Friday 15 March

Set off at 10 am for the island of North Uist, 75 miles southwest of Stornoway. This requires a 55 mile bus ride to Leverburgh, then an hour on the ferry to Berneray and half an hour by bus to the main village, Lochmaddy. The bus journey is familiar to me, and the two hours (plus some waiting time in Tarbert) went by quickly. I am carrying a musical keyboard in a large cardboard box, which I am needing on Saturday when I shall play at the Taigh Chearsabhaigh cultural centre in Lochmaddy. TC have a "soup & jam" session at lunchtime on Saturdays, where musicians get a free bowl of soup in exchange for some music. I was invited there by a local singer, in whose company I shall spend much of the weekend. For reasons of privacy, I am not divulging the name on an open internet page.

After crossing the Sound of Harris to Berneray, I changed into a local bus which was very warm - in the sunshine - for the ten miles to Lochmaddy. Once there, I popped into TC to leave my keyboard in a safe place, pre-arranged with my local contact. I then walked around the village for an hour and half, waiting for the 3.15 bus to my B&B. I ambled out to the wee bridge, which leads to the Hut of Shadows, which is situated on one of the many headlands around Lochmaddy. The hut of shadows is a camera obscura, which, in the right conditions, will project an image on an opposing wall.

At 3.15, the bus to Bayhead pulled up and I was taken west. After a lengthy stop at the local primary school, where two young kids boarded, the vehicle whizzed off to Clachan, then north to Bayhead. Once there, we had to wait for 40 minutes for the school bus out of Lionacleit (Benbecula) to disgorge - one pupil to take onwards. I arrived in the village of Hougharry at 4.30, and into my B&B.

After 6pm, I walked up the mile and a half along the road to the next village, where I knocked on the door of my contact - cue an evening's chatting. Just as well I had bought a torch, as I did not head back down the road again until nearly midnight.