S Uist - Benbecula - N Uist

Another day of three islands, and another day of fierce SW winds, that built up to 34kn gusting 42kn at tea time. That's F8 gusting F9. We got up a tad late to a sunny morning. The roof was up overnight, a bit rattled but OK. First stop was Daliburgh beach. Parked the van when the side road became a stony track, walked over the machair pock-marked with rabbit holes and peppered with their dung. The beach is huge, curved, covered in seaweed and too windy to stay. A raincloud directly upwind seemed to have our name on it so we retreated at pace.

Next stop Kildonan museum, cafe and craft centre, in that order, all of which were excellent. We learned much of the social history of S Uist, and saw much of what's being crafted today. We even bought each other presents. Well, you've got to support the local economy. 

Intellectually and gastronomically fortified we headed north again. The land became much flatter in the northern part of S Uist, and riddled with freshwater lakes that were turquoise and even the smallest had waves with white horses. We didn't photograph them, though, so here's a pic of the sea artistically foregrounded by L.

Next stop on 'the grid' was to be Howmore beach, but it's just too windy. All the beaches here are on the west-facing Atlantic side. Instead we headed for Grimsay Boat museum, a long way down a tiny road. This took us to the east side, much less flat. It seems it only exists in the Museum's leaflet because there was no sign of it. Ah well, enjoy the scenery again on the return journey. By now we had crossed onto Benbecula and the N Uist, both by causeway. The main road now spends half its time being two lane, and we're seeing more traffic than yesterday. We saw a Hebridean Smokehouse by the road so screeched to a stop on impulse. After slavering over all the smoked, tinned and boxed goodies we contented ourselves with some expensive smoked salmon for sandwiches.

The final leg, in what has been less than two hours' driving today, takes us to Balranald campsite just behind a west-facing beach - oh dear. We can hardly stand up and the van is rocking. There's no chance of putting the roof up, so cooking dinner will have to be done having windows slightly open.