The Isle of North Uist -First trip to the Outer Hebrides

Sunday, 26 May, The day on Benbecula never improved, and the next morning was not much better as we left for our next stop on North Uist, the RSPB Balranald Nature Reserve, where Alan has high hopes of seeing a variety of birds. Wish us luck!

We came straight to our next campsite at Balranald. They set out names at each campsite if you have reservations.  Our’s faces the field with the Corncrakes and overlooks an old church and graveyard.  It is lovely.  But cold, wet, rainy and we wondered if we would get any benefit out of being here.

Plus it is Sunday and we did not really think about not having anything for dinner. This is the land of the Free Church of Scotland, a very strict part of Presbyterianism and all the shops are not open. They really do respect the Sabbath here.  So we knew it was going to be soup and cheese and crackers for dinner. Things could be worse. 

And then things actually improved when we saw a food wagon selling things right where the Balranald reception is!  So we treated ourselves to a hot lunch. Alan got a bacon roll and I got cream of broccoli soup along with a fresh, local crab roll, which was delicious! 

This is a later walk when Kenzie just couldn't handle being so close
to a beach and not getting to go on it!
Patience is not her strong point!

We took Kenzie for a walk to the beach, which is a really nice big beach. We didn’t bring cameras since there seemed to be no point, it was too breezy to risk all that salt spray.  But the weather did seem to improve so we walked up to the church. Where we realised it was a mistake not to have cameras!  We rushed back, but I let Alan go on his own so Kenzie would not scare any birds away!  He was gone well over an hour and was freezing when he returned, but he saw Corncrakes and was a very happy man!

We see so many glorious sunsets when looking at pictures of the Outer Hebrides. So when a break in the clouds appeared, Alan jumped at the chance to try to get one.  The only thing he was successful with was letting us find him after sunset didn't happen!