Isi's Blog: Aird Uig, Camping at Luskintyre and Todun

On Sunday I had the day off, so we headed up to Aird Uig to check out a crag up there and take the girls to play on the rocks. Although it was overcast and misty in Stornoway, the weather came good in the west and we had sunshine all afternoon. In between scrambling, bouldering, bouncing stones on pools and swimming, we managed to have a nosey at Boardwalk Crag and hope to head there for some climbing soon.

About to head off to play on the rocks

Looking back towards the Uig hills

Yesterday I was working with Sean and the crew from George Watson's College who are staying at the Scaladale centre just now. They were all feeling refreshed after a day off from activities, so we thought we'd cram as much as possible into the last few days of their stay... We started off with a raft building session, then hit the showers before packing bags and walking the Coffin Trail through to Luskintyre where they pitched tents for the night. Once tents and dinner were sorted and tidied away, we had a fire on the beach and the group entertained us with music and stories until late. Although it was a pretty breezy night, the tents managed to pass muster and everyone got some sleep at least!

The view from my tent - could be worse!

Natalia rocking it up on the ukelele

Hugh playing some ceilidh tunes on his fiddle

Today there were lots of bleary eyes getting the tents packed away and the washing up done. A short sharp shower of hail woke everyone up a bit though, and we managed to get out on to Todun at a pretty respectable time. The hail soon stopped and we were mostly in the sun for the rest of the day, with squally showers passing us by down the loch. With nicer weather and lots of little scrambly bits to play on, the group soon perked up and we had a great short day out. On the way back we took them to have a little peep at the hostel at Rhenigidale where the school group used to stay each year before the Scaladale centre opened 12 years ago.