Hebridean Hop 11: Eriskay

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Tuesday 7th August 2018

Lochboisdale Hotel

The Lochboisdale Hotel was our South Uist home for the next week. The hotel itself has seen better days, though the staff were lovely, the food was good, and we never tired of admiring this view which was taken from below our bedroom window.
The hotel first opened in 1882, so can be forgiven a few quirks. I rather liked that they honoured one of the previous hosts with this memorial in the carpark. He had a long tenure.

On our first morning, we decided to walk round to the new marina which was opened in 2015. On the way we passed this signpost – it was nice to know how far we were from home, and I can understand why Mallaig was there (ferries run from Lochboisdale to Mallaig on the mainland), but Prince Edward Island? I thought maybe it was a nod to the wave of emigration to Canada in the 1920s, but I read that Alberta was the most common destination. It’s a puzzle! The other picture is just because I loved the vivid colour of the seaweed.

More signs! We often saw “otter crossing” warnings in the Hebrides but, sadly, no otters. The other sign was typical of those at many new developments with its nod to the support of the European Regional Development Fund. How’s that going to work out after Brexit then? (Rhetorical question – don’t tell me!)

The marina is beautiful with our hotel glistening whitely behind it. And look at the sky and the sea! It was going to be a good day.

From the marina, we headed back to the hotel to pick up the car: destination Eriskay. To get there, we had to drive to the southern tip of the island. We stopped off at another old hotel, the Polochar Inn, and its nearby standing stone.

From here, we drove along the south coast in some excitement – this is where we stayed in 1989. I remember the shock when the woman in the Tourist Information Office told us she had found us a B&B in East Kilbride. At the time, I worked in a very different East Kilbride, a town near Glasgow. The first shock this year was to come across this beautiful camp site and café. There was absolutely nothing like that along this road 30 years ago. Of course, we had to stop for a coffee.

The next shock was that our B&B had gone. It was right next to the Ludaig ferry which (at the time) crossed to Eriskay. The picture of John with the cat is 1989, but the pictures of the ferry and the house below it were taken in 1993 from the Barra-Eriskay ferry. Further below that is the house which has replaced “ours”.

We have stayed in many lovely B&Bs and inns over the years, but somehow this one remains particularly magical in our memory. We remember so clearly the woman who ran it with such warm hospitality, and had a fantasy that she’d still be around and we might run into her. After the disappointment of finding the house had been replaced, John did a bit of Googling and discovered she died in April. I actually felt quite sad about someone I had only met for a few days nearly 30 years ago.

Anyway, onwards. There is now a causeway to Eriskay and the ferry has disappeared too. On arrival, we parked at the community hall and headed for the village. This cottage caught our eye with its owl perched on the fence.

Then before long, what do you know? We reached the pub, Am Politician, and it wasn’t too early for lunch. It hasn’t changed much – we also came here on our 1993 trip with our friends Pat and John.

Am Politician is named after the SS Politician which ran aground in the Sound of Eriskay in 1941 – carrying 22,000 bottles of whisky! The subsequent raiding and plundering inspired Compton Mackenzie’s novel Whisky Galore, and the film based on it. (Galore, meaning abundance, comes from the Gaelic gu leòir meaning plenty, so it’s an appropriate title.)

From the pub, we could look back at the (much-zoomed) Polochar Inn.

Then we reached another lovely graveyard overlooking the sea (I’m losing count of how many that is now).

The three stones in a row are unknown sailors from the Merchant Navy in the Second World War. The Celtic cross marks the grave of Father Allan Macdonald, Eriskay’s priest from 1894-1905, who built St Michael’s Church which is still in use. He was also a renowned poet, bard and Gaelic scholar.

Our next stop was Coilleag a’ Phrionnsa (the Prince’s Cockle Strand) where Charles Edward Stuart landed in 1745 to start the, ultimately unsuccessful, Jacobite Rising.

Have you seen those dreadful articles and adverts that advise you how to get your beach body ready? (The correct answer being: have a body, go to the beach.) Here’s the beach body I needed – clad in three layers, all fastened up almost to the chin!

A bit of road walking now took us to another beautiful bay. I liked this sign on the way. Na Pairceanan is the Gaelic name of this area, but to me it looked remarkable like Nae Parkin’, the Glaswegian for No Parking. Small things amuse me sometimes …

As we rounded the bay, a rock face decorated with the Stations of the Cross led up a grassy hill to a cross and an excellent viewpoint.

