We couldn’t arrive in Daliburgh (or dalabrog) without spotting the old MacBrayne’s bus at a bus depot a little to the north of our destination.
A verse, with various forms, celebrates the all-pervasive influence of MacBrayne’s in these parts.
The earth belongs unto the Lord
And all that it contains,
Except the Scottish Islands –
For they are all MacBrayne’s.
Anon
But here we have the danger of any journal where the author can give misleading impressions just by selecting what to show.. I paint a picture here of a place where the old and retired from elsewhere, in terms of transport, still finds a use. It’s not true. South Uist was as modern as anywhere in the UK in most respects and at this depot, I could have chosen a dozen more modern buses and coaches at this particular depot.
Daliburgh was towards the south end of South Uist and it was to be our home for the next three days. We had booked a little flat which, because we had camping facilities (we used our own stove for the flat had a micro-wave and not a cooker), proved just perfect.
We met the owner who was just off to work and settled in with a cup of tea whilst unpacking things and just enjoying the luxury of it all.
We didn’t have to go far to start the exploration, for this was actually the view from the flat. In fact you could sit up in bed and enjoy this view. The building across Loch nan Clacha Mòra had been a part of the local hospital and was now a nursing home. That was where our flat owner was off to work.
A bit further round you could see the wind turbines across the loch as well. These small turbines seem to turn their tails to the wind, which baffled me for a while.
Whilst getting things from the car, I was negotiating this chap who reached across the paviers which I reckon made him close on 4 inches long. I suppose it is a tiger moth of some kind – possibly a garden tiger moth which are seen on the Uists.
Before we left the family of swans came by. There were two adults and seven cygnets. Apparently, nine had hatched.
And now we really were ready to go out.
