stopped until evening and we could do a 4 mile walk around the loch. Money was removed from an ATM and the view from the bank was most impressive.
As you know, we are not good at judging distances and even the good Doctor was heard to utter an expletive. The walk was most enjoyable. The highlight was the Hut of Shadows. We had no idea what it was and as we crawled into it were wondering why we had bothered. As our eyes became acclimatized all was revealed. This was a camera obscura and produced a reasonable picture of the loch, frankly we were amazed. I have been to one in Greece and now this one. I know of one in Edinburgh and one in Oxford. They are rare buildings. We also spotted a rare tree. Also for our classic car lovers a Standard 10 from 1937.
The walk finished the second a rain shower started but we had reached the car and arrived at our B & B at 1615, it is very pleasant and 3 minutes’ walk from our dinner. We are asked to fill in our breakfast request by paper and our sit-down time. We have opted for 0800 as we have not done a dummy run to Thursday’s ferry terminal, we did have the opportunity. As you know we were being stalked earlier in the week by the pedallers, well we may have found a replacement. As I mentioned earlier, whilst eating dinner on Monday a couple walked in and he looked just like Benny Hill. Well just mow, as we were sitting in our en-suite living room, guess who walked in, yes the Benny Hill look a like, let's call him Ernie.
Dinner tonight was in a smart place called Hamersay House, they had cloth napkins. A shared seafood platter served on slate and a carrot & coriander soup(not served on slate) for me. Hake for a main course described as fillet but Andy's could have won prizes for bones and I had chicken stuffed with brie. We also pigged out on three boule ice cream for the men and a cranachan for the lady. Sauvignon blanc was shared and Ernie turned up as well. We returned home as it started to rain. Tommorow is a big day we are heading for the largest island and the biggest town, Stornoway, which has 8,000 residents and at least two real ale outlets, nirvana.
Thursday
Life is hard, I could get no hot water in my shower this morning, so liberally disguised with Nivea for Men (other deodorants are available) I sallied forth to the dining room where morning greetings were exchanged with Ernie. For the first time in my life I had a strawberry for breakfast paired with grapefruit. Today was a no bacon day, Nic had salmon, Andy had scrambled egg & mushrooms and I had a fairly standard breakfast. Mine was served on a round plate, Nic ate hers from a rectangular plate, a bit like Playschool. The butter was served from a domed structure.
We arrived at the terminal in good time enough to see three rainstorms and we imagined Benny Hill chasing after his wife in a bikini along with Benny Hill music. As attentive readers will remember we visited a pottery earlier in the week and were not bowled over by the wares on offer. Well everywhere we have been since Shoreline Pottery is for sale. We are now stalked by inanimate objects.
We are now on the ferry to Leverburgh, there is no canteen but there is a drinks machine, however, choices are limited as there is no milk. C’est la Vie. We have just been contacted by Linda from our last B & B, I have run off with the key, I need to find Angus who is their next door neighbour and also a hand on the ferry.
We have also established that we are not staying in Stornoway but in a remote settlement on the west coast which is fortunately licenced.
Thursday Update
We have reached the edge of paradise. More of that later.
The ferry crossing was full of pilotage, channel buoys and markers on rocks, most interesting. Patsy the satnav indicated 78 miles to our destination, which isn’t Stornoway.
The first part of the drive had stunning views of the Atlantic, the general scenery was amazing and then it started to rain. A decision was made to stop in one of the many Tarberts in Scotland for lunch and a break and a toilet stop. Tarbert is big, this is the ferry port to Uig on Skye. We found parking and a toilet. Lunch was lentil soup with cheese salad rolls purchased from a snack van, most pleasant. Back on the road, more stunning views and panic stations on roads with no barriers and long drops. A constant eye on the weather was kept we were looking for a window to visit Calanish. The window miraculously opened and we arrived at the busiest tourist site in at least the Outer Hebrides. Motor caravans, bikers and foreigners were much in evidence.
Here you can walk up to and around the stones and take photographs. The site is mysterious because no one knows why it was built but I think we were all awestruck. Time marched on and we still had 30 miles to go but not before a quick americano and a turn around the gift shop. The remaining drive was made in good time, birds of prey were sighted, some amazing vistas were had and then we arrived at the edge of paradise.