Retracing our steps, we continued round the bay. These small islets with deer and goat sculptures were part of someone’s garden.Continuing to the far end of the bay, we crossed the headland to another small bay on the other side. It was peaceful and pretty, but our walking map suggested there might otters and they resolutely refused to appear.

Retracing our steps again, we walked back up the road and climbed to Loch Crakavaig where the map indicated we might see some rare Eriskay ponies. This time we were lucky!

Descending the hill, the road took us back to our car at the community hall, passing Our Lady of Fatima who marks the site of the original church on the island.

Then it was back over the causeway to South Uist for dinner and to make plans for another day’s exploring.

Scotland, UK , , , , ,

51 Comments »

  1. That photo of you on the beach really worries me! I’m doing a walking holiday (Stornoway to Barra) in August 2020, same time of the year as your trip — and all your photos show you and your husband in many layers of clothing. eek! Seeing weather forecasts is one thing, seeing people in the actual environment is quite another. Note to self: buy thermal underwear.
    (BTW, Jude put me onto this series of posts after I mentioned my trip to her.)

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  2. A few years ago, we did a sailing trip along the shores of Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) on the west coast of Canada. Our captain was a scientist who had done his PhD dissertation on sea otters. Sea otters used to be an important part of the ecology of Haida Gwaii, and now they have all but disappeared. As usual, humans are to blame. The sea otters were deliberately trapped and killed to reduce competition with the fishermen for fish. And the First Nations people wanted to eliminate them too because they eat the sea urchins, and which is an important native fishery. It would be interesting to know whether the sea otter population in the Hebrides is at risk because of similar human pressures.

    Jude

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  3. I could quite happily stay at that camp site, the place looks lovely, and I love the ponies and the little islets with the deer and goat sculptures 🙂

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  4. I love your pictures and it must have been bittersweet going back to place you stayed at many years ago. I love that pic of the brilliant blue water with the Inn in the background.

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  7. Another great post of the Islands. The ponies were lovely and I see you took the jacket off when you left the beach. Really………… Nae Parking……… You’re a worry :o)

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  11. I’m sorry that your beloved B&B was gone, and the woman who ran it. Some places, and people, are so special that they remain in our minds for many years afterwards. But it looks as if the rest of your trip was a good one, and certainly quite beautiful!

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  12. Gorgeous places, especially with the clear weather. I imagine it can be quite gloomy on a rainy day.
    As for Alberta, I expect the Canadian government was offering a good deal on cheap land there to encourage settlement.

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  13. Another great walk about. I really enjoy this tour through some beautiful countryside and I love your intermixing of the old and now.

    It’s hard to go back to a place you’ve been before in the long past. It changes, we change … the end result can be rather sad when the new reality doesn’t match the memory.

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  14. A post of great variety. I despair of Wrex-it and ‘Make Britain great again’ type thinking. As a recent report showed there’s nothing left in the UK to make us great again with as its all been privatized and owned by overseas companies. And the biggest landowner in Scotland is Danish. My mum was in an old folks home for years and most of the staff in them are from Europe, same with hospitals, the service sector, and building sites. And a great job they do as well. Really hard working on low pay and long hours in many cases.
    To get any kind of special deal with one against 27 would require Sherlock Holmes style thinking which isn’t too apparent at the moment with our current Muppet Show cast of characters.

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  15. Stunning. What a treat you have given us today. Sorry you didn’t get to see any otters though, and also about your B&B owner. Loss of house and her would be a huge shock.

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  16. I love that glorious view from your hotel room. How nice to revisit some fondly remembered places but sad to know your favourite is gone. You still have many happy memories though. I’m really enjoying going on this island jaunt with you.

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  17. It looks like you had a sparkling day! I think I’d rather hike while bundled up (dropping layers as I go) then hike when it’s miserably hot. I loved your then and now pictures… it’s fun to revisit a place and see what has changed, and what has stayed the same.

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  18. Hi Anabel – wonderful photos and tours … gorgeous sea – but all just amazing. Sorry about your ‘friend’ who’d only died in April – how often that can happen. Settlement in Alberta – I’m guess there wasn’t much after the War – while the Canadians were looking to settle the prairies and develop other business … so there was an opportunity. I did see a documentary-history film on it here – and wanted to see it again … but sadly it hasn’t been re-shown … and I was relatively uninformed … now I’d pick up a few more things. Still – lovely to see your walking area – glad you saw the ponies … cheers Hilary

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