Scottish Islands - Uist


In this blog I am going to take a look at the different Scottish Islands, particularly the Western Isles which happens to be where I am from. I will be talking about the Isle of Uist in my first blog as I am from there and have moved to Glasgow to continue my University studies. Since coming to Glasgow people often pick up that my accent is slightly different to a standard Glasgow accent and ask where I am from, with the typical response being 'where?' or just a strange confused look (any fellow Islanders who have moved to the mainland will understand). Uist is made up of North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist which are all connected through causeways. With around 5,000 people on the island it is fair to say we are a close community where near enough everyone knows everyone, to the extent most people will give you a wave when driving past! Uist isn't one of the easiest places to get to with your forms of transport either being a ferry journey from Uig or Mallaig taking a couple of hours each (excluding the drive to get there) or the quickest option which is to fly, which from Glasgow Airport takes around 40/45 minutes.



Things to do
One of the highest asked questions about the island is 'what is there to do up there?', obviously Uist isn't filled with shopping centres and high streets but there are still things to do around the island. Although Uist does not have McDonalds/KFC/Burger King etc. we do have a number of eating establishments, such as the Stepping Stone, Langass Lodge and the much loved Chinese take-away as well as the newly opened bistro, Charlie's Bistro in Benbecula.

Additionally, the beaches on Uist are absolutely scenic with one of the more popular beaches Cula Bay being a literal 3 minute drive from my house which majority of people don't have. Particularly when the weather is fantastic it highlights the beaches beauty even more, which you can see from the image below (although the sun was shining it was still very cold).

This may not come as a surprise but us Islanders like a wee drink!
There is a selection of pubs which are spread through-out the island where some of the favourites include Westford in North-Uist, The Dark Island Hotel in Benbecula and Borrodale in South-Uist. At the end of July, for the third year in a row the island held a music festival - Eilean Dorcha Festival (EDF) where some of the most loved ceilidh bands, such as Trail West and Beinn Lee played during the weekend along with tribute acts such as Fleetingwood Mac and Kenny Rogers. EDF was a very successful weekend for the island, bringing both the community together as well as a number of tourists from all around the world. Its fair to say that EDF is always one of the most wild weekends someone will have but certainly one of the best!

I will be dedicating my next blog to the Isle of Barra.





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