EVEN by the standards of the  Western Isles, Uig is an out of the way kind of place.

Just a scattering of houses really, typical of so many Hebridean crofting communities, it lies on the far west coast of Lewis, 30 miles from Stornoway and almost 600 miles north of London. To be frank, it takes a lot of effort and determination to get there.

But Kirsty Wade was never short of either quality. Seek out the YouTube clip of her 1987 European Cup 1500 metres victory in Prague and watch her destroy the field on the final lap with an astonishing combination of pace, courage and willpower. It was a stunning victory then and all the more so now that the scale of drug-taking by her Eastern European rivals has become clear.

Wade, now 51, has every right to be angry about steroid-fuelled, androgynous cheats who denied her the world, European and Olympic titles her talents deserved. Yet she is far too busy with the day-to-day affairs of Suainaval, the B&B she and her husband Tony set up in Uig, to dwell on past injustices. When your view has been voted one of the best in Britain, and when every one of your Tripadvisor reviewers has given you an excellent rating, there are more important things to be done.

In any case, she is just not the kind of person to dwell on a grievance. "We all knew that they weren't clean," she recalls. "My own event was riddled with drugs and it was wrong, utterly wrong. But while it might sound strange, you didn't hold it against the people you were competing with. They were just part of the system in place in those countries.

"I don't bear a grudge against them individually in the same way I would if it was someone from Britain doing the same thing, someone who had a choice. Those East European girls had no choice."

In that era when British men ruled the world of middle-distance running, when Steve Cram, Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett jostled with each other for medals, titles and world records, Wade carried the torch for Britain's women. Although born in Scotland - to English parents - she was raised in Llandrindod Wells and chose to run for Wales. It was in the red vest that she won her first major title, the Commonwealth Games 800m in Brisbane in 1982.

With hindsight, Commonwealth events offer the best measure of Wade's abilities. Without the Eastern Bloc countries, they were about running tracks, not needle tracks. And when the Games came to Edinburgh in 1986, Wade was at her peak.

It was the year of the boycott, when 32 nations pulled out in protest at Britain's refusal to implement economic sanctions against apartheid South Africa. And the year of Robert Maxwell, the self-appointed 'Saviour of the Games', who rode to the rescue of an organising committee that was in financial disarray - and then rode out leaving an even bigger mess than when he had arrived.

Wade, though, left with two gold medals. She successfully defended her Brisbane 800m crown and then added the 1500m title as well. Without question, she was the star of the women's track programme that year, her double triumph an exact match for what Cram did over the same distances in the men's events.

The Games' return to Scotland this year brought a few memories flooding back. "I went back down to Wales recently and did the baton relay in my home town," says Wade. "It was a lovely moment for me. I wouldn't say I normally get nostalgic, and I'm certainly not the sort of person who would watch DVDs of myself running round a track, but this year has been a bit special."

For many, the 1986 Games are best remembered for their chaotic backdrop. But not by Wade. "It may sound a bit weird but we really weren't concerned with all that stuff," she admits. "Maybe that's just the selfishness of the athlete. You were thinking about what you were eating, when you were sleeping, when your qualifying rounds were taking place. That's where the focus was and nothing else mattered. You just get so into where you are and what you are doing."

Back then, Wade lived near Newcastle, so she turned down the invitation to base herself in the athletes' village in Edinburgh for the duration of the Games. In effect, she commuted. She had the European Championships, in Stuttgart, barely a month later, and she felt more comfortable managing her own time.

The 800m title came first, although it was closer than expected as Wade only just pipped England's Diane Edwards - later Modahl - by two tenths of a second. The double was on, but Wade does not recall the time with any great fondness.

"The heats for the 1500 felt pretty awful after the 800," she explains. "I was relieved to win the 800 because I had retained my title and hadn't let anyone down, but I felt very heavy-legged afterwards. But I still felt confident. I was in top shape."

The 1500m race fell into her hands. Nobody was prepared to make an early move and the slow pace suited her perfectly. No athlete on earth could match her finishing pace. Wade crossed the finishing line more than a second ahead of Canada's Debbie Bowker to win gold again.

As the 2014 athletics programme draws to a conclusion, was there ever a temptation to make her way  to Glasgow? Wade laughs at the  very idea. "No, we're too busy at  this time of year. It's not a great idea to take time off from a B&B at peak season because that would be pretty disastrous financially come December. I'm perfectly happy watching it on the telly."