Having arrived to the Isle of Barra the previous day in glorious sunshine, when we woke the next morning the rain was lashing down. Unperturbed, we decided to visit the Isle of Vatersay that is connected to Barra by a causeway.
On Vatersay is the start of the Hebridean Way, the long distance walking and cycling routes, which go through 10 islands of the Outer Hebrides and finishing on the Isle of Lewis.
There are also other islands south of Vatersay, being Sandray, Pabbay and Mingulay, but these are uninhabited. Mingulay was abandoned by its last inhabitants in 1912 after, it is believed, 2,000 or more years of continuous habitation. It is now owned by the National Trust of Scotland and can be accessed by boat tours to see the abundant birdlife.
On Vatersay, we visited the site of the wreck of RAF Catalina that crashed on a training exercise on 12 May 1944.
The above picture shows a memorial that has been erected with the names of the crew of the aircraft. Parts of the aircraft are still on the hill side where it has been since the day of the crash.
After the aircraft crash site we moved on to another monument on Vatersay, the Annie Jane Monument.
The Annie Jane was an emigrant ship with more than 450 people on board that had sailed from Liverpool in 1853 on a voyage to Quebec, Canada. Apparently, the ship was de-masted three days out of Liverpool but still attempted to carry on with the voyage, which was against the wishes of many on board. The ship was caught in a number of storms and was eventually wrecked on Vatersay.
The casualties amounted to more than 350 people and the bodies were interned in two mass graves somewhere in the sand dunes on the island. The location of the graves has since been lost. The circa 102 survivors did not meet with much hospitality from the locals of Vatersay as the resources available to the locals were limited. It is reported that it took some survivors a month to return to their homes.
The weather had not improved much after our first two visits but the views on Vatersay were still spectacular.
As the weather had not improved we decided to drive back to Barra. The road on Barra is a loop with a couple of spurs, one going to Vatersay. The loop circumnavigates the island. We drove around the loop and stopped at Northbay. Northbay has been Barra’s second most important harbour and had small fishing boats moored when we visited. An information board says that fishing has always been an important part of the lives of the local people of Northbay.
What Northbay did have in addition to fishing boats was a cafe so, after a day of bad weather, we ended our last day on Barra with some sustenance before returning to our accommodation in Castlebay.
Words and photos: Copyright John Cruse 2025