Lord Dunderheid

We are now a couple of months into the US and Israeli bombing attacks on Iran (leaving aside for now Israel's attacks on Lebanon and the various Palestinian armed groups) - and there is still no resolution. Every day or so, Trump indicates that the war is going according to plan and that Iran is about to submit to all the US demands. This is quickly followed by Iran denying that they are even considering the US proposals as they cross various red lines that are not possible to accept. Meanwhile the economies of just about all countries around the world continue to suffer with oil prices through the roof along with other products like fertilisers. A couple of things to say, here. Firstly, I think the attacks on Iran were wrong - but, from their point of view, I do understand why the US and Israel decided to go down that road. It is quite clear that Iran has been bankrolling various armed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah - and Israel would clearly like that to stop. In addition to th...

  General Description Barra, as noted in the previous post, lies immediately to the north of Vatersay, across the Vatersay causeway. Although larger than Vatersay, Barra is still one of the smaller Hebridean islands, of a similar size to, say, Tiree or Coll. It is roughly 23 sq miles in size, about 9 miles north to south and 7 miles east to west. However, the main part of the island is roughly 7 by 7 miles. South of this main section is a small lump of a hill (Beinn Tangabhal at 332 feet). This hill lies between Vatersay to the south and the main part of Barra to the north. At the northern end of the island there is the Eoligarry peninsula (pronounced, I believe, something like Owl-E-Garry), which snakes northwards towards Eriskay and South Uist. In my view Barra is one of the most attractive Hebridean islands, Inner or Outer. It is hard to explain why but I think this is due to the scenic variety available within such a small area. It is mainly a hill (Heabhal at 384 feet) ...

  Having been forced to leave my final few inhabited, inner and coastal Islands until another year (hopefully 2026), I decided to skip ahead and start to cover the Outer Hebrides (otherwise known as The Long Isle).  As with the inner Islands, I'm going to travel from South to North but, since it is a long string of islands, forget about east and west (although some are further west than others due to the line The Long Isle lies along). I had also originally thought to lump islands of simiular appearance, and located next to each other, into single posts but I’ve now decided against that as the post for the small island of Vatersay was extensive enough to be given it’s own write up (when I had originally intended to deal with it along with Barra and Eriskay). Having said that, there are some very small islands close to either South or North Uist and Benbecula, which I will include with it’s adjascient large island. In truth, some of those islands are so small that you might n...

Back in May I posted my (very brief) report on Rona. I most likely won't be posting any more reports until after October. That's because I still have a few islands close to the Scottish west coast to visit before I move on to the Outer Hebrides. Various factors have prevented me from completing my visits: COVID, transport problems and health issues (including cataract operations). I could, at this point, move straight on to the Outer Hebrides but I’d rather complete the Inner and coastal islands first. Which of these islands on my list remain unvisited? Well, I discovered recently that a small island, in Loch Linnhe just north of where I live, was bought and the owner has built (or renovated) a house on it and now lives there with his wife (maybe they bought it together?). I'm not sure how I'll get over to it but from enquiries I made, at Linnhe Marina, the owner does not seem to be too protective of his privacy and might well not object to me paying a brief visit to...

As an SNP voter and member, I was, as I'm sure you will fully understand, very disappointed in the outcome of the June 5th by-election in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. This especially since just about all the recent Scottish opinion polls showed the Labour Party's vote collapsing, compared to the UK general election of almost exactly a year ago, while support for the SNP was seen to be recovering. There are, however, a few a silver linings - if very thin ones.  In the general election of just over a year ago, the Labour Party totally trounced the SNP, including in the Hamilton area, but on June 5th it was a very close race with Labour shading it by only about 500 votes. The Labour vote, compared to a year ago, was well down, no doubt due to the Labour UK government carrying out Tory policies (like not getting rid of the two child cap and removing the winter fuel payment for many pensioners who actually needed it) instead of increasing income tax for the more well off. D...

  Next on my bucket list tour of inhabited, coastal and inner Hebridean islands is Rona. It is often known as South Rona to avoid confusion with another, but uninhabited, Rona which lies roughly 44 miles to the north of the Butt of Lewis. This Rona lies immediately to the north of Raasay and is basically a continuation of the larger island (if only the linking ridge hadn’t dropped below sea level).  Rona is small, about 5 miles long and, at most, a mile wide (or about 3.6 sq miles in area) with Meall na h-Acarsaid, at highest elevation, being only just over 400 feet. From what I've read Rona is very rocky and rough with little land that can be cultivated, but my visit was so brief, and confined to the area around it’s jetty, that I’m unable to say one way or the other with any personal knowledge. There is no easy way to get to Rona apart from renting a holiday cottage and getting taken across by boat from Portree on Skye (unless, of course and once again, you have your own ...