Rubha Ban

Headlands in the Gaelic world are called Rubha. There are quite a lot of Rubha Bans.  Ban, or as it should be bàn has a number of meanings.

at a loose end

at loose ends

blank

fair (colour)

fallow

matrix

pale

pallid

uncultivated

untilled

vacant

white

But no matter, they all sound like Rubber Band in my head and I rather wished we had visited a Rubha Dubh as well.

Rubha Bàn made the nearest approach of Eriskay to South Uist. It must have been the obvious place to make the causeway.

That was something we didn’t see – not anywhere – although I saw plenty of possibles but my eye contained floaters from the damage a few days earlier. Looking into greyness I could see lots of black dots and could easily imagine otters.

And there we have a sign about the causeway, and about some previous Wessex visitors.

And there was the causeway – quite a hefty piece of engineering to get so many huge boulders to the scene and form them up so well.

From the rocks at the end of Rubha Bàn I could look back at a new Eriskay bay that had been created.

Other little islands were visible.

A pleasant seat allowed weary travellers a time of rest.

It was time for us to cross the causeway and leave Eriskay behind, returning from that delightful island to the equally delightful but much bigger South Uist.

The weather was definitely closing in and on our journey back up to Daliburgh – about 6 miles – the rain started no doubt much to the annoyance of the haymakers who were baling on in the moist conditions.