I think this village expanded during the cold war as the RAF had a tracking base here but the location is splendid, I implore you to find it on the map and realise it is as far away from Stornoway as you can get, for the record the place name is Aird Uig, we will be exploring tomorrow but first dinner awaits which has been prebooked for logistics reasons. More to follow, we need to catch up with the cricket.
Update
We needed a pre-prandial walk so we headed off to Gallan Head. This is where the early warning station was based; now there are some old buildings and lumps of concrete. It would make a perfect set for Doctor Who.
We had a quiet beer in our room and then headed for dinner in the dining room. We were introduced to our fellow diners by our hostess, a nice touch. We had prebooked our meal by email so that the chef could purchase the stores and we had trouble remembering what we had ordered. I remembered soup and then Nic remembered squid and Andy remembered scallops. My carrot & coriander was a repeat of last night but much better. The scallops looked great and Nic ate her squid with ease. So, to the main course, I had a fine pasta bake, Andy had a chunky halibut whilst Nic had a rack of lamb that had been on steroids, it was huge. We have commented several times on this trip about portion size and today was no exception.
We shared a fantastic ice=cream, Lemon Curd and Moroccan, scrumptious. We had a good chat with our fellow diners who were returning on the Inverness sleeper on Friday night and then we were joined by new guests, two of whom had come from Australia and they had used the sleeper north, how quaint. We washed down our meal with a local Isle of Harris whisky and adjourned to our room.
Friday
Today is our last full day on this odyssey. Like modern day Vikings we have traversed the islands eating, drinking and laughing. We are having a late breakfast and a lazy day, the weather is inclement and we don’t feel like travelling too far. We may well be eating here again tonight as there is a paucity of eateries. Well there is a lack of people, we have not seen a Costa, Nando’s or MacDonald’s.
Well, we have had another Adam & Eve it moment. The grown up children of the Australian visitors live in the Alexander Cottages in Penge, less than a mile from Lennard Road. This almost overwhelmed breakfast which was absolutely fantastic.
We had a game plan for today, look for the community centre visit the beach and find somewhere for lunch. Well we didn’t find the community centre but on the way to the beach we came across a giant carving of a Lewis
chess set piece. This is placed close to place where the pieces were found buried in 1831. Older readers will know that we possess one of the earliest sets of this set. Jude may be able to explain the exact circumstances of why we have it. So, a few yards later we came to a remote beautiful beach which is in the top 40 beach locations in Scotland, well I would put it in my top 5. I then suggested that we visit the abandoned Benedictine Nunnery
at the end of a dead-end road. So, a slow 8 mile drive down a single-track road with passing places was expertly undertaken by Nic with Andy as co-driver, we parked up twice and a short walk later we reached the end of the road. No sign of any walls, no cross, no laminated sign, no nothing but an ideal site for a nunnery. We drove back a little underwhelmed on the hunt for the Community Centre which was rumoured to have a café attached. Purely by luck Nic saw a sign on a simple building attached to the fire station and we had found it. Outside was another carved statue of a Lewis Chess piece. We were happy to fork out £2 each to enter the little museum (no reduction for concessions).We were immediately accosted by a charming curator who was most impressed that we had an early Lewis chess set. We asked her about the nunnery and she smiled sagely. “It’s just a story, no one really knows if it ever existed”. Stories are interwoven into the local history but this was such a good story that the site was marked with a red star on the Philips Tourist Map, we had been taken in. The museum was most informative and you can buy a Lewis Chess set from them for £100. I have seen then a lot cheaper on various websites…….and so to lunch.
The café was busy but I had a cheese & onion toastie, Nic had pickle with cheese and Andy had tuna, mayo & onion. Nic & Andy shared a can of Irn-Bru, a first. We all felt tired but we couldn’t give up. We had a plan to circumnavigate the Bhaltos peninsular, not so difficult in a car.
