We woke to another morning in the flat with the view over Loch nan Chlacha-Mora. It was raining – a steady and persistent rain which looked to be well settled in.
We breakfasted. This was much as it would have been at home – mixed cereals. It still rained.
But I was keen to use the internet and on this morning Daliburgh Library was open so at 9, we headed off there as it opened in its portacabin. Yes, it had internet access and yes it was free to use.
The librarian was lovely, there with her son on school holiday. He seemed happy with books and she was happy to chat with us. I was pleased to put a new page on the museum blog – which the librarian saw. We read and sent emails and then we looked at the photos Megan had posted from her Dorset holiday. By now our librarian was one of the family and she enjoyed looking at photos of Megan and Tom and baby Charlie.
I have no photos of this part of the day, but we lingered, enjoying the friendliness and learning more of South Uist life. We wondered where people bought clothes and our librarians answer was simple – on the internet. Some people went to Inverness once a year and stocked up. Some things could be got in Stornoway on Harris. Even that constituted a major journey. You might struggle to get there and back in a day.
Eventually, we tore ourselves away from the library and headed off north. On Skye we had seen the burial place of Flora MacDonald. Now we wished to see her South Uist birthplace at Milton.
It was still raining!
A cairn and wall marked Flor’s birthplace for actually, Milton has all but disappeared.
This is the English part of the plaque on the cairn.
The explanation board was not in the best of conditions. In dry weather I’d have spent some time cleaning it, but in the rain I wasn’t going to spend that amount of time. I’ll just make a bit of it almost legible by digital means.
Here we see the remains of Milton as we look west into the wetness.
Nice lichen!
An earlier photo mentioned toilets at the nearby Kildonan Museum. We went to visit them and it. It was a very good museum – and we have brought ideas from it all the way back home. Photography was not permitted but I particularly enjoyed reading the news reports from Eriskay of the sinking of the SS Politician and the recovery of both whisky and ten bob notes.
Outside there was a metal sculpture.
And in the still inclement conditions we enjoyed hot chocolate, with marshmallow at the café. Yummee!
It may have rained, but it had been a really good morning nonetheless. The charm of South Uist shone through.
