The Outer Hebrides is made up of over 100 islands of which only 14 are populated. Unless of course you count sheep.
Our 130 mile journey South passed through all the islands from the Butt of Lewis at the top to tiny Vatersay at the bottom.
The Arrivals building at Stornoway
Stornoway is the main gateway to the Outer Hebrides. 3 ferries a day from the mainland and a number of flights from Glasgow, Aberdeen and other Scottish hubs. For us, flying there from the Home Counties, took a 10 hour day including transfers etc. If we were to drive, it’d be on the 3rd morning of travel before you saw the chimney pots of this very northern city.
No-one was about on this fine June day until we approached the promontory, when we became aware that this spot was a magnet for campers and mobile homes. Germans, Dutch, French, you name it – they were all here like ladybeetles slowly crawling over a flower head. Later our in-car debate surmised that they must have been in envy of our coastline…
Ness FC. Okay on a fine day as the groundsman topped the daisies; but you did wonder how a ‘high ball’ might behave in sideways wind. Probably one of the most Northern grass pitches in the country?
Our first bay. Just off the Butt. Terns, Great Northern Divers, Swallows, Eiders and Guillemots to name a few.
The Author dressed as warmly as he could
Home is where you make it. In this case on an exposed treeless Atlantic-facing sward.
The harbour at the ‘top’ – The Port of Ness’.
Above a living museum showing just how challenging it could be for months on end living in low houses with a roped-on thatch. Here, the traditional economy has always been the small-scale production of the world-famous tweeds.
Shots from along the way. Readers that know ‘Terry’ will understand the disappointment at finding the roadside float shop CLOSED.
Peat cutting. Traditional as you can get, but with a heavy carbon footprint. Interesting debate here – the vapour trails were trackable via the Plane Finder App, and showed passing planes were en-route to Canada and the USA. Just another very demonstrable and yet ignored [by self-righteous travellers], example of the great carbon debate.
What would the Mayor of London say about people installing peat burners in his Smokeless City?
Day’s end at the Loch Erisort Hotel. An odd and really uninviting place despite a fair view. The bar only had one beer ‘on’; a bore that could be heard 3 rooms away, and only one proper seat – on which he was sitting. The chef[s] appeared to be two pensionable-age folk who could be best described as ‘dinner ladies’. Both came and went in the bar – pinnied-up; hatted with shower caps, peering at us as though we might create a bit of a rush if we all ordered simultaneously. We didn’t stay for supper, but you could smell that the deep fryer was already up to heat…
Instead – supper at our gaffe
The view that evening from our lodgings in the small hamlet of Keose.
Fine Red Deer on the road to the Valtos peninsula
Typical landscape in Lewis. Locals were quick to point out the difference between ‘their’ bit and what lay just an island away.
As is the case on these journeys we got to meet people as they came and went, and in the passing car-passenger hours we fleshed out some peoples’ complete life stories based on the Brief Encounter. There was ‘Sean the Roofer’ – Northern Irish lived in Newquay. “So why are you here?” Was our perfectly normal opening remark. On and on he went.
Later it was Cyril the Crag Hopper – a man of indeterminate age that [as we all agreed] looked like Chaucer’s ‘Miller’. He was a Munro man, as was his jocular friend. They were from Selkirk. About as far away as you could get and still be in Scotland.
Above: Cyril and friend studying their next challenge.
Above: The Rock. Cyril’s Challenge.
Below: Pictures from the Southern part of Harris
Above: If you live to get old, you’ll have had time to understand Gaelic.
3 times on our adventure we met Robin and Vikki, who seemed just as curious about the place as we were. Bit of a geezer with heavy London accent – he was easy to spot and hear before you saw him. Sort of dilapidated Rod Stewart always with bright yellow ‘shades’ that looked like they were compulsory on a building site. They were keen to share their finds with us.
Nigel gets bird watching tips from Rod Stewart as Bruce Willis looks on.
Above: The 5000 year old Callanish stones on the west of Lewis. Despite there being several hundred Circles in Britain, speculation as to how and what they stood for remains uncertain. To a casual visitor I’m sure adding some mystique.
The Uig Chessmen. A replica set of the extraordinary C19th find of dozens of Walrus ivory pieces that date back to the 12th Century. Rated [by experts not locals and Wikipedia] as probably the most significant find of its kind ever made.
One last chance to be amazed by the azure of Luskintyre Bay as we pass through to the most southerly point in Harris.
A journey just beginning. The Harris to Uist ferry docking at Leverburgh
The view as we make the 1 hour crossing to the new world of the Uists.
Next Story:
https://jimsoccasionalblog.wordpress.com/2018/07/02/the-uists-up-and-down/
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