We’ve neglected to tell you about our July trip to Scotland, so we’re going to go back a couple of months to recount events of our eight day anniversary trip to the western highlands and islands.
We spent the first two days of our trip on the island of Barra. Barra is in the outer hebrides, and is about as far west as one can go and still be in Brittan. The main reason we visited Bara is because it is the island from which a large part of the MacNeil clan originated. Opting not to take the seven-hour ferry we decided to fly from Glasgow.
The flight to Barra was an interesting experience by itself. The island is serviced by one flight per day, operated by British airways. The plane lands on a large flat beach. After landing the plane is unloaded, reloaded and departs before the tide comes in and covers the “runway” with water. The flight times vary daily so ensure that the plane lands during low tide.
The Barra airport has three runways each marked with a pole at both ends. There are no lights, no lines or markings of any kind. Just sand. After we got off the plane, Tiffany foolishly tried to grab he bag off the rack. The guy motioned her to leave it and explained that it would be taken to baggage claim where she could pick it up. The baggage claim area is a shelf under an awning beside the control tower. We had no trouble finding the baggage claim shed because it was fitted with a huge sign that read “Baggage Claim.” We watched the ground crew guy pull the cart up to the shed and place all six bags on the shelf where we were then allowed to retrieve it.
After we arrived on the island we rode the MacNeil bus driven by Mr. MacNeil to Castle Bay. The bus took us directly to our b&b, which was operated by Mrs. MacNeil. The bikes we rented were owned by a man who was married to a MacNeil. The island was truly bursting at the seams with MacNeils! And to think, we missed the bi-annual MacNeil clan gathering by only two weeks. That might have been a few too many MacNeils for us.
We went straight to the MacNeil Castle (Kismul Castle), which sits in the middle of the bay. We also had the best Scottish tablet of the whole trip at the hebridian toffee factory / sandwich cafe place. Then we rented bicycles and rode the whole way around the island. We finished our day with a meal at the pub in Castle Bay. The next day we rode bikes in the morning and took the McNeil van back to the airport.
I forgot to mention that when we booked our flights from London to Glasgow to Barra and back the website said, “We cannot issue e-tickets for this flight, paper tickets will be posted to you.” So we had to do it the old fashioned way, “honey where are the tickets” “I put them in my purseâ€? etc… When we checked in to our flight from London to Glasgow we embarrassingly presented our paper tickets. Who uses paper tickets anymore? Then, when checking in at the Barra airport the whole paper ticket made more sense. The lady looked at our tickets and crossed our names off the list that was faxed over this morning and carried our luggage over to the cart.
All in all Barra was a fun experience. The island was picturesque and the people were friendly.
A while back I posted pictures from our time on Barra.
Note that the symbol in the lower right of the MacNeil coat of arms is a red “bloody” hand. I’ve seen it with drops of blood falling off. Here’s the story as I found it on a web page:
The legend of the bloody hand in the MacNeil(McNeil,etc.) coat of arms, according to my ancestors is that when a “king” of Scotland way back when was bringing a boat of soldiers to capture the Isle of Barra, he promised that the first one of the soldiers to touch the Island, would be granted ownership of the island for his own clan. A McNeil happened to be toward the read of the boat, but he sure wanted that island, so when they neared the shore, he put his left hand on the gunwale, pulled out his sword and whacked off his hand and threw it on the shore. The “king” kept his word, and Barra has been McNeil (etc.) ever since.
I had heard from my father (1960′s) that it was a rowboat race between MacNeil and MacDonald for ownership of the island. MacDonald was about to win so MacNeil cut his hand off and threw it onto the island to win. What a heritage.
Oh yay! As always, your pictures are beautiful and I enjoyed the comment about playing monopoly
My husband’s last name is McNeill and his family is from scotland. I showed him your site & he loved the pics. thanks, jennifer.
As a young boy my father shared the very same story about the bloody hand. It seems that the King’s offer was just too irresistable for that MacNeil in the boat…
My late great grandma, Virginia McNeill, regaled us with this account when we wee bairns were, well, wee bairns. Recently my teenage nephew called me for the “last word on the bloody hand story” and I found myself contriving many details onthe spot. After those long winters on Barra, can you imagine the storytelling gene that evolved?
I visited Barra and Castlebay and the landing strip in 1997 to seek ancestral guidance on my oening marriage. Now happily nestled in the East Bay hills with two bairns of our own, you can tell what side the ancestors fell on. But of course, what does an ancestor want but eternal life?
Anyway, I found your account readily this morning on the internet. Welcome to the Bay Area. We’ve been in Berkeley since the late 1800s, having come out from Chicago via Robert McNeill, a habberydasher(ist?) who settled in the East Bay.
If you ever have time, take a family trip to Hawk Hill across the golden Gate. It’s home of the largest hawk migration in California, and a lot of families visit for a short hourlong hike. Migration abounds til mid November. I’m there most weekdays and some weekends. As mu hihland buddy says – all the best – Allen
sorry for typos – that was “pending” and “highland” – cheers – amf
Barra Airport sounds like an unusual experience! It must be quite scary, landing on the beach. At least you didn’t have to wait very long to pick up your bags! That must be one of bonuses of flying to one of the smallest airports in the world.