the wind singing at Kilt Rock (at very beginning of movie):
our Harry Potter tent, the shieling on Mull:
Ray on top of The Old Man of Storr on his second climb--this time alone:
Saturday, May 30, 2009
One extra photo for today--oh dear
First sight on getting off the ferry in the Uists--oh dear, we're in trouble now:
Saturday, May 30--Ferry to the Uists
I think it is so interesting how we pronounce things differently from the British. For example:
British—“Jan-your-ree” US—“Jan-you-air-ree”
British—“ord-nair-ree” US—“or-din-air-ree”
British—“seck-ret-ree” US—“seck-ret-tair-ree”
British—“Feb-roo-wee” US—“Feb-roo-air-ree”
British—“gair-edge” US—“guh-rahj”
I find myself lapsing into the British way of expressing things more and more. I told Ray to go pay at the till the other night in the café. I’ve never called the cash register the till in my entire life. “Get us a trolley,” I’ll say, when for 56 years of my life it has been a grocery cart or buggy. But I don’t think the British “shed-yule” will ever creep into my vocabulary.
I have also found a few things that I REALLY want to have when I get home. Well, if we’re being honest—shortbread cookies or jam doughnuts on demand anytime I want them, but the real list is as follows:
an automatic pull heater in the bath, like in our cottage here
a towel warmer in the bath
a white collapsible clothes hanger/drier, like in our cottage here
on-demand hot water for the shower, like we have here in the cottage
automatic windshield wipers like on our Peugeot we have now—and the cool mirrors
that turn themselves inward when you shut off the car
As you can see, I very much like our present living situation—cottage and car—and will be very sad to leave them.
We were up early and straightened up the cottage and headed to Columba for one last email check before we head into the wilds of the Outer Hebrides.
Afterwards, we drove to Uig. Uig was known for its witch population in the past. One woman was charged as being a witch as late as 1880. The small town looks Norwegian with its whitewashed houses and its prominent church on the hillside. The Fairy Glen we visited the other day is just on the edge of town. We walked around and visited the Isle of Skye Brewery Store and Uig Pottery then took a nap in the car.
Our ferry left from Uig just after 2. The Little Minch separates the Isle of Skye from the Western Isles with treacherous, strong currents and underwater rocks, but our crossing was fairly smooth. It was so clear that we were even able to see Neist Point Lighthouse as we crossed.
We landed at Lochmaddy, North Uist, and took the A867 to the A865, driving through the islands of North Uist, Benbecula, and on to South Uist. Immediately there is a difference—everything is in Gaelic with no English to help you in many cases. So I have to sound out the Gaelic and see what it sounds like in English and try to find that on the map. But sometimes the signs are in English but on the map it is in Gaelic, so I believe there is a conspiracy to confuse us.
The drive down was through land much like parts of Skye but more like Harris, looking very barren and flat except for a few outstanding mountains. Just read that the “2001: A Space Odyssey” lunar landscape scenes were filmed on the east coast of Harris, where I stayed when I came here alone in 2007. It is truly so barren that it indeed does look like the surface of the moon. The Uists aren’t that barren. In fact, North Uist was full of freshwater and sea lochs, so much so that at times, looking at the map, it made you wonder if there was any land underneath the road. There were several Otter Crossing signs as this island has a dense population of the little guys. The Western Highlands are the wettest part of Europe. There are few forests so the land becomes saturated then the moss grows very well and rots down to form layers of peat, which is used for fires. The land is kind of like a wet dessert, as a matter of fact. So I am sure that this area has good peat farming. We drove by Flora MacDonald’s birthplace and may go back tomorrow. The place in Milton near Mingarry is supposedly in ruins now.
We drove into Lochboisdale first to see if they had any good restaurants, but there was virtually nothing. Nothing! We are in such a remote area here. We drove back to the A865 and took the B888 to the inn, which is on the very tip of the southwestern end of the island.
The Polochar Inn is built on the water’s edge and has great views of the islands of Eriskay and Barra. The inn was once a change-house, the place you could wait for the ferry when traveling between South Uist and Eoligarry on Barra. The original building dates back to 1750 and retains much of its original features. It is now owned by Morag MacKinnon and Margaret Campbell who are sisters.
The name “Polochar” comes from the Gaelic “Poll a Charra,” meaning inlet (Poll) and large stone or rock (Charra), therefore, “inlet of stone.” This refers to the standing stone which is situated across from the inn and which is thought to date from the Megalithic/late Neolithic/early Bronze Age. It dates from the 3rd millenium BC and supposedly indicated an ancient landing site.
We booked an ensuite double and have a lovely sea view—rocks on the shore and islands off on the horizon.
We arrived at around 5:30 and booked dinner for 8:30 in order for me to be able to watch the finale of Britain’s Got Talent. Very exciting.
