Low tide at Gramsdal South Uist, Outer Hebrides, Western Isles, Scotland. GPAN 0058
Running down the east side of South Uist is a range of low mountains, with Beinn Mhor being the highest at 2,034 feet. The west side of the island is gentler, with fine white sandy beaches. Lochboisdale, in the southeast corner, is the largest village on the island, and has a ferry connection to Mallaig, Oban and Castlebay on Barra. The island is one of the few places in Scotland never to have embraced the Reformation, and is predominantly Roman Catholic. To the northwest of the island is the famous statute of Our Lady of the Isles, overlooking Loch Bee. It was erected in 1957. It stands 30 feet high and was sculpted by Hew Lorimer. At the Loch Druidibeag Nature Reserve, which is close by, many birds such as greylag geese and mute swans, can be observed. It was in South Uist, near Milton on Loch Kildonan, that Flora MacDonald was born in 1722. Her house is now completely ruinous, though it can still be seen. She was no simple Gaelic lass, but the daughter of a prosperous landowning farmer who died when she was young. Her mother then married Hugh MacDonald, a member of the great MacDonald of Sleat family. She was brought up in Skye and went to school in Sleat and Edinburgh. Kildonan Museum, north of Lochboisdale on the A865, has displays and exhibits on local history, as well as a tearoom and shop. Further north along the A865 are the ruins of Ormiclate Castle, built between 1701 and 1708 as a sumptuous residence for the chief of Clanranald. Alas, the chief's stay there was short lived, as it burnt down in 1715 after a rowdy Jacobite party. Off the south coast of South Uist is the small island of Eriskay (from the Norse for "Eric`s Island"), which is joined to South Uist by a causeway. It is noted for one of the most beautiful of Gaelic songs, the Eriskay Love Lilt. It was here, on 23 July 1745, that Charles Edward Stuart first set foot on Scottish soil when he stepped off a French ship to reclaim the British throne for the Stuarts.
Size: 5470px × 2172px
Location: Gramsdal. South Uist Outer Hebrides. Western Isles. Highland Region. Scotland.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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