A rubbish walk…

 

Big rocks on bins - needed out here!

A quirky tradition for our final morning here is that unless it is actually blowing a gale, or sideways-raining, one of my final tasks before we head away is that I gather up the accumulated rubbish from around the cottage and take it up the track to the bins. This time round I thought I was going to be scuppered on this one, as when we woke up yesterday morning it was indeed blowing a gale and sideways-raining, but handily it calmed down an hour or so before departure so I popped my wellies on, grabbed the bag and went for a wander.

The track is a third of a mile up to the road, not a long walk by any stretch, but one I really enjoy, particularly once the bag is dropped off and I can enjoy the walk back without it. That last approach to the cottage on foot for this trip, always plenty of birds to be seen - this time I surprised a Snipe as well as the usual Meadow Pipits, Gulls  and Starlings. The new house being built part way up the field changes the view a little, but then you see the first glimpse of the cottage chimneys as you go uphill towards the highest point…

See - just to the left of the track?

Over the crest of the hill and there is Kettle Cottage - Hoglan Bay down to the left, and the headland stretching off behind. Blue skies just starting to peek through too, promising better weather to come!

The cows never quite get used to seeing us coming and going on foot - and always give us a good curious stare! In the spring the Croft surrounding the cottage itself usually has sheep on it - they take a few days to get used to us but then also get remarkably curious, particularly the lambs which are clearly intrigued by these humans who talk to them! 

The final turn, and nearly back. Just a little under 15 minutes door to door, allowing for time to take these pictures and stop and look at things. Time to finish packing the car then set off back along that track in the car this time, with Kettle disappearing in the rear view mirror. 

Robyn

Abandoned…

 

I love these abandoned Croft houses as you know - almost always they have been left to fall derelict because a newer, more modern house has been built for the family to live in, and without decrofting the plot it stands on the original property can’t remain occupied. This one is on the Croft at the  Balranald RSPB reserve and is now home to a large number of Starlings - which seems quite appropriate! 

The yellow lichen on the roof is what makes this one stand out to me - and yesterday’s deep blue sky sets it off perfectly don’t you think? 

Robyn

The headland…

 

Inevitably we’re never at our regular holiday cottage for long before the lure of a walk round the headland draws us out. It’s one of the best things about the location - plenty of walking options straight from the door meaning we can opt to leave the car behind and just head out on foot. The short walk round the headland is just a mile starting off dropping down to this tiny secluded beach, then heading back uphill round the cliffs until we reach the natural rock arch which took us so long to find when we first stayed here. Once you know where it is it’s so obvious! 

On a clear day there is a view all the way out to St Kilda - stunning! From there we usually head back up the hill and complete the loop back to the cottage for a short stroll - there is a peninsula to be explored at low tide, and a longer return option dropping down to Hoglan Bay and then back via the road, then up the track to the cottage too it all depends how far we want to go - and sometimes how fierce the midges are!

Robyn.

Hebrides Countdown...

 

Without question, one absolute highlight of almost any trip to the Hebrides is the stunning sunsets you so often get to see. I'm reliably informed that you get similarly stunning colours at the other end of the day too, but unsurprisingly I'm rarely up to see that! 

I've been a bit lax over the last few years on taking photos with the big camera - phone cameras are so good these days that I have tended to revert to that for standard landscape stuff. The downside of this though is no longer getting around to saving shots back to specific albums online for that year's trip, or remembering to label them so I know where they were taken. The two here were both from one of our stays at Balranald Cottage though - and I recall the evening the top one was taken clearly as we spent some time watching a White Tailed Eagle flying over the small loch next to the cottage as the light gradually dropped. 

This years mission is to make sure I make better use of the kit that costs the sort of money I need to get value from it, and also to ensure that I upload things so I can find them again! 

Robyn

Hebrides Countdown…

 

Sunset at the “Kettle” rock arch - Tigharry

Oh yes - it’s time for one of these posts as we anticipate returning to our cosy little Island “home” on North Uist again! 

