Day 27- South Uist- went to an Inn called the Dark Island Hotel last night for dinner. We both opted for Angus Beef Burgers- the meat was solid beef- very nice and very solid. Worked out why so many religious icons- South Uist is Catholic as in Jacobite uprisings, anti-Reformation Catholic. North Uist is by comparison, Protestant as is most other of the Outer Hebrides. Flora MacDonald who is sort of like Joan of Arc of Scotland - OK vaguely like her- was borne on South Uist and she hid Bonnie Prince Charlie here, spiriting him over to Skye and the to France. We come across her back in 1991 when last on Skye. Went for a drive today to Lochbousiedall(?)- the main harbour here. Like a lot of South Uist there is not a lot there housing/people- wise - instead lots of water, mountains etc. driving back from the Inn last night we almost clobbered an owl that had trouble flying away from the car- should also mention is a lot of wildlife here- otter and deer warnings everywhere. Also had a flock of wild geese fly over the car last night- they are apparently everywhere and a bit of a nuisance.

Is raining and windy today but not freezing cold so not too bad for the Outer Hebrides. Off to another restaurant tonight- The Orasay Inn- . Spent some of afternoon watching the Rugby on TV as the World Cup is on in England so right time zone.

Met the cottage's owner this afternoon and she also pointed Stephen in the direction of some fishing lochs in walking distance.

Dinner at the Orasay Inn was great. Food was excellent. I had a monkfish scampi and Stephen a large piece of lamb- rack of lamb I think. Food is unfailingly fresh. The restaurant itself was hilarious- sooo British. Everyone whispered the whole time. There were some Europeans there who reverted to their own language so I presume they could talk a bit more loudly. There was a crazy Welsh couple behind us- she spent most of the time chiding her husband. So different to the restaurants on the Continent- full of noise and chatter. The waitress told us she had some family in Australia but was too scared to go there as one of her relatives got bitten bu a black spider. We suggested she was more likely to get bitten by marauding geese here than a spider in Australia but she would not be convinced. Glad Stephen is driving here- lots of single track roads, obviously no street lighting and on either side there is generally a loch- wonder how many cars end up in one of them as are generally no barriers on the road side. Stephen spent quite a bit of time also accidentally squashing frogs under the car tyres- less nerve racking than trying to avoid the low flying owl from the night before. I'm such a country girl.