Gu leòr

More island hopping today - we took the causeway from Benbecula to South Uist and then another to Eriskay and the a ferry to Barra and finally another causeway to Vatersay.  That makes 9 islands in 2 days when you add in Lewis, Harris, Berneray and North Uist.  

Our guide for today was excellent and I learned lots about the history of the islands on their people.

I really liked Eriskay and Barra. We saw ponies in the former and nearly saw a plane land on the sands in the later - it flew over but diverted to Benbecula. 

We also saw seals, gannets and short eared owls as well as sheep and highland cattle.

Eriskay is the island where the cargo (including whisky) from the SS Politican wound up after it sank inspiring the story Whisky Galore written by Compton McKenzie. It was turned into a film with much of shot on Barra where Compton McKenzie lived and is buried. There was a bottle of the recovered whisky in the hotel where we had lunch - display purposes only.

The word galore comes from the Gaelic gu leòr meaning enough or sufficient.

There is a scrabble board in the hotel and taking inspiration from HazelH and MrHazelH we’ve played after dinner tonight and yesterday. The score is one win each so far - we’ll need to find a board in Oban tomorrow for the decider.