A wonderful day in North Uist – Paradise and blue skies…

What a lovely morning we awoke to!  Blue skies, no wind – amazing.  We decided to take a tour of the north of the island so turned left.  There isn’t much choice of road on the island so it’s a case of keeping going and perhaps taking a very minor road to the right or left when one presents itself.

Our first detour was to Loch Solpaig where there is a delightful old stone tower on an island.

and views out to the Atlantic.

Even the cattle grids have wild flowers here!

The next short detour was to the pier at Griminish, passing this obviously hungry horse on the way:

A fisherman was mending his crab pots and the views from the pier were particularly beautiful.

We decided to head for Berneray (the island between North Uist and Harris) and the views were unbelievable.  I’ll let the photos do the talking.

There was another example of Uist thatched cottages in Solas:

Everywhere the sea sparkled.  How different it all looks when the sun shines!

In a verge we came across these Muscovy Ducks.  They are not native birds but many have escaped captivity to live in the wild.

Sheep are everywhere here and we often encounter them looking puzzled in the middle of the road.

This was the view on the top of the hill, once we had gently suggested the sheep move to a safer spot.

There are so many lochs on the island that there seems to be a different one around each bend in the road.  And where there’s a loch, there’s often a mountain.

Then there is the sea – the Sound of Berneray, where Bessie and Peter took a well-earned break.

Lunch and then a short hop over the causeway to Berneray, where the CalMac ferry lay, ready to take on board the passengers and vehicles for the voyage over to Harris.

The causeway and jetty are topped with the most amazing coloured stones.

Although there were dark clouds in the distance, we managed to be in the right place at the right time and there were wonderful cloudscapes.

On a short detour down to a tiny harbour at Port nan Long, we encountered some more sheep at the top of the hill, who then preceeded us down to the sea!

An Eider Duck was nestled into the rocks.

As we turned back westwards, the storm clouds that had threatened us changed the colour of the sea and an eerie light spread over the water.

Marsh Marigolds grow in the tiny streams and ditches beside the road and in someone’s front garden this fabulous little foal ran and pranced around the grass beside his mum.

Out on a small island the posse of Oystercatchers seen in the featured image above completely took it over and on our way back up the road, we found, yes another flock of sheep who turned around and went back the way they had come!

We passed a field with Whimbrel and Bar-Tailed Godwit.

I just caught this Whimbrel as he left the ground!

We followed what is known as the Committee Road (I don’t know why) and where birds of prey such as the Golden Eagle are often seen, but I’m afraid not by us.  It is a strange landscape with moorland and peat cuttings.

As we drove back along the track to the campsite, we were rewarded with the sight of a pair of Shovelers – the male being the colourful one at the back of course.

The ancient cemetery behind us gleamed in the early evening sun and we reflected on what had been a perfect day.