Day 4: South Uist to Benbecula and back!

It was on with the wet weather gear first thing as we pedalled through showers for the first couple of hours, north across South Uist. We stopped off to pay homage to Flora MacDonald at her memorial stone. Flora was instrumental in aiding the Bonnie Prince when 'pursuit was drawing near' to 'gain shelter in the Isle of Skye.'

From the memorial we once again turned north, stopping at the Kildonan Museum, which has been recently refurbished and presents a very fine historical background to life on Uist. I briefly remarked yesterday that it is easy to get carried away with romantic notions of these islands but life here was very tough for the crofters. They were at the beck and call of the usually absentee landowners who all had their different ideas about what was best for the people. The sons of crofters were pressed in to the Lady's Force and sent to serve in Madras of all places (or suffer the family being evicted from their family croft). At the close of their service they were expected to find their own way home from Madras!!

Living in the blackhouses was also tough. With dirt floors and no chimney, the fire was usually laid in the floor and the house constantly full of smoke, with its inherent health problems. In addition, the people shared their home with their animals so infection levels were high and tuberculosis was common. The Museum showed the development of the blackhouses with the addition of chimneys and increasingly improved cooking facilities, but this was still poverty and subsistence living at its worst.

One interesting side story in the Museum was the travels of the Clanranald Armorial Stone which came originally from an ancient religious settlement, the most ancient church site in South Uist. The stone disappeared in 1990. In 1995 it turned up in the flat of a young man in Euston, London, discovered when his parents were clearing his flat following his death! The parents did the right thing and contacted the British Museum who traced its lineage and it was returned to Uist. Local legend has it that anyone removing the stone would die an untimely death so...be warned!

Over a cuppa in the adjacent cafe it became clear that Tony's itchy eye was in fact developing in to something more serious. The young woman in the cafe helpfully provided the number of a health centre on Benbecula which was some miles further on than our destination for the day. They offered an appointment at 4.10 but the receptionist doubted that we would make it in time and the helpful girl in the cafe said, 'but it's MILES away!' So then began serious pedalling with us deciding to stop every hour to review progress in case we needed a plan B of faster transport at some point! Well we reached the causeway across to Benbecula just after midday and the surgery just after one so I think both receptionist and cafe girl misjudged our cycling capabilities. The doc saw Tony straight away (lovely, friendly folks all - I chatted to the cleaning lady whilst Tony was in with the doc and she told me she did an hour a day but really came in for the blether.). Conjunctivitis was pronounced and ointment duly given with directions from the pharmacist to the Island Deli for lunch - which was well worth a few extra miles.

After yummy ciabattas we decided to take the coastal route back to our destination at the Orasay Inn and it was here that we spotted this renovation of the traditional house with the rocks holding down the thatch.

We are now relaxing at the Orasay, building up enough energy for a shower after cycling in to the wind for ten miles (glad we are doing the route south to north!). What I would give for a bath!

We have agreed that Uist is like crossing Rannoch Moor with habitation!