The Outer Hebrides
For a few years now, I’ve been hearing the tales of life in the Outer Hebrides, those windswept islands off the northwest of Scotland, from my beloved sister-in-law Kimbro Keck and her husband Michael Gray. In April 2025, I had an opportunity to experience that life myself! They invited me to join them for a week while Michael continued to do his on-site research for his PhD thesis at the University of Warwick, where he is a post-graduate research student in the Centre for Applied Linguistics. Let me try and explain what that work is about.
The thesis has a working title of ‘Between here and gone’:
fitting-in, belonging and identity in an island community.” Michael has been conducting personal
interviews and attending events in local communities primarily on the island
of South Uist. He is documenting the
adaptation of the people there and looking at the aspects of fitting-in, belonging and identity of people
who move to the Outer Hebrides from other parts of the UK, or who grew up on
the islands, leave for a time, and then return permanently. Michael is a linguist, so he’s interested in
how they talk about fitting-in amongst themselves and with people who were born
on the islands. His interest is partly
personal – his great-grandparents, members of Clann
Anndra, left North Uist for Glasgow in the 1880s. He grew up with my
grandmother’s stories of her Gaelic-speaking parents. For his Master’s Degree, he already
completed a dissertation on migration to the Uists. His hope is that his work will provide
information for potential migrants, new migrants, and local people, so that
they can all understand the challenges and the benefits of moving to the Outer
Hebrides and to islands such as the Uists.
I am so impressed, because there are very few folks in their
70’s who undertake such a long-term and intellectually challenging
endeavor. Kimbro is a great assistant,
with her social skiills and ability to discern deeper meanings in the
conversations she observes. And I,
lucky third-wheel, get to see if all up close.
First, there are the challenges of getting there…. The major hub for lights is Glasgow. (Unless you put your car on a ferry from a
port further north in Scotland…and that wasn’t an option for me.)
On April 13 , Pippi and I flew from London into Glasgow, the
first leg on our journey to the Outer Hebrides. Do those clouds look stormy and
rainy? Redundant question because this is Scotland in the spring.
On Monday April 14 we flew from Glasgow into the airport at
Benbecula. (pronounced Ben Bec You La)(so
lovely a word, rolls right off the tongue!_ It was a short 30 minutes in the air, and
gave me an overview of the landscape of the southern part of the Outer
Hebrides. Let the adventure begin!
Here is a video you can watch; use your smartphone camera to open the QR
code, which will take you to the video posted originally on my Facebook page…
Or you can click on this URL to open the video…
https://www.facebook.com/592039044/videos/pcb.10164768200339045/641325298894683
(It’s a little big bigger than some bush strips I’ve landed
on in Africa, but not that much….plus which, just adds to the adventure!)
AND you get to walk down the ramp that’s pulled up to the airplane’s front
door. No complaints, just glad it
stopped raining for a few minutes.
So here we are! The
island of Uist, and South Uist is our home for 6 days.
This was my view from the front doors and kitchen window…
And it is springtime here.
The flowers are blooming!
A short walk down the road to the shoreline presents the
most wonderful sunsets!
The beautiful but rugged and windy landscape of the Outer
Hebrides presents challenges for drivers who are not accustomed to going
between the islands on rocky Causeways or driving on one-lane roads where there
is a small bump out that you can dodge into so someone can pass you coming in
opposite direction… But Michael has met these challenges wonderfully as he
tools around North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist to conduct interviews for his
PhD research. Yesterday we took the causeway at the very south end of the
island to Eriskay.
This QR code will take you to the video in Eriskay, which is
one of the places that ferries dock.
Or the URl (click on it) is https://www.facebook.com/592039044/videos/pcb.10164768122454045/1043877864467301
One day we went to look for Michael’s ancestral lands, and
he found what he thinks is the last place that his forebears lived in Uist. It’s crumbling now, but evoked a pastoral
way of life.
Michael conducted an interview with a woman who lives not
far from his ancestral home, and who is an amateur historian of the families in
the area. Most of the small
land-holdings were called crofts, and she had a series of handwritten records
of who owned what lands.
Here’s a bit of research that I did/info from the
internet. There are 997 crofts within
the area of south Uist and Benbecula and approximately 850 crofters. 75%
of the population is closely connected to crofting and to the crofting way of
life. The production of crops, the management of sheep, cattle, and machair
land are essential parts of the cultural life of the community. Crofting has
moved from being a method of subsistence farming to an additional interest in
means of employment. No one knows what direction it will take in the future,
but we think it will always be the principal land use model in the Uists
At a local community center in Uist in the outer Hebrides,
there’s a weekly gathering, called in Gaelic a “cidsin ceilidh”, where young
and old gather to share traditional songs and celebrate their culture.
The music was wonderful!
See the short video:
Open the QR code with your smartphone camera, or click on
the URL: https://www.facebook.com/592039044/videos/pcb.10164768075714045/1380073873175199
Quite a crowd for these community gatherings, and a lot of
Gaelic is spoken.
No week in South Uist would be complete without a trip to
the local grocery stores, and Kimbro‘s favorite is the Co-Op.
Here you will find products from all over the world… A real
example of our interdependency, and in many ways, this all exemplifies the
stupidity of tariffs. We find Granny Smith apples from Italy, Braeburn apples
from Germany, Pink Lady apples from France, Royal Gala apples from the UK,
oranges from Egypt, and tangerines from Spain. And that’s just in the fruit
section — vegetables and greens display the same trade diversity.
For homegrown, it’s hard to beat local eggs, which are on a
honor system at the side of the road. Michael in particular loves these eggs,
with their bright orange yolks.
Friday April 18 was a really busy day for Kimbro, Michael,
and myself. We got an early start in order to go to North Uist and participate
in a creative writing workshop. Lots of great scenery to see along the way, and
of course I am always intrigued by interesting road signs, by what you see on
and at the side of the road, and it’s hard not to remark on a telephone booth
that’s standing almost in the middle of nowhere.
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| Workshop participants |
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This is my favorite road sign, and you see it a lot as there
are many crossings over riverways
To those of my friends who have never seen one, here is a
Hebridean otter.
April 18, afternoon. After a bit of a rest, we made our way
to a restaurant that specializes in local Hebridean seafood, and we all opted
for the Langoustines. Hard work to get to the meat of these spiney little
creatures, but very tasty.
Then, down the twisted road from the seafood restaurant, we
passed some interesting and beautiful cottages clinging to the side of the
loch, with sheep at the side of the road.
We made our way to
the community center at Grimsay. It’s a combination community center, gift
shop, tourist literature dispensary, and post office. There, we participated in
a quiz along with local residents, focused on Gaelic traditions, and regional
knowledge. Great fun. Needless to say, we did badly. But we had great fun
naming our team “Two Democrats and a Sir.“
April 18, a long day, and then a long ride home. But look at
the sunset that followed us all the way back to South Uist
April 19, the drive to the airport at Benbecula was a little longer than we anticipated, because we had some cattle in the road.