We’re returning to an old route up this time - using the ferry from Uig on Skye to get across to Uist. We prefer going from Mallaig to Lochboisdale - a longer sailing but far less time and distance driving on the mainland - but sadly the ferry company serving the Western Isles  (Caledonian MacBrayne or “Calmac”)  simply cannot be trusted to provide a service on that route these days, indeed, we have booked that route for our return and have already seen one change to the booked tickets, with another more tricky to manage one far from unexpected.  The compromise on the way across is to get the ferry from Mallaig across to Armadale at the bottom end of Skye, then drive up through the island to get to Uig - we still get the benefit of less  mainland driving for the relatively low cost of the short hop on the little boat.

There is something comfortable about reflecting on a return to a place you have visited so many times previously - you know the main routes, the good places to grab a coffee and a cake, the best supermarkets for yellow sticker reductions, and the times you need to be somewhere to avoid a crowd straight off a ferry or to ensure that the latest delivery has been unloaded. Even some of the people - over the years we have met a number of folk who even if we may not know them by name always greet us with recognition and “ahh - back again then!” plus others who we do know a little better and who will pause for a chat and a catch up on our respective news.  Then there is the cottage itself too - although it’s fun staying somewhere new of course, returning to somewhere we know means less time needs to be taken to work out how things will function for you there - we just unpack, shove things where we know they live, and we’re settled and ready to properly start our holiday! 

In spite of the above and the amount of time we’ve spent up there over the years, we aways seem to find new stuff - even bizarrely roads we didn’t know existed or have never explored! Sometimes it’s turnings we had assumed just went to somebody’s home, but then we see a mention of a particular bird being sighted from “X” location and realise that no, it’s just a rather less made-up bit of road, and so ripe for exploring. Other times it might be a turning that we knew was there but didn’t think went far enough to be worth looking at - but a bit of a wander proves otherwise, or throws up something interesting at the end. 

Loch Skipport

There are also the places we return to again and again - obviously the old Pier at Loch Skipport, which yes, is still just standing, or at least it was the last time we visited! Traditions like a wander on the Airport Beach on the first full day we are there, assuming the tides allow, while waiting to collect a Chinese takeaway, bizarrely! The circular walk at Loch Sandary - suited to less good weather - where you inevitably see some interesting birds and sometimes something a bit different - like an Eagle on a stick…

Yes, that IS a Golden Eagle casually minding it’s own business on a fence post, and no, I did not have my camera with me…just the phone and a pair of binoculars… 🙄 Of course there is also the walk around the headland that the cottage is situated on - that will get done at all sorts of times of day and in whatever conditions the weather gods throw at us, and is an endless source of fabulous waves and incredible sunsets… 

All in all, it’s safe to say that this year’s trip is being eagerly anticipated - who knows, I may even manage a post or two while we are there, this time! 

Robyn 

Hebrides…DONE!

 

Another two weeks at beautiful Kettle Cottage - and how lovely it was to be back after missing a year last year because we were too slow off the mark to book! 

As usual with any Hebrides trip these days, there was a bit of ferry-related stress on the way up. It was windy - not by Hebrides standards, but windy nonetheless. And the ferry has a stabiliser out of action at the moment which affects the sea-states she can sail in. As a result we actually let our overnight hotel not quite knowing if we would get across, or not. Thankfully by the time we reached Fort William we were able to see that the boat had left South Uist on her way across to the mainland, so a big sigh of relief was breathed! 

The weather this year did leave a little to be desired - especially when compared with our two weeks of wall to wall sunshine and ludicrously warm temperatures in 2023. Nobody with any sense visits the Western Isles for sunbathing weather though, so it didn’t get in the way of anything we wanted to do, although it did mean we adjusted the days we chose to do a few things, and also meant that it was right at the end of our stay before we finally made it up our favourite little hill on Benbecula - Rueval…

The views were as stunning as ever, but oh my was it breezy at the top! 

Coincidence of the trip was finding ourselves by chance sharing a table at The Dunes Cabin for lunch with another couple - we got chatting as you do, and after a while the conversation turned to where we were from… “Essex” said we…”oh, us too” came the response…”which bit?”  Well, it only turned out that they live less than quarter of a mile from our front door! Ludicrous or what? It was their first visit to the islands, so we passed on a few “must sees” and will be keeping an eye out for them locally now we’re back to see if they are planning a return trip!  

