Outer Hebrides – Eriskay

13th May 2024

With the calmer seas this morning, the Great Northern Diver has reappeared. Manged a few pictures of it from our campsite pitch. When underwater the bird swims at a phenomenal rate. It is anyone’s guess as to where it will surface.

We packed up the van and left for the Calmac Ferry terminal at Ardmhor, to catch boat to Eriskay. It is a small ferry, no coffee, tea or shelter onboard, but nice cakes and coffee at the ferry terminal. When you arrive, you get directed to a line and wait to be boarded. The ferry arrives, and boarding is very fast. Despite the ferry being open, it does have WIFI. We soon set sail for the direct trip to the port on Eriskay

R reckoned she saw a seal out to sea. I can’t confirm from my mobile phone picture, even with the great picture quality of a Google Pixel 7 Pro.

On arrival at Eriskay, we drove a few hundred meters up the road and parked up beside the beach. We walked along the beach, looking for shells, but big disappointment they were all broken up. But the beach starred in one of the Peter May Blackhouse trilogy books that R was reading.

There is a memorial on the coast, celebrating 250 years since the landing of Bonnie Prince Charlie. This bay is called Prince Charles Bay, he landed here escaping from the Sassenachs.

A farmer was moving some sheep around near the memorial and asked some walkers to keep their dogs on a lead. Soon the sheep were bounding around the steep grass slope being herded by the farmer’s sheep dogs.

We continued our walk to the end of the beach and around the headland. I bade goodbye to R, who continued the walk to the pub. I raced back to the van and drove round to the pub in the hope of getting there first. Didn’t, unfortunately. The pub was called Am Politician, after the boat which ran aground with cases of whisky made famous by the film Whisky Galore. We stayed for lunch. Later, R read that there should have been a couple of bottles from the shipwreck on display, but, if there were, we missed them.

After lunch we crossed the causeway to the island of South Uist and drove the short distance to Kilbride Campsite. It is a well laid out, with a cafe on site. as well as laundry machines, which R made use of. The rain has started as we sit in the dry under the canopy drinking our G&Ts.