Again, we stopped at spectacular beaches, dear reader you really must visit, perhaps in a motor caravan. We had been advised we could visit a miniature broch on an island in a loch. We arrived at the parking place, disembarked the car and three seconds late got back in to avoid a rain shower. A few minutes later we started again and had a very pleasant walk which went very well but it didn’t explain that we had to climb a rock-strewn hill, let’s be honest none of us are spring chickens anymore, so we turned back defeated but not disheartened, we had got our boots wet.On the way, back to the B & B we visited the community shop, petrol £121.9 a litre, bottles of beer £2.65, the beer was considerably more expensive than the price in Helensburgh co-op, the petrol less so. All we bought were satsumas, we are healthy. We are now in our bedroom, listening to South Africa collapsing. We have eaten tracker bars washed down with a nice cup of tea and dinner is in 2 hours.
Tonight, is seafood night at the Seacroft, so starters were coriander & carrot soup and Brussels pate, we don’t want to overload. Two portions of langoustine and one of mussels were our choices. They all come in hard skins which need to be removed. They were served with sauté potatoes, green beans and samphire. Finally, we had two boules of ice-cream between three, vanilla & toffee. We have been mightily impressed with the food here and have looked forward to meeting the chef, Andrew but he has never appeared. We are now speculating if he even exists.
Second Saturday
It is always sad when you start your last day but we are keeping our chins up. Breakfast was of the lighter variety, still fried but we opted for lesser choices, indeed I only had scrambled egg and a sausage but expertly prepared by hidden Andrew, we loaded the car, set the co-ordinates for Stornoway, it is not on the other side of the world just the other side of the island but it is 34 miles away. An hour later we were in Stornoway, as usual the weather had varied between wet and wetter. We needed a toilet stop and walked to Lews Castle which is the home of a museum, which was free. Again, this was most informative and we saw 6 original pieces of the Lewis chess set.
Time for a coffee and for the first time we supped from a chain, Starbucks have the franchise at this place but it was not over the top, I didn’t spot a barista. We took refuge in a tea shop and a toastie and a soup were consumed whilst we listened to a domestic from the couple next door. We were all suffering from tiredness so we went back to the car, drove to the ferry queue and fell asleep, whenever we awoke we saw another dog.
We are now on the Loch Seaforth, the newest ship in the fleet and a big one. In 2hours 30 minutes we will be in Ullapool heading for a chippie. We are still speculating about the whereabouts of Andrew, he cooks everything ‘sous-vide’ so he may be permanently making plastic bags.
Nic noticed after a few minutes that we were sitting at a table for people who were mobility impaired, we all agreed that we were and stayed put. No one on this ferry seemed less able than us. In the last few minutes of our crossing Andy found a button that raised and lowered the table, this caused much consternation to the young swiss boy sitting next to us, he wanted a table like us!
We arrived in Ullapool spot on time, fuelled up and Andy asked advice on the best chip shop in town (it may have been the only one in town) we headed for the chippie, one jumbo sausage supper and two medium fish suppers were consumed in the car, all top quality, 8.5 was Andy’s score and then we had 22 miles to our last B & B of this trip. The Aultguish Inn is the name, it is on the road but literally in the middle of nowhere. I was pleased to sup some ale from An Teallach. We are all bushed and headed for our beds at 2100.
Sunday
Our plan of action was load car, eat breakfast and leave, which was accomplished. By the by the breakfast was very pleasant, this Inn was a fine stopover, it had character and a midge buster, much needed in these parts. Nic took the Lewis Hamilton role for the next 100 miles as we headed South towards Loch Ness. We were only held up by the Fort William Marathon as it snaked its way through Spean Bridge. Andy took over the driving, this is a bit like Le Mans and we headed home to Rhu, my kit was dropped off and we had our last food experience in Humbles café, I have lived here for 19 years and never actually been to it but I had heard good words. We were not let down, two toasties, a panini all served with dressed salad were fine.
I said my goodbyes and they were off to Penrith. I have had a lovely week. We have enjoyed each other’s company. The only tetchiness tends to revolve around the GPS! My abiding memories will take time to formulate but certainly there were a lot of rocks, a lot of motor caravans and a limited supply of real ale. The remoteness of the islands is special and I do not want to encourage too many visitors but they are worth the effort.
I realised I was back home when more people got on my bus than were on the ferry to Eriskay and I could notice one person who had a body odour issue.
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