Of course we booked for another trip on the boat with the lovely Lady Anne crew - Nye was skippering this time, with new crew member Rosie alongside, and as usual we were expertly navigated into some great spots to see some fabulous wildlife, with the beautiful White Tailed Eagles being stars of the show as always.

That is Ronald - one of the pair resident in the area the boat visits. Handsome chap isn’t he! I’ve photographed them a number of times now but the thrill as you first see them never diminishes - and it always takes your breath away seeing such a huge bird so close up as well. It’s just such a privilege - and well worth the cost of the trip. 

As usual the trip was filled with plenty of wandering about, nice food, general relaxing and a bit of exploring too - even after all these years we still find the odd place we’ve not been to before. We were also over for the Tractor Rally this year too - first time we’ve been there for that in a good few years. Always good fun, the tractors set off earlier in the morning to do a circuit around the Island before heading back to the hall and show ground at Hosta. Everyone admires them for a bit, then goes and eats and jolly good lunch of soup, sandwiches and homebaking - and there is NOTHING not to like about that! The Uist ladies really know how to bake as well and they are definitely “never knowingly undercatered” - we were absolutely stuffed. It’s all for charity as well, so feels like a good way of being able to contribute something back, while we are there.

We were also up at the right time for the stunning arrays of wildflowers on the machair - always a highlight of a spring visit, and this year didn’t let us down as Uist had a warm spell at the beginning of May which meant all the flowers were a bit ahead of where they might usually have been. The orchids in particular were both stunning and prolific! 

All in all, another lovely trip. It’s always tough to leave, but then these days not only do we know we will most definitely be returning, we are also coming home to a place we love, and with plenty to keep us occupied between the garden (which ran cheerfully amok while we were gone!) and airshow season now starting properly for me.  

Our 2025 trip is already booked up - so we’d better get saving! 

Robyn. 

Hebrides Countdown...

Well, we've not had one of these for a while, have we? I always used to do them, then stopped because I wasn't blogging regularly while we were actually away any more, and so the countdown felt a bit redundant. then I (mostly) stopped blogging much at all, but now I'm back to trying to blog at least semi regularly again anyway, and blogging with photos, at that, so actually, it felt like a nice thing to resurrect! 

So - we're off again shortly - staying in the gorgeous little Kettle Cottage up on North Uist. We missed out of booking Kettle last year as the timings didn't work for our "usual" slot, and there wasn't availability at another time we could make, so we made sure we were able to book it again for 2024 (and have actually already booked 2025 as well - we're not being caught out again, oh no!) As has been the case for a few years now, we are also stretching the trip out for a bit above a straight fortnight too - booking for a ferry over on the Thursday of our trip, and not returning until the Sunday at the end too - this is something we've managed to do for a few years now, and while no doubt there will come a year when it's not so practical, this isn't that year. (Hurrah!) So our first two nights will be spent in one of the glamping pods at our favourite campsite, and the final night of the trip will be there, too. 

As always, we've made NO definite plans for things to do while we're there - we don't, generally. There are things we undoubtedly will do of course - lots of walks on the headland where the Cottage is located and elsewhere. Lots of wandering about looking at birds of course, and time on various beaches too. Cafe trips, cake eaten, at least one stroll up our favourite little hill with the amazing views - Rueval. We'll probably book a boat trip again, and I will be hoping to get some photos of the beautiful White Tailed Eagles as well - it's always a treat seeing them. Whatever we see, and wherever we go though, just being up there, with no specific plans, and time to just relax, sit and enjoy the views, listen to the silence...those are the things that we go for, after all! 

Robyn

Another Hebrides trip done…

 We’re just back from our main Hebrides break for this year - and while,there aim was reminded by a friend that this blog has been neglected for waaaay too long, so how about a nice photo-heavy post to get us back to things? 

