View Full Version : Anyone live or have lived on the Outer Hebrides?
kirstysdad
13-01-2023, 21:11
I know, a pretty random thread...
What is it like to live and work there?
I am wondering about working there for a few years until I retire. I am Scottish but not a Gaelic speaker.
Lawrence001
13-01-2023, 22:55
Not me, but I've noticed a few people on Gumtree selling high end gear up that way. It's too far to collect for 99.5% of the population but they'll gladly ship them once you've wired the funds
Pigmy Pony
15-01-2023, 09:24
Don't know how you'll go on for internet dating up there Sandy, but this method seems to be popular up there - just stick it in the post office window.
https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.mGYpg46MElDnm1uvu9DUuwHaLx?w=115&h=180&c=7&r=0&o=5&pid=1.7
its a cold and unrelenting place and not for the feint hearted... full brunt of all weather systems etc and pretty lonesome, especially if summat goes awry.. no thanks
There's always the wild and lonely Isle Of Barra.
Never been to Outer Hebridise, I only know a couple of things. There's no trees and it's very windy all the time.
Actually that sounds a lot like where I live.
As a closet dendrophile, I don't think I could live anywhere where there weren't any trees. :(
Pigmy Pony
15-01-2023, 10:52
This is where my mate's mum and dad live (house with red roof on right edge of pic). This is Reiff in Ross-shire, terrain not unlike Outer Hebrides. Nice for a short stay, but I can see it being a bleak and lonely existence for some. And no trees! Looks a bit more built up than last time I visited, almost urban.
https://dimg.visitscotland.com/wsimgs/reiff-beach-cottage-wester-ross-drone-exterior-01_596385635.jpg
must be a bit of a trek to the shops. You wouldn't want to forget anything and have to go back.
Pigmy Pony
15-01-2023, 14:35
Nearest pub for 15 miles (Am Fuaran) is 4 miles away, nearest shop (Polbain stores) 7 miles. You couldn't do a big shop there, but they do have a good selection of fishing lures. And if you walk you can find some good spots for wild mushrooms.
Probably not a good place to be suddenly seriously ill. With 15 miles of single track before the proper road starts, ambulance waiting times will be even worse than it is for the rest of us. But I suppose the locals all look out for each other. "Hey Donny, have you seen old Murdo recently?" "Not for a couple of weeks, I should go round and check he's ok".
Nearest pub for 15 miles (Am Fuaran) is 4 miles away, nearest shop (Polbain stores) 7 miles. You couldn't do a big shop there, but they do have a good selection of fishing lures. And if you walk you can find some good spots for wild mushrooms.
Probably not a good place to be suddenly seriously ill. With 15 miles of single track before the proper road starts, ambulance waiting times will be even worse than it is for the rest of us. But I suppose the locals all look out for each other. "Hey Donny, have you seen old Murdo recently?" "Not for a couple of weeks, I should go round and check he's ok".
"bury him" if its been 2 weeks lol
kirstysdad
15-01-2023, 18:01
Aye.
Best not rush into anything out there then... :rolleyes:
Lawrence001
16-01-2023, 14:38
Nearest pub for 15 miles (Am Fuaran) is 4 miles away, nearest shop (Polbain stores) 7 miles. You couldn't do a big shop there, but they do have a good selection of fishing lures. And if you walk you can find some good spots for wild mushrooms.
Probably not a good place to be suddenly seriously ill. With 15 miles of single track before the proper road starts, ambulance waiting times will be even worse than it is for the rest of us. But I suppose the locals all look out for each other. "Hey Donny, have you seen old Murdo recently?" "Not for a couple of weeks, I should go round and check he's ok".Do Ocado do a helicopter drop there? There's always Amazon drones.
Pigmy Pony
16-01-2023, 14:54
Do Ocado do a helicopter drop there? There's always Amazon drones.
Well the advert doesn't say "There's an Ochado just fae you Jimmy", so maybe not. Oh dear that wasn't racist was it?
I shouldn't think so, unless your very fragile of course, of which there are a few i suppose
Pigmy Pony
16-01-2023, 15:25
I shouldn't think so, unless your very fragile of course, of which there are a few i suppose
I imagine Hebrideans would be a tough bunch, who would rather go looking for dead sheep than shop with Ocado.
There is a Tesco on Lewis which is a bit disappointing. I was thinking all there would be was a local shop for local people.
Not sure about going to live someplace where they think 'The Wicker Man' is a documentary although I suppose it's only dangerous for virgins.
kirstysdad
16-01-2023, 18:12
There is a Tesco on Lewis which is a bit disappointing. I was thinking all there would be was a local shop for local people.
Not sure about going to live someplace where they think 'The Wicker Man' is a documentary although I suppose it's only dangerous for virgins.
Oof!
