17th July
LM409
GLA-BEB
1600-1655
Loganair SAAB 340B
Seat 8C

After returning from "lunch", the plan was formed that we would fly to Benbecula, take a bus to the Sound of Barra ferry onwards to Barra
The locals on the plane were quite used to this although not that thrilled about it
Some of the tourists were a bit put out by it all
I decided to treat it as a wonderful adventure



It didn't dawn on me until later that I had forgotten to ask for a window, but I didn't really feel like it was worth bothering the check in ladies yet again so just went along with it

Of course this left almost 3 hours until departure and I was rapidly running out of planes to spot

Sweet chariot

Shortly after boarding the Captain came out into the cabin to make an announcement- I was prepared for this to be bad news but there didn't seem to be any- on time and with minimal turbulence. Notably, it was an all female team and the Captain appeared to be some kind of Northern European, possibly Danish or Norwegian but definitely not Scottish. She seemed nice and the flight was comfortable so what more could you want?

(EDIT: possibly could have been Estonian based on the NyxAir tie up- although G-LGNF is 100% loganair- is it possible there's some kind of crewing arrangement going on?!)

The in flight service consisted of yet another Tunnock's caramel wafer (can I call this whole Australia thing off and just move to the Scottish highlands?!)


As an aside, these are clearly old planes, but compared to say, REX, I was quite impressed by how they'd obviously made an effort to keep the interior updated and looking fresh. Is it unreasonable to assume this also translates to maintenance of the other components?

Had to make do with the long lens for views on approach


On arrival, again clearly I wasn't sure what to expect but was impressed to find things like clearly marked airport ops cars and seemingly a reasonable size terminal building with a tower. Highly exciting for the Australian



We were met at baggage claim by the Loganair lady who took us out to a waiting minibus


And thus commenced an unexpected and fairly high speed bus tour of Benbecula and the Uists





And before too long we were at Eriskay waiting for CalMac to do their business


The bus made a rather satisfying crunching sound when it was driven off
And just like that, we were on our way




Arriving in Barra I hitched a ride to Castlebay with one of the locals. And there it was, only about 8 hours behind schedule! Hurrah!!