Day 49...

Loch Skipport - South Uist. 

We are currently in the middle of trying to sort out the official cancellation of our upcoming Hebrides trip. We had agreed with Anne who owns the cottage we stay in that we would leave it as late as possible to make the call - but we’ve now reached the point where travel is clearly going to be impossible and so the decision had to be made. Realistically we’ve known all along that it wasn’t going to happen, but for me in particular with all the other cancellations happening early on in a Lockdown and just before, it felt really important to have at least the illusion of something to look forward to still.

So now we have to deal with getting accommodation refunded or re-booked. Travelodge (we break the journey in one on the way up) have been ace - in spite of the room being non-refundable they volunteered a refund plus 25% on top if we were happy to accept a credit voucher. Oddly enough even up to a few days ago their website was still saying no refund of any description so holding out on that one was clearly the right thing to do!  I’ve already heard back from both our other single night  accommodation providers - for our first and last nights on the islands - confirming that one is refunding, the other will be holding our money for now (at our request) against a rebooking - we’ve known Iain and Catriona for years and don’t want to damage their cash flow any further by getting a refund. If it comes to it we’ll use the credit against next year’s trip. Anne is going to apply our deposit on the cottage against whichever new date we book, and I have applied for the refund for the ferry tickets.

Now we have to plan a trip for new dates, and get everything re-booked, which will at least be something to look forward to although also slightly frustrating at having to do all the work again! Also slightly concerning in that we don’t entirely know when we are “safe” to report-book of course, and what might happen down the line with lockdown being tightened again should that be needed. It’s a tricky balance to find. On the flip side there are far less things to consider that it will potentially clash with, this year, which is an advantage! Roundabouts and swings, I guess.

Robyn