British—“Jan-your-ree” US—“Jan-you-air-ree”
British—“ord-nair-ree” US—“or-din-air-ree”
British—“seck-ret-ree” US—“seck-ret-tair-ree”
British—“Feb-roo-wee” US—“Feb-roo-air-ree”
British—“gair-edge” US—“guh-rahj”
I find myself lapsing into the British way of expressing things more and more. I told Ray to go pay at the till the other night in the café. I’ve never called the cash register the till in my entire life. “Get us a trolley,” I’ll say, when for 56 years of my life it has been a grocery cart or buggy. But I don’t think the British “shed-yule” will ever creep into my vocabulary.
I have also found a few things that I REALLY want to have when I get home. Well, if we’re being honest—shortbread cookies or jam doughnuts on demand anytime I want them, but the real list is as follows:
an automatic pull heater in the bath, like in our cottage here
a towel warmer in the bath
a white collapsible clothes hanger/drier, like in our cottage here
on-demand hot water for the shower, like we have here in the cottage
automatic windshield wipers like on our Peugeot we have now—and the cool mirrors
that turn themselves inward when you shut off the car
As you can see, I very much like our present living situation—cottage and car—and will be very sad to leave them.
We were up early and straightened up the cottage and headed to Columba for one last email check before we head into the wilds of the Outer Hebrides.
Afterwards, we drove to Uig. Uig was known for its witch population in the past. One woman was charged as being a witch as late as 1880. The small town looks Norwegian with its whitewashed houses and its prominent church on the hillside. The Fairy Glen we visited the other day is just on the edge of town. We walked around and visited the Isle of Skye Brewery Store and Uig Pottery then took a nap in the car.
Our ferry left from Uig just after 2. The Little Minch separates the Isle of Skye from the Western Isles with treacherous, strong currents and underwater rocks, but our crossing was fairly smooth. It was so clear that we were even able to see Neist Point Lighthouse as we crossed.
We landed at Lochmaddy, North Uist, and took the A867 to the A865, driving through the islands of North Uist, Benbecula, and on to South Uist. Immediately there is a difference—everything is in Gaelic with no English to help you in many cases. So I have to sound out the Gaelic and see what it sounds like in English and try to find that on the map. But sometimes the signs are in English but on the map it is in Gaelic, so I believe there is a conspiracy to confuse us.
The drive down was through land much like parts of Skye but more like Harris, looking very barren and flat except for a few outstanding mountains. Just read that the “2001: A Space Odyssey” lunar landscape scenes were filmed on the east coast of Harris, where I stayed when I came here alone in 2007. It is truly so barren that it indeed does look like the surface of the moon. The Uists aren’t that barren. In fact, North Uist was full of freshwater and sea lochs, so much so that at times, looking at the map, it made you wonder if there was any land underneath the road. There were several Otter Crossing signs as this island has a dense population of the little guys. The Western Highlands are the wettest part of Europe. There are few forests so the land becomes saturated then the moss grows very well and rots down to form layers of peat, which is used for fires. The land is kind of like a wet dessert, as a matter of fact. So I am sure that this area has good peat farming. We drove by Flora MacDonald’s birthplace and may go back tomorrow. The place in Milton near Mingarry is supposedly in ruins now.
We drove into Lochboisdale first to see if they had any good restaurants, but there was virtually nothing. Nothing! We are in such a remote area here. We drove back to the A865 and took the B888 to the inn, which is on the very tip of the southwestern end of the island.
The Polochar Inn is built on the water’s edge and has great views of the islands of Eriskay and Barra. The inn was once a change-house, the place you could wait for the ferry when traveling between South Uist and Eoligarry on Barra. The original building dates back to 1750 and retains much of its original features. It is now owned by Morag MacKinnon and Margaret Campbell who are sisters.
The name “Polochar” comes from the Gaelic “Poll a Charra,” meaning inlet (Poll) and large stone or rock (Charra), therefore, “inlet of stone.” This refers to the standing stone which is situated across from the inn and which is thought to date from the Megalithic/late Neolithic/early Bronze Age. It dates from the 3rd millenium BC and supposedly indicated an ancient landing site.
We booked an ensuite double and have a lovely sea view—rocks on the shore and islands off on the horizon.
We arrived at around 5:30 and booked dinner for 8:30 in order for me to be able to watch the finale of Britain’s Got Talent. Very exciting.
Had salmon for dinner and cheesecake for dessert then back up to the room to catch the show results. And my choice won!!! The dance group Diversity. They were amazingly creative. So nice to have such a beautiful view out our window.
***pictures from top: sunset out window on Skye, one last look at the Quiraings, Neist Point from the ferry, single-track roads and stone bridges on South Uist, view out our inn window on South Uist
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