L2L Day 85 Bayherivagh to Dalabrog (Uist) - 14 miles

An early breakfast and a one mile walk down to catch the early ferry to Eriskay.


Loaded up with half a dozen cars, a couple of camper vans and a garbage truck, the 40 minute crossing was smooth as the ferry threaded its way through the islands to Eriskay.




At Eriskay we walked along the white sand beach gazing out at the turquoise sea 





...almost blinded by the brightness of sun on the beach.

We found the cairn raised by local school children to mark the spot where Bonnie Prince Charlie arrived on the island in 1745.


Eriskay is where Whisky Galore was written - based on the true story of the SS Politician, a supply ship which in 1941, struck rocks nearby losing its cargo of whisky barrels.


On Eriskay, it was certainly going to be a good drying day!




A lovely day for snails to do what snails obviously do!


We crossed the causeway linking Eriskay to Uist 


watched a Sandpiper..


and suprise, suprise found that it was going to be a good drying day on Uist too!!


A long walk on tarmac seems always to be tiring and it took its toll on a tendon on Sally's right foot so by the time we reached the Pollachar Inn we decided it'd be better for her to catch the 14: 30 bus the last few miles to our accommodation at Dalabrog.

At the bar in the Pollachar Inn, a few locals were jovially predicting a disastrous outcome of the England v Croatia game this evening.

With Sally on her way on the bus, I returned to the path which followed the coastline, crossing the machair for the next 5 miles.


As I walked along, battened down for the strong following breeze, I met Jackie and Trevor who were out bird watching. 


On a three week holiday they clearly love the islands and  have returned to Uist a number of times. We talked about numerous ways of keeping the brain active - they're both keen Times cryptic crossword  and University Challenge fans and we joked about the different styles of Bamber Gascoigne, Jeremy Paxman and Amol Rajan. They were intereetsed in the route that I'd followed into Derbyshire. I mentioned I'd stayed with David and Anne near Carsington. They were amused because they come from just 10 miles up the road at Birchover. They explained that Birchover is a bit of a geological anomaly and the pink gritstone from the local quarry used to be hewn into elegant columns before extraction. The stone was used on Portcullis House at Westminster.

When you meet fellow walkers, you can never guess where conversations are going to go next!
Next time I get off the Tube at Westminster, I'll think of J and T. 

The further along the machair I walked, the more desolate it started to feel. There were certainly no walkers. 




The whole area has been split into strips - sometimes delineated with fencing. Though where not being grazed, most strips have mixtures of wild flowers, curiously some strips are covered only in daisies and an adjacent one covered exclusively in buttercups. 

Throughout my walk, I was clearly upsetting a lot of lapwing, oystercatcher, groups of LBJs and a large number of bunnies. 


Eventually, I arrived at Dalabrog



with its buildings spread out over a significant area. It has the main Co-op for the island, a church,


hotel, doctor's surgery, post office


a gym and an impressive newly built music college. 

My chosen charity this year is Medecins sans Frontieres, here's a link to my JustGiving page which should take you straight there

https://www.justgiving.com/page/david-thomas-lewes2lewis?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL



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