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Island of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland
Photo: adam sommerville, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
South Uist (Gaelic Uibhist A Deas) is an island in the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland, with a population in 2022 of 1650. It extends 25 miles north-south and 5 miles east-west, and has long been linked by road north to Benbecula and North Uist, and since 2002 it has been linked south to Eriskay.
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Moire ro Naomh nan Eilean
A 30-foot white granite statue of the Madonna and child by Hew Lorimer erected in 1957 on the slopes of Ruabhal. It's reached by a tarmac track from the main road. The Madonna looks like a typical local woman, and faces the Protestant northern islands, as a hint that you're entering the Catholic south. But her gaze was more directed at the nearby military facilities, which during the Cold War were intended to expand over South Uist and turn it into a vast missile base.
This freshwater loch in the north of the island is an SSSI with over 200 species of flowering plant.
Fragmentary ruins of a mansion house from 1707, destroyed by fire in 1715 on the same day that its owner, the chief of Clan Ranald, perished in the Jacobite cause at the Battle of Sheriffmuir. His successors moved to Nunton on Benbecula and abandoned this site.
Dun Mhulan
An Iron Age broch and settlement, with a Pictish house added within. The site is suffering sea erosion but has been protected by a wall.
Small museum with a good display of local history, crafts, and a decent cafe.
A course designed by Old Tom Morris in 1891, and restored in 2008. White tees 6074 yards, par 72, visitor round £60.
Simple but comfy hostel with no advance booking and no phone. Open all year. They also run the hostel on Berneray and at Rhenigidale on Harris.
Friendly well-managed campsite and hostel on the lane to Eriskay causeway.
Small hotel, but it's the restaurant that visitors admire.
A bit tatty, but a comfy enough trad hotel with 10 double rooms, one king-sized and 5 singles. It has a rod room for anglers, and good bar meals.
Great reviews for this welcoming guest house a mile from the ferry pier, open all year.
Friendly comfy guest house between the port and Daliburgh.
12-room hotel with restaurant. They also run two hotels on Benbecula.
It changed owners in 2023 and the new people haven't yet got a grip: some guests have a comfy stay, others get a bleak reception. The inn is open all year but restaurant opening is erratic.
Outlet shop for local arts & crafts collective.
Supermarket with five aisles, well-stocked for self-catering.
By boat
Lochboisdale is the port for South Uist, near the south tip of the island. April-Oct this has Calmac ferries daily from Mallaig (3 hr 30 min) on the mainland.
By bus
A linked bus / ferry service runs up the Western Isles through Barra, the Uists and Harris and Lewis, and M-Sa it's possible to go the whole way in one day.
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Balivanich · Regional · BEB
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