Road Motors Ease Life in the Hebrides
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Sidelights on Commercial Road Transport in these Remote Islands in the North-West of Scotland SITUATED 85 miles across the Minch, north-west of Kyle. Stornoway is quite a busy place. It is the nucleus of transport among a great number of islands, and all conceivable kinds of conveyance mingle in the town. It is interesting to stand on the quay at Stornoway and to watch the comings and goings of vans and lorries. Most of them are old, and many of them just about ready to fall apart entirely, to judge by appearances!
The island roads, especially in the south, are narrow and rough. Crofter habitations are scattered far and wide, so reliability—regardless of age or appearance—is essential where road transport is concerned. Stornoway imports vast quantities of food, including perishables, as the isles are no longer self-supporting in this respect. For this reason an intricate service to all parts, no matter how wild, must be maintained.
Tons of salt barrels have tobe handled for fish curers, .and any amount of sheep's fleece has to be dealt
with. There is no standardizing in loads. A van may, for example, go into the hills, laden with building materials, and return to the port on the same day loaded with bales of tweed.' Fat livestock—mainly sheep—is also jolted over atrocious surfaces in the same vans as those used for carting peat, road-metal, fish and furniture!
At one time, there was a considerable transport of seaweed between 11014 various shores where it was gathered and kilns where it was calcined and made into kelp for iodine and soda extraction. This industry, however, is now almost defunct.
The usual red Morris-Commercial van serves the Post Office in Lewis and Harris, but in North and South Uist there is an old grey Van, heavily grilled, which serves the purpose and acts as a bus at the same time. It looks like a "Black Maria," and as it rumbles along the peaty wastes the ground trembles violently, for the roads actually float on the vast bogs and morasses that are interspersed with thousands of small Iochans.
How would the average van driver react if asked to deliver goods to such islands as Sursay, Vatersay, Opsay, Orasay and Narstay? He would certainly have to know something about the tides, because there are two fords in the Hebrides—one five miles across, It is very necessary to wait for low tide, otherwise the Atlantic is inclined to upset the mixture! There are some deliveries that can wait, however, because the more remote islanders still send their mail in improvised boats— of toy-like proportions and complete with sails. These are set off when the wind is in the right direction and whoever finds the " mailboat," when washed ashore on to a major island, posts the lettets !