Isle of Lewis, September 2002
We went to the Isle of Lewis for two weeks, from August 31st to September
15th 2002. We stayed in the self-catering cottage called Heathvale in Breasclete. Self-catering combines
comfort, freedom of schedule and affordability that are hard to find with
B&Bs or Youth Hostels.
Lewis has a strong bilingual culture. Most locals speak both English and Gaelic. Most road signs are in Gaelic, subtitled in English, some are in Gaelic only, some are in English only. As a consequence, the confused tourist is best of being familiar with the geography of the isle in both languages.
I'll write here using the names that felt most commonly used to us while over there (i.e. you tend to use more and more Gaelic as you go further from Stornoway.)
Photo Gallery
Here are some pictures from the journal, grouped by themes.Day 1 - Sunday 1 September 2002
Port of Ness. This is right at the north end of the Isle, the place is in
fact called "Butt of Lewis". The isle finishes abruptly with a lighthouse
perched on the edge of a 20m cliff.
The wind there is impressively
powerful, but who cares, we came armed with wind and rainproof jackets.
In fact, I'd advise anyone to buy something similar if not yet equipped
properly. You want to be able to face high wind for hours, and probably
rain as well. Therefore, you also want to be prepared for horizontal
rain.
Just before the lighthouse, there
is a nice little beach. Going towards the sea on the right of that creek,
we found a steep cliff (again) and saw some porpoise. Make sure to visit
equipped with binoculars!
We then drove all the way south towards
Tarbert. We stopped for a while in Stornoway (which we didn't want to go
to - we got lost. I know, there are only 2 roads on the island. So that's
still a choice, right? -- Here I am trying to find what road we're on.)
which is completely dead on Sunday, as everybody is busy sleeping at
church. The Church of Scotland holds a very important influence on many
aspects of life in these isles (except Barra, which is Roman Catholic)
and they just won't hear of working on a Sunday. That means no pubs, no
restaurants, no buses, no planes, no ferries. The only source of
entertainment left is the television, which is broadcasted from England
(and the English will all burn in Hell already anyway, so they have
nothing to lose. (nah, just kidding).) So, be sure to tank and shop on
Saturday.
In Tarbert, there doesn't seem to be
much to see, and we were slowly running out of fuel. As we couldn't tank
and we didn't want to try our luck going further, we went back north.
Here are some little boats in the port.
And on the way back, this was our first
Highland Cow sighting! Somehow, they managed to come to this remote
island. They probably just took the ferry.
Callanish Main Stone Circle. The weather being abysmal, no pictures (more on that place later though.)
Weather: rain+wind
