Day thirty-five - Sunday

Lazy morning at the hostel, had some breakfast before hitting the road. As it's a Sunday everything is shut again, with the exception of Engebret petrol station – I'm surprised it hasn't been burnt to the ground yet for being blasphemous! Must do great business, indeed there was not space on the forecourt and had to queue for about 10mins inside to pay. Seriously ridiculous.

Eventually hit the road west, going past Callanais stones again en route to Great Bernera, an island off the northwest coast of Lewis. It's connected by a small bridge, only wide enough for one car. On the other side most of the roads are single track with passing places, and took another 20 odd minutes to reach the northerly tip of the island, the location of the fantastic Bosta beach. More golden sand, more beautiful sea and yes, even a little of the now expected rain! Incredibly windy too, although once down on the sands we were sheltered from the worst of it. Good bit of history on the beach too, as it's the site of an Iron Age house which was discovered following a storm that blasted apart some sand dunes, exposing the ancient site beneath. Sadly this was not open. Sunday, sigh.

Bosta beach, Great Bernera

Followed some wooden posts signing a path to the nearby settlement - the route went over the rocky higher ground to the west of the beach. Once up on the top the wind was incredibly strong, the type you lean into with arms outspread trying to get it to support your weight as you lean forwards. Never really works! Bit boggy too, I'd brought my walking boots again = dry feet! Wandered north onto the outcrop which gave some great views back towards the beach, and also down onto the sea where some seals were playing in the surf, bobbing up and down. Definitely looking at us. Probably amused by how we were staring back at them! Due to the wind/rain we did the holiday classic of a car lunch, radio on, windows steaming up due to wet waterproofs. It's just not a British holiday without a car picnic!

Refuelled we drove through the rain towards Uig, first returning to the mainland over the bridge before heading west again. Long drive and a number of times I was cruising along at 60mph only to round a corner and suddenly face the road going from two lanes to single track without any road sign warning! Windy, single track road took ages, but was pretty spectacular. Sadly the rain also increased in intensity too, so much so that when we did eventually arrive at Uig Sands my folks stayed in the car whilst my sister and I went for a short wander on the beach! Navigation was a bit complicated too, took a few false turns on the way before unearthing the OS maps in the boot to get us there.

The sands themselves were very impressive, massive stretch of flat sand - would be great for a spot of beach cricket in good weather/less wind! A boisterous dog was running around, it's owners sheltering in their trendy VW Transporter pimped out camper, so we played a bit of fetch before retreating to the shelter of the Polo and leaving it to enjoy the wet sand!

Finally defeated by wind and rain we turned tail and drove back to Stornoway, took just under an hour from Uig. Good to get a feel for distances on the island, gives me more of an insight into how difficult access to health care must be for some of the more remote residents on the island. With limited ambulance crews, if there's a call out to somewhere like Uig it takes the crew out of action for at least 2 hours - hopefully another call doesn't come in at the same time! Picked up some food supplies from my accommodation before heading back to the hostel and cooking up a massive spag bol, great comfort food after a wild and windy day exploring. Relaxed in the evening with a spot of shithead with 2 Edinburgh students - they were up here cycling round the Hebrides. It's a card game for those who haven't heard of it - although the rules seem to be different each time I play! Enjoyed having the folks here, got out exploring some of the more touristy things on the island. Shame the weather wasn't a bit better although did get out to most things, and we're from the Lakes so used to a bit of wet weather!