Just one more day before we say au revoir but not goodbye…

Today was the final full day of our visit to Barra and we wanted to get a further block of blogs onto the internet so paid another trip to the airport.  A couple of home-made scones later and I had managed to upload four blogs, so felt pretty satisfied.

In spite of the warnings about not going on to the beach while the windsocks were flying (a plane was due to arrive any moment) a cockle picker was out on the strand, complete with van, going about his business.

After accomplishing our objective, we left the airport and made our, what had become almost daily, visit to the jetty at Eliogarry.  The weather today was a lot warmer and there was virtually no wind so we could even abandon our anoraks!

We were rewarded with a few Ringed Plovers and the usual Dunlins.

In spite of reports to the contrary, however, we have not spotted any otters on the beach here.  Apparently, there are several in the area now.

We then did a final tour of the island, travelling along the east coast to Castlebay, visiting the Co-Op for some provisions and filling Bessie up with diesel from the pumps by the jetty.  It was about 10p a litre more expensive than the mainland but we expected that.  We returned by the Atlantic (west) coast and I couldn’t resist taking yet more photos of this beautiful island paradise.  We will miss it.

We picked up a delicious fish supper at Eliogarry from the Mobile Chippy which visits a different part of the island each day.  It was great – fresh local caught fish and lovely chips which we eat in Bessie back at the campsite.

After a wonderfully sunny and calm day, the sun set over the island of Fuday, making a fitting end to our sojourn in Barra.

Tomorrow we leave on the ferry to Eriskay from Ard Mhor, just down the road on the east coast.  We said goodbye to Mary and thanked her for her hospitality at the campsite.  I really hope we will return to Barra soon – we can’t leave it another 42 years!