As usual, we left home to drive part way up after a regular work-day, stopping this time near Scotch Corner, then made an early start on the first proper day of the holiday to drive up for the ferry. We consciously leave far earlier than the actual travel time demands as all sorts of things could go wrong on the way, from a problem with the car right through to a problem with the ferry meaning we need to divert - this time however all was well so we had sufficient time to kill that we stopped at Glenfinnan to take in the scenery…

The ferry crossing was a beauty - calm seas and beautiful weather…

…and soon enough we were rolling off at Lochboisdale (South Uist) and heading for our usual home for the first couple of nights, the delightful Moorcroft Campsite on North Uist. Their “Hobbit Home” camping pods are brilliant - warm, cosy, and equipped with beds and a kettle (and several other amenities, but, priorities!) 

Views like this always quickly remind us why we keep returning! 

A couple of days gentle ambling around and it was time to go and get settled in to the lovely Kettle Cottage - the little white painted haven on a wonderful headland on the west of North Uist. We’ve stayed there several times before so no real settling in was needed, although when we woke on the Sunday morning to steady rain it seemed we were going to get that time, regardless! No need for despair though as by early afternoon the drizzle had turned to this…

…and that in turn set the scheme for our first week - blue skies, temperatures warm enough for short sleeves and cropped trousers, and evenings warm enough to sit on the bench outside the cottage with drinks in the evenings - bliss! We never expect weather like that, our packing assumes we’ll have plenty of cold, wet days, but the glorious days are always a pleasant surprise when they arrive. On this occasion we kept being told that it was pretty much the first decent summer weather the islands had seen this year - so we were really lucky! 

Among other adventures we had a trip to Lochmaddy on a glorious evening to watch South Uist ferry Lord of the Isles undertake berthing trials …

Saw a quite incredible few hours of the aurora and also had nearly a week of seeing the landscape lit up by a truly beautiful harvest moon…

Travelled across for a day trip to Harris - and will always remember walking back into the cottage on our return that evening to see the newsflash arrive on my phone with the news that Queen Elizabeth II had died. 

Saw some beautiful flowers and incredible wildlife - including another wonderful trip on the Lady Anne boat with Nick & Nye, watching breathtaking White Tailed Eagles… 

There was also lots of walking, several new hills, and LOTS of cake! The second week was cooler and less sunny, but still almost entirely dry (during the days at least) so we were able to get out and about as much as we wanted and visit so many favourite spots. 

One of those favourite spots is at Minish on North Uist - and the beautiful Soldier on the Hill - in essence a war memorial all of its own. Always poignant, and never more so than this time with the flag at half-mast in reflection of the Queen’s death. We’ve had a lot of special moments over in the islands, but the five minutes we spent up there will definitely stick in the memory. RIP Your Majesty - we’ll think of you when we’re back in the Hebrides next as we know how much you loved the place, too.

Robyn

Found it! And a bucket thing...

 

Some background - Kettle Cottage, where we are staying, is named for  nearby natural rock arch and cave which forms a “blow hole” in the cliff - called Slochd a’Choire or “the spouting kettle” as with the right weather conditions and high seas it shoots water high into the air! Last year we looked repeatedly for this feature but were entirely unable to track it down. We consulted maps, guides and even the Scottish registry of caves and mines which provided a grid reference - all to no avail and we had to leave, defeated. 

This year we’re back and, undaunted, decided to have another go. We’ve already been out on the headland several times and must have scoured every inch of the coastline in the area of the grid reference numerous times now - but this morning headed back at low tide for another go - with the lower water levels meaning we could examine more of the rocky areas and hopefully see it from a new angle. In spite of this, still nothing. We began wondering whether maybe the maps and grid references we’d seen were wrong - whether perhaps because of the “official” nature of the site providing the reference, others have just copied it without checking, thus underlining the incorrect information simply by further repeating it. So we looked for something different - and sure enough found a reference in a book to a different way of approaching it....and FINALLY, we found it! It turned out to be on an altogether different part of the headland - no wonder we couldn’t track it down before! Once we had found the new information it proved surprisingly easy!

