Island high land.

A week spent criss crossing the islands of Berneray, North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist all linked by various causeways provided a variety of environments and some memorable wild pitching. The weather stayed good and by the end of the week cloudless skies and soaring temperatures had me ditching the down jacket and digging out shorts for the first time since the brief hot spell at the start of this trip in the Yorkshire Dales 9 weeks ago.
A walk round the coast from Loch Sgioport to Usinish bothy passed the abandoned village of Caol Islas in a serene but remote coastal setting. Heccla's rocky summit was reached after a stiff climb in strong winds but offered a remarkable view over the watery flats of Benbecula.
Back up at Berneray the coast facing Harris provided a dream wild pitch and a good walk round the headland to watch seals basking in the sun. Lochmaddy's Festival of the Sea provided the opportunity to join the Lady Anne with 8 others for a trip over to the Monach Islands which amazingly used to support a community of around 100 people. Threading our way through the flat calms of North Ford lulled us in to a false sense of security as having just scraped under the causeway bridge we sped across choppy seas for an hour to reach this small group of islands. The ruined buildings also include the well maintained former schoolhouse that is used by fishermen  to escape bad weather and crofters from the Uists when they travel out to manage the sheep that graze throughout the year. Works of art adorned the wall and clearly many a good night had been spent there. I walked out to the far western end crossing silvery sand bars with dozens of seals dozing in the hot sun and spotting the nests of some of the numerous bird species.
On our return crossing we had to wait grounded in mid stream for the tide to come in and sweep us under the bridge once more to complete a perfect day out.
I returned for the fourth time to the huge beach of Baleshare as it provides first class wild pitching and is handy for a return to Lochmaddy today for the lifeboat open day and another boat trip this time round Lochmaddy Bay on what seems set to be an absolute scorcher. My last week should include a climb up Beinn Mohr followed by a drift south to Eriskay, the crossing to Barra and finally, a week tomorrow, the return to Oban and south to Wales - mainstream civilisation will come as a shock after the slow relaxed pace of the Hebrides but a medical review beckons prior to my trip to Ireland and it will be good to see family and friends during my week farm sitting near Llandeilo.


Photos here and locations here - enjoy!