Still standing...

 The pier at Loch Skippprt, South Uist, that is! I looked back at our past years holiday notebooks the other day - and reminded myself quite how many years this remarkable old structure had been “just” hanging in there as far as we are concerned - nearly 20 years now!

So there we are - another Hebrides trip done and dusted. We had the usual mixed weather, everything from freezing cold temperatures and howling wind through to several days warm enough for short sleeves and, for MrEH at least, shorts.  Just the one day of pouring rain thankfully - and obviously we chose a walk right round the RSPB reserve that day and got back soaked in spite of full waterproofs! Hebridean rain does have a way of driving in through any gaps or slightly less well proofed points in jackets! 

Some highlights to be found as ever in the astonishing array of wildlife, and particularly birds. Our best year ever for total sightings topping out at a quite astonishing 114 different species across the bit-over-a fortnight. Best sightings would be the largest - great views of White Tailed Eagles from a boat trip - with Nick on the Lady Anne, we’ve done his trips before and they never disappoint - through to two of the smallest - some time spent watching Red Necked Phalaropes, plus one of those oddity sightings that turns up over there from time to time in the shape of a Red-Spotted Bluethroat. 

Yes - a little brown job that’s been let loose with the poster paint, to all intents and purposes! The Hebrides is one of those places where you never really know what birds might show up - stuff gets blown off course on migration and ends up where, really, it shouldn't - the 2016 Black Billed Cuckoo is a great example of that! It certainly adds an element of excitement to things! 

Robyn

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

Still Standing after all these years...

Thursday was a quiet, pottering around sort of day. The weather was still lovely, although not quite so hot as the day before (which I’ll blog about separately) and there were lots of places we wanted to go, so we decided to just wander and see where we ended up. We were actually heading for lunch when we spotted a Little Tern fishing – they’re really delicate birds to watch, and so beautiful when they’re diving for fish – but really fast too, and tricky to even keep in the viewfinder, so I was quite pleased with this…

After lunch we decided to head further south to see what was about, and inevitably enough turned off down one of our favourite roads….

With views like this is it any surprise we like it?!  It runs for 4 miles into some of the most wonderful, remote areas on South Uist, with wonderful outlooks over the South Uist hills and the Loch Druidibeg National Nature Reserve – there is a walk from the spot that this photo was taken which takes you into even more remote parts of the reserve – definitely on our list to do although we’ve not managed to get there yet.

Carrying on down the road brings us to the Old Pier of course – and yes, it IS still standing, although yet again a lot more damage has been done by the winter’s storms. One entire chunk has fallen away now and there are many more sections swaying about in the breeze…

…a bit more wall has fallen in too – you need to be quite careful how close to the edges you walk now! Back down the road again and we were stopped – literally – by finding this standing in the road…

…cute eh? And VERY friendly too – it took me a while to get this shot as every time I crouched down he wanted to come and say hello!

Robyn

Hebrides Countdown....

A picture from back in 2007 for you this time - remember the Old Pier at Loch Skipport? One of our favourite spots and I have posted shots of it before - it's always fascinating seeing how it has changed from our last visit as the weather is battering it badly these days. This is a slightly different view of it though, as it was taken from the opposite side of the Loch.

This walk is one of several we have a fancy to either re-do, or have a go at for the first time this year. My lovely other half has at long last convinced me to possibly have a crack at one or other of the "significant" hills, so dependant on conditions underfoot we might climb or other of the Lees. We'd like to do that walk from North to South Glendale again - this year I intend to try not to end up to my knees in boggy mud!

The next time I update this will be from the Hebrides - so if you have any requests of things you'd like to see photos of then leave a comment and let me know. Auntie D has already told me "lots of beaches" so I shall do my best on that front - no doubt there will also be some birds, although we're still not birdwatchers. Nope. Definitely not.

Robyn

An old favourite....

Another day of wild weather - today to add to the high winds we have been experiencing snow and hail, sometimes together. The combined effect has been like regularly having our faces shot-blasted at close range - I believe that in America people probably pay for that sort of treatment....

The shot above is of The Old Pier at Loch Skipport - I'm sure I've featured this before - it's one of our favourite spots on the Islands and we always make a point of visiting. I had a feeling when taking this shot that it was going to end up in Black & White but as sometimes happens the shot had other ideas and refused point-blank to have it's colour removed.  Loch Skipport is a strangely evocative place - you can still catch echoes of what a busy, bustling place it once was - steamers called there up until the 1950's after which Lochboisdale at the Southern end of the Island (South Uist) replaced it in the itineraries. The pier was apparently originally built to accommodate the arrival of Queen Victoria when she visited the Island.

Robyn.