So that was the first thing ticked off the wish-list for the day. The second came this afternoon when the wind dropped and as a result the temperature increased a bit...and we decided that it was time to don swimming gear and have our first ever Hebridean sea-swim! We were undecided as to where until we began to walk towards the beach we thought might work...then looked down into Bàgh Hogha Glan (Hoglan Bay) just below the cottage, and it looked SO enticing...! The water definitely felt cold when we first waded in, and it took me a good 10 minutes of edging a little further...and a little further...and shrieking when waves splashed me much to MrEH’s amusement, but once actually fully submerged it wasn’t too bad at all and I had the most GLORIOUS half an hour swimming up and down and bobbing gently in the waves. It’s SO long since I’ve swum at all thanks to this wretched virus, which made it even better. Swimming with a view of St Kilda way off the the horizon, being able to see straight through the water to the white sand below me, with birds flying overhead and at one stage being mildly startled by a large leaping fish just a few metres away (a salmon, probably?) really was very special. I did manage to get stung by a jellyfish, annoyingly, in spite of keeping a sharp eye out for them - not badly, but it still feels rather stingy and prickly several hours later! In spite of that though undoubtedly one of the very best things I have ever done on trips over here - jellyfish notwithstanding I’ll be hoping to repeat that at some stage! 

Robyn 

Just me...

Go out. Walk for 2 hours. See not another soul..

Robyn 

Today...

Was a "2 Corncrakes in the garden" kinda day...

So, it seems Corncrakes are like buses - you wait all year and then two come along at once!

Robyn

Last day...

And what an excellent last day it's been. The sun has shone ALL day and we've managed to be out enjoying it for most of the day too.  We started with one of these...

 



You'll have to excuse the utterly rubbish photo - of course it's a Corncrake - secretive little birds and at this time of year you're doing well to see one at all as the vegetation has now grown high enough that they can stay under cover a lot of the time!  At the same place (Balranald) we also saw what seemed like an entire field of those beautiful purple orchids...

 





Fabulous aren't they - they were right across the field!  The we stopped so I could wander up a hill and capture this view...

...that's all four of North Uist's notable hills there - North Lee, South Lee, Burrival and Eaval.

After that and with the weather SO glorious we had the traditional last-day walk on a beach...

...this one was a bit special though as this was the beach that is walking distance from the house we've been staying at - and the whole time we were walking on it there was not another soul on there with us - amazing!

Finally the day ended with the most amazing sunset....

As ever we've had a wonderful time - fabulous to catch up with friends who are lucky enough to live in this fantastic environment all the time. We're very excited to be heading back up in just over 6 months too - and already have this house booked for next year's fortnight too! For this time though, tomorrow morning the car will be packed and we'll drive south down through the Uists, Grimsay and Benbecula to catch the ferry back to Oban...

Robyn

A proper forest walk!

Tuesday brought something a little unexpected...a walk in a forest! Now I admit that may not sound the *most* unexpected thing you might have imagined, but this is the Western Isles remember, where landscapes commonly look a little like this...

...not many trees to be seen there, eh? In a place this exposed, mostly they simply don't survive, so you can almost count on the fingers of one hand how many patches of woodland there are on the islands. The only places where any quantity of trees can be found in one place are the plantations, and it was to one of these that we headed - the Langass Plantation on north Uist. It was originally planted as an experiment to see how the two types of tree originally planted would cope with growing in such a harsh environment - the answer was pretty well, surprisingly, and the plantation is now owned by a community organisation who are working to not only expand the number of tree species growing there but also to make it "visitor friendly" with paths being laid, a small visitor centre, and benches.

In some places where trees have been felled some imagination has been used on the remains...

Less obvious, but still everywhere you look are the amazing mosses and lichens that you see everywhere up here - they grow on anything, pretty much, even the twigs of the trees aren't safe...

 The stars of the show though are the trees themselves - from the tall pines which were the original inhabitants of the plantation, to the slender, fragile new Rowans that have been added recently - it just feels like such a novelty to be walking around under a canopy of real trees! It's reassuring to know that as and when we're here for good, I'll be able to combine the wonderful views with a bit of forest to stomp around, too!

Robyn