Death on Eriskay

Eriskay is the Southern most island in the connected chain of island of Berneray, North Uist, Grimsay, Benbecula, South Uist and Eriskay.  From the house in Clachan to Eriskay is 65 Km, or 1 hours driving according to google. 
Saturday morning on call for me started with 3 calls down the islands ending with a call on Eriskay.  The call was to put down an unwell cat that had been deteriorating over the last month.  The cat was the only companion of an unmarried man, but a man who did know death well.  He had lived with the cat for the last 10 years and was very upset but could see it was what needed to happen.  So we put the cat to sleep and he cried, and I felt like shit, but it needed to be done.

At the end of the same day I was called to Eriskay again.  This time it was a 14 year old cow that could no longer get up.  She had crawled out of the shed that day for a drink, rubbing her knees raw.  Now she was sitting on a concrete yard and there was no way to lift her, or to treat her,  that would make a difference.  The crofter had bought her as a calf, she had given him 12 calves.  He was upset, in a farmer's way.  Not demonstrably, no tears.  But if you know farmers he was upset, and we put his cow down, as it needed to be done, and I felt bad again.
I have only been to Eriskay as a vet twice, and neither time has been good.  Hopefully the next visit will be better. 

The bay by the ferry slip - Eriskay

On a more positive note Eriskay is know for its ponies that wander around the village, along with some sheep.  Apparently the ponies are very partial to chocolate digestive biscuits (I don't know about the sheep)  It is also know for being the site of the wreck of the MV Politician with the subsequent "rescue" of 20,000 cases of malt whiskey by the locals.

Lighthouses

Spring work is getting busier with lambings added to the calvings, and prolapses.  David, the other vet who lives in South Uist is back at work after time off to get his hips replaced.  With the sheep work we now share after hours until 11pm to reduce the amount of driving. 

I am constantly surprised by how much driving I do.  It takes 20 minutes or so to get to the clinic and I allow 30 minutes to get to the top of the island from home.  To the bottom of South Uist will take nearly an hour from home.  The roads are mostly single track with passing bays.  This is fine when the traffic is light, but a right pain when people are going to or from work, or the ferry comes in.  You are continually stopping to let cars past.  ( I am told it will get even worse when the camper vans start arriving ).  Needles to say this is quite hard on the brakes.  The van's brake shoes wore out last weekend, it was making a terrible grinding noise.  But new brake pads and we are back to normal.  Whilst the van was in the garage for 3 days I was given a 6 speed automatic transit van to drive.  That was the worst yet!  It was forever changing gears, slow to accelerate and bouncing all over the roads.

We went away Harris and Lewis again for the weekend.  They have been renovating the "castle" at Stornoway so we had a look around that - very well done.  We then went out to the East to the site of the wreck of HMY Iolaire at the entrance to Stornoway harbour. 

Ferry passing the Iolaire wreck site.

She sank on the night of New Years eve 1918 with the loss of 205 lives after hitting rocks in a storm.  The shocking thing is the closeness of the wreck site to the shore yet so many died.  Most were returning servicemen from the first world war.  I photographed the ferry passing the site (marked by a pole in the seas) and a few yards further out from the shore would probably have saved the boat.

Butt of Lewis light house

Tiumpain Head lighthouse

Continuing on the nautical theme we visited the two main lighthouses on Lewis, one is now a kennels.  The "Butt of Lewis", the lighthouse at the top of the island holds the record as the windiest place in the UK, but it was calm when we were there.  Northern Lewis is all flat and peat bog.  The Truiseil stone is a single standing stone on Lewis overlooking the sea.  It is 6 m tall and quite impressive.

Truiseil stone and Dad

We also visited a "blackhouse" village.  The houses were abandoned in the 1970's but have now been restored.  They have been modernised a bit - they have chimneys now and skylights, none of which would have been present originally.  You can even stay in the houses as a backpackers. 

Maureen at Blackhouse villagew

We were traveling on a Sunday so everything was closed.  Lewis and Harris are very protestant and nothing happens on a Sunday.  It was quite a job to find somewhere for lunch.  We eventually found an open hotel and eat there.
On our way South back to the ferry we took the Eastern road on Harris (the main road is on the Western side).  This is like a moonscape with exposed low rocks, bog and a very twisty, up and down road.

St Clement's church, Rodel

 

Eastern Harris roadside

It ended at St Clement's church, Rodel.  This is an old McLeod church with 16th century tombs. 

I saw my second otter this week.  Unfortunately it was dead on the side of the road.  I am going to see a live one soon!  I am still keen to get out to St Kilda and the weather is improving so the end of this month is the plan.