The Western Isles

The Western Isles, originally uploaded by British Traveller.

Now this is an incredible place. A shortish ferry ride from Skye has taken me to the Western Isles, or Outer Hebrides as they are more prosaically called in atlases. The immediate sense of remoteness (and the wind) reminds me of the Shetlands, but unlike there, where the native Norn language has disappeared, here Gaelic is still going strong. They learn it in primary school, the Bank of Scotland is instead called Banca na H'Alba, and the safety anouncement on the ferry was given in Gaelic too. And the place looks a bit like this.