Island Hopping with the Glebe-Day 6

N.B This and the following and the previous blogs on this trip may appear quite disjointed...well tough,you get what you get.

Day 6
I'm writing this on South Uist.

After finishing day 5's blog i headed for my bunk.
The two Canadian lassies have transformed into two hairy swiss bikers(road bikers to be truthful),and the two Australian lassies have morped into a couple of Frenchmen.
My alarm goes off at 6am,and a much better nights sleep means i'm more on the ball today.
After my porridge i'm down to the terminal in plenty time for the ferry.
It's the 'Lord of the Isles' today,and todays's trip will take 5 hours and 20 minutes.

There's dolphins in Oban Harbour this morning,and although i coudn't get any photo's i managed a couple of small video clips.(Guess what though-I didn't load my video camera software onto my laptop,so i'll have to follow up when my trip is finished).
I got into a conversation with a policeman from Lincoln who's releasing his stress by going on a sea kayaking course.

Once we get underway,i'm on the top deck with my walkman listening to Sounds of the Sixties.
Todays route initially is the same as the Mull route,we go past Craignure.










The mums and kids are watching further up the Mull sound.They're looking out for Balamory.


It's quite cloudy today,but that doesn't detract from the Island views along the route.
We pass Muck,Eigg and Rhum to the north,and Coll and Tiree to the south.Then Skye looms larger
I decide to eat on the boat,and have a lovely dinner of Creamed Chicken,boiled potatoes and fresh veg.
Closing in on the Outer Hebrides we're treated to a magnificent display of leaping dolphins.They were jumping clean out of the water.Again no pictures,it was over all too quick as they were heading in the opposite direction to us.One whale showed itself,but only fleetingly.I hadn't imagined it,and others confirmed it had been a whale.


Now off the boat at Lochboisedale and i'm on South Uist.
Luckily the Tourist Information Office is close by and i call in for directions to Howmore.The young lady writes down the Gaelic translation since not all signs are in both.
What a brilliant place South Uist looks-it reminds me so much of Donegal.


A walk on the Atlantic shore,and i get lucky with this picture-my camera is on a sports setting,and as i click the sandbank collapses and the goose takes off.Heading down to the beach,the oyster catchers sound really carries,as the flies totally ignore the spray i've put on and try to eat me alive.
There's greylag geese here.
This one was just taking off as a column of sand was collapsing into the burn.

Howmore is about ten miles up the road,and the basic hostel isn't really so basic.Microwave cooker shower and a bunkhouse.I head of along to Benbecula to get some food from the Coop..


Once back at the hostel,a family of five have moved in.I'm treated to a cup of their tea.

Back to the bunkhouse to write this.There;s a young couple from Gloucester moved in-they're cycling the islands.
Later i head out to Benbecula.I want to see about some live music.
I dont remember the name of the pub,but the music wasn't traditional.It was one guy singing to backing music(He played the guitar as well).A glass of shandy was enough for me.It was too noisy,and some birds 30th birthday,so it was pretty raucus.One young drunk was unceremoniously thrown out for trying to cause trouble.


I get showered and feed myself,as a Swiss Cyclist moves in(Honest-he says they come to Scotland because they like hills and aren't as steep as swiss hills.
I head out for a walk.There's ruins of four churches dating back to the twelvth century close by.


An amazing monument designed by Hew Lorimer in 1930.
I talk to a Glasgow man,who arrived to teach for a while.Met and married a local lass and got kids.


Heading back to the hostel,i take some sunsets.



Once the sun went down,it was still just about daylight.What a brilliant place.