Benbecula to Glasgow: “the only thing missing are the palm trees”

As always we are just bumbling along, leaving keys in an unlocked car (because we think that’s what they said to do), taking turns eating lunch at a sea shack (excellent Cullen skink), and jumping in a van whenever everyone else does… having no idea if it’s taking us to the ferry. I laughed in the face of the rain gods (saying how lucky we had been with our weather) and it’s been intermittently raining ever since. It was one of those wonderful ferries you can wander all over and wishing it was longer ride. But then we arrived:

… we read a message saying the taxi driver (previously arranged) had cancelled and the ferry told us the last bus was gone for the day… and I called the cab on a business card and he profusely apologized saying he could not come and I do mean profusely! BUT suddenly the ferry guy (who was aware of our predicament ) yelled, hey there’s a bus! Well actually it was a van fitted to seat 8 … seats facing each other. We learned that it was also the school bus from the bicyclist who had left his soggy tent in favor of circling the island all day in the little “bus”. We “swapped buses” at the “airport” and an hour later arrived a short walk from our hotel. It did not feel short. Yes, it was pelting rain in 40 mph winds but it did not hail and it only cost about 3 lbs. apiece. We arranged a taxi back to the airport.

We couldn’t quite figure out why this fairly large hotel was out there in the middle of nowhere. We realized we were not going to get our beach day after lots of 19,000 step days and settled in for a day of reading, writing and knitting.

Fortunately the food and drink was pretty good and the people were very friendly and curious about this couple from Mexico that was unattached to any tour group that was just hanging out at the hotel. We enjoyed learning about the island and even though the accent was a challenge it didn’t stop anyone from chatting with us.

It’s rare that flying makes me nervous, but that morning as the cab driver hydroplaned into the airport (or maybe he was airborne in the gale force winds) we were both a little nervous. At least Brant didn’t have to put up with those strange signs that say, “oncoming traffic will be in the middle of the road” that we saw in Skye but still when you see the propellers tied down…

The agents hustled out to the plane in small groups due to the “Hebridean” weather. Honestly it was not that bad…and Glasgow was just a bumpy hour away. This time we got a great cab driver who then picked us up the next morning. I’m thinking most of Scotland leaves for warmer climes in the winter and she gave us lots of ideas on where to go. In return, I sent her our vrbo listing and she promised us pics of Malta when she heads there shortly. l love WhatsApp.

We only had an afternoon so we decided to do the hop on the hop on hop off bus…a great way to get a glimpse of the city. It was a mix of so many things… very different from Edinburgh. We both thought it could be a fun place to live for a while.

Now time for our Canadian half of our trip… a long day of travel but that is what books, blogs and knitting are for! Cheers. (Funny how they always say cheers here … I like it!)