North Uist, by Bus

We bought a book of walks in the Outer Hebrides in the Co-op at Eriskay, and the one that really caught my eye was on North Uist. A check of the bus timetable revealed that we could catch a bus to the start point, and have two hours to do the walk (timetabled at 1 hour) We are not slow walkers, but we do like to take our time at the places on the way, so this seemed to be excellent timing.

The bus started from Lochboisdale so we had no problems catching it. It was quite a long trip from the South end of South Uist, then across Benbecula and half way up North Uist, but it meant we saw bits of the archipelago that we would otherwise miss. There were several people aboard the bus when we left Lochboisdale, but by the time we reached North Uist we had it to ourselves.
The bus dropped us at the entrance to the Barpa Langass chambered cairn. Unfortunately the chamber has been closed off after a rock fall, but we took a good took at it from the outside, then headed for the nearest trig point. The view was spectacular!

We then went down hill to the Pobull Fhinn, the only stone circle on North Uist. It was rather wet underfoot, and we were glad of our boots, but the way was well marked, and we had no problems following it with the help of our guide book.

Then it was back to the road in good time to catch the bus.

On the way back we stopped off at the South Uist museum and craft centre for a bite to eat. We had seen a boat sitting outside it as we passed it heading north, and it looked familiar to me.

Back in the early 1990s I took Julian to the London Boat Show at Earl's Court, to see the Lord of the Isles Galley, Aileach. That visit was the start of the family interest in sailing, and here lay Aileach again. One of her planks is cracked, and she is on display while the trust that owns her raises money for repairs.