South Uist: Shieling by the Bay

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Shieling by the Bay: our cottage in South Uist (September 2024)

After our stay in Dornie we spent a week in South Uist at Shieling by the Bay, a delightful (much renovated) thatched cottage. The small building to the left of the image above is not, as some have suggested, an outside toilet! It housed the boiler, the washing machine, and storage space which John used for his bike. The cottage interior was very comfortable, much more so than it would have been in the 1800s, though the renovations had been done very traditionally as you can see from the ceiling beams.

Ceiling
Dining table and kitchen
Bedroom

There were various picnic benches and tables dotted around the property, including one on top of a small hill from which the header image and the two views in the gallery below were taken. You can just about see the table on the hill in the first image – after exploring on the first evening we never went back up there for fear of getting blown away. In fact we never used any of the outdoor tables because although it was sometimes sunny it was always cold and breezy.

Side of cottage with picnic table on hill
Front of cottage
Picnic table
View from hill behind cottage
View from hill behind cottage

The cottage was along a single track road which we also took in as part of our first evening stroll. A shrine marked the turning from the slightly bigger road.

Roadside shrine
Roadside views
Roadside views

Behind the shrine was a windfarm which John explored further as part of a cycle ride later in the week.

Lochcarnan with rainbow
Lochcarnan and traditional cottage
Rainbow at Carnan
Lochcarnan Community Windfarm
Lochcarnan Community Windfarm
Lochcarnan Community Windfarm
Lochcarnan Community Windfarm

One small tradition we didn’t keep up was leaving painted stones but it was nice that other people had done so.

Jill and Chris were here
Have a whale of a time

What a lovely area to stay in! We walked every day, so more about that next time.

Scotland, UK , , , ,

68 Comments »

  10. Hi Anabel – what a singular setting … and looks to be a fascinating place to stay in and look around at the area … cheers Hilary

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  13. I’m finally here! I’m so sorry I have been so lagging and will hope to be back now. I would enjoy staying here and love to take walks. I would be painting 1 or 4 rocks to leave here.

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    • Really! These were in the house / garden so would be ok, but it’s still nice to come across painted stones in the wider environment. I agree people should not add fixed things (there is a problem here with people bolting memorial plaques to mountains) and I don’t agree with stacking stones which interferes with the local ecology – but that rule seems draconian.

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  26. It is beautiful up there and a lovely cottage. I remember some of my friends, really keen bike riders from England, were doing an autumn tour of the Outer Hebrides. Some days the wind was so strong they only managed 10 miles or so, getting blown off repeatedly but persevering. And cold enough for frequent hailstone showers. I was really glad I didn’t go when I heard about it afterwards. A lucky escape. Bob. BSS.

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    • There was actually a hotel with a restaurant on the road up to the shrine! It would have been fine in the summer, but it was on its out of season hours which I think meant there were certain days you could order and collect. Too complicated to work out so we stuck to self catering at night.

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