Don't forget that Royston Vasey is in Cumbria, and that Staffordshire is not exactly "genetically diverse". I love folk from Stafford as being friendly folk (but then a lot of folk from outside of the area came to work in Stafford during the industrial revolution meaning that locals didn't have to breed with cousins or siblings.
kirstysdad
16-01-2023, 18:27
I shouldn't think so, unless your very fragile of course, of which there are a few I suppose
I had to count this up... 35 years ago I was a newly qualified nurse in Glasgow and would volunteer to work on the air ambulance to the islands- Orkney, Shetland, Inner and Outer Hebrides. The folk who couldn't hack it in the remotest of places were mostly mainlanders from cities who had a "good life" idealised ideal of island life. Many had sold up in a property boom, perhaps from the SE and more affluent parts of the country. Incidentally, on the Isle of Arran, lots of folk from the Lancashire coast sold up and bought up... Brodick? Little Morecambe at one point.
The local population of all of the Scottish islands were no more bonkers than anyone else on the UK mainland, in fact were generally more resolutely stoical about their plight and had "hee haw" (bugger all) services to rely on.
kirstysdad
16-01-2023, 18:28
I imagine Hebrideans would be a tough bunch, who would rather go looking for dead sheep than shop with Ocado.
Absolutely...
You would also be an outsider, to what I expect is a pretty close knit community.
Lawrence001
16-01-2023, 23:42
Is one of those lighthouse keeper jobs up for grabs then? The ones where they dump you on an island and pick you up in a year at the end of your contract. If you're still alive.
Pigmy Pony
17-01-2023, 11:43
Is one of those lighthouse keeper jobs up for grabs then? The ones where they dump you on an island and pick you up in a year at the end of your contract. If you're still alive.
They already have one, good luck replacing him :eek:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SBl4DJTUU_Y/maxresdefault.jpg
Pigmy Pony
17-01-2023, 11:50
You would also be an outsider, to what I expect is a pretty close knit community.
A couple I know used to holiday round Ullapool a lot, always found the locals to be friendly enough. Then they decided to up sticks and move up there. That's when they discovered that they had gone from being tourists helping the local economy to being competition for scarce jobs. Nobody had any time for them, and he got into one or two scrapes on nights out. Two years later they'd given up and moved back to Preston a good deal poorer.
A couple I know used to holiday round Ullapool a lot, always found the locals to be friendly enough. Then they decided to up sticks and move up there. That's when they discovered that they had gone from being tourists helping the local economy to being competition for scarce jobs. Nobody had any time for them, and he got into one or two scrapes on nights out. Two years later they'd given up and moved back to Preston a good deal poorer.
indeed, alas thats often the way it goes. great for a holiday etc but...
Pigmy Pony
17-01-2023, 11:55
I bet Sandy's starting to feel like this guy:
https://www.slashfilm.com/img/gallery/filming-the-truman-shows-finale-put-jim-carreys-actual-life-on-the-line/intro-1661284403.jpg
kirstysdad
17-01-2023, 17:15
I bet Sandy's starting to feel like this guy:
https://www.slashfilm.com/img/gallery/filming-the-truman-shows-finale-put-jim-carreys-actual-life-on-the-line/intro-1661284403.jpg
Aye, might be...
kirstysdad
17-01-2023, 17:23
A couple I know used to holiday round Ullapool a lot, always found the locals to be friendly enough. Then they decided to up sticks and move up there. That's when they discovered that they had gone from being tourists helping the local economy to being competition for scarce jobs. Nobody had any time for them, and he got into one or two scrapes on nights out. Two years later they'd given up and moved back to Preston a good deal poorer.
Same here on the Welsh border- although it depends on what you are bringing with you and how you carry it.
Me and my first wife lived in Scotland for several years, I am a native, she from the English south coast. She was never the target of any anti-English hostility, yet a pal who had been raised in London to Scottish parents did. He could be a bit of an awkward sod and would often get abused as an English prick or whatever, not because he was English though. If I behaved like him I guess I would be abused as a fat/baldy/beardy prick etc...
Always very sorry to hear of folk who aren't made welcome. Ullapool is lovely, the folk are lovely. Maybe some folk might take offence at me being from Glasgow?
rmcin626
17-01-2023, 17:38
Same here on the Welsh border- although it depends on what you are bringing with you and how you carry it.
Me and my first wife lived in Scotland for several years, I am a native, she from the English south coast. She was never the target of any anti-English hostility, yet a pal who had been raised in London to Scottish parents did. He could be a bit of an awkward sod and would often get abused as an English prick or whatever, not because he was English though. If I behaved like him I guess I would be abused as a fat/baldy/beardy prick etc...
Always very sorry to hear of folk who aren't made welcome. Ullapool is lovely, the folk are lovely. Maybe some folk might take offence at me being from Glasgow?
Ullapool is a nece small town, with a couple of decent places to eat and of course the gateway to the Isle of Lewis.
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