成人快手

Living as I do on the fringes of the country has its disadvantages. Not everybody knows where Stornoway is. Not all folk are aware that Scotland actually has islands. First time visitors from "down south" tend to have this warped idea that the Western Isles are a group of small islands off Scotland. Small?

Just to disavow everybody of that misconception: to reach Tarbert from Stornoway, you need to drive 37 miles. Takes an hour. The longest distance within the islands of Lewis and Harris is 80 miles, from Ness to Leverburgh.

Another wrong idea is that Lewis and Harris are two separate islands. Nope. They are the one landmass, and someone drew a line saying that one bit was Lewis and the other Harris. Until the regionalisation of the 1970s, this distinction was important, as Lewis was part of the county of Ross & Cromarty and Harris belonged to Inverness-shire. I have been told that the boundary, between the hamlets of Ath Linne and Bogha Ghlas was quite distinct. The half decent road in Lewis gave way to something that bore more resemblance to a track in Harris. These days, Lewis and Harris are all part of Na h-Eileanan Siar. Until 1974, Seaforth Island was disputed territory - it belonged to both Lewis AND Harris. Recently, the boundary was redrawn and shifted northwards by a good few miles. As a result, the village of Airidh a'Bhruaich became part of Harris. Local people protested vehemently, stating that they belonged to Kinloch in Lewis, not North Harris. Airidh a'Bhruaich is 2.5 miles south of Balallan and about 6 miles north of Bogha Ghlas in Harris. Further west, the boundary line is irrelevant, as nobody lives there.

Distances within the Western Isles are quite substantial. Castlebay is 125 miles by road (incorporating ferries) from Stornoway. By public transport, the two are 8 to 10 hours apart. The idea also appears to have taken hold that we don't have shops here. I got a query some months ago whether you could get multi-journey tickets on the Lochboisdale to Oban ferry. Of course you can, but the reason was that the person concerned needed to go shopping in Oban every week. Now, I don't know Uist very well, but on my travels I have come across at least 4 supermarkets down that way. Creagorry, Balivanich, Daliburgh, Eriskay.

Folk in the Northern Isles should be able to sympathise.