Autumn is a great time to see the leaves changing colour but it is not so good for sightseeing. It has been damp and cold.
The Islanders mostly fish, farm sheep and goats, dig peat and make hay while the sun shines. This Crofter's house is typical of many on the islands. The end walls have the chimney built in to them. The front door and windows are as I would have drawn them as a young child. Today many of the houses have slate rooves or corrugated iron rooves rather than the traditional thatch like this one.
There are many marine farms in the sea and fresh water lochs and many stock salmon. An island delicacy is peat smoke-cured salmon.
There are very few trees about but lots of bracken ferns, heather, and rocks.
We trudged out in the wet and wind to visit an archaeological site at Hallam. The three circles of rocks we saw were the foundations of of houses dating from 1000BC. One of the houses had
the remains of a bronze foundry and they also found skeletons buried in parts of the houses.
We continued onto North Uist which had lovely sandy beaches. The weather held long enough for us to do a walk in the wind along the coast.
