Isle of Lewis

Day 12: Thursday

The weather forecast is spot on: Bright sun with perfectly blue sky. All day. Not even any wind (okay, just enough to blow a candle).

Went to the beach again (one of the beaches north of Stornoway); all quiet and nice, Narelle tanned her face a little and I almost got a sunburn. On the way back we stopped in Stornoway to take sunny pictures and have lunch.

The weather was good enough that we decided to have fish&chips sitting on the docks overlooking the port.

We spotted another porpoise in the port , which was waiting for the fishing boats to come back. Imagine that: the porpoises know about the tide, and know when the fishing boats come back. We saw several of them circling back towards the port, shortly before the fishing boats came back and... fed them with whatever fish they were rejecting.

And here is one of the fishing boat coming back to port. Looks like sails are still being used around here.

Stornoway boasts a castle, built in the 19th century by a lord who bought the island and tried to develop it. That castle is in the middle of a large park, parts of which have now been converted as a gold course. It is now used as a school.

The shortest road from Stornoway to Heathvale is the Pentland Road (Rathad a Phentland). It's a single-track road that goes for about 12 miles, in the middle of nothing, with a passing place every half mile.

Back home to enjoy the nice weather with a bbq without too much wind for a change. To barbeque, we use a cute clay pot that we bought at the Royal Highland Show.

It's based on a very old celtic design, from times where resources were scarce. The shape of the pot focuses heat on a grid big enough to cook a couple of steaks at once. The interesting thing is that very little fuel is needed: we will have a typical bbq (2 steaks and some sausages) using less than 10 coals.

Day 13: Friday

Last full day!

Went for a walk in Harris: From Meavaig, climbing along Glen Meavaig to Loch Vishimid.

On the way to Harris, we spotted some cows bathing. That's how hot that day was.

Between Lewis and Harris, a road sign welcomes you in Gaelic with English subtitles. Narelle poses next to the sign welcoming to her island.

The walk follows a large car path, which looks rather stable for a change (until a 4 wheel drive drove past us, shaking the ground to the point we wondered if the road would fall in the bog). The road follows the glen, in the middle of high hills.

In the middle of the heather fields, cows are grasing peacefully. Here I am, showing Narelle they really aren't vicious.

As usual in these islands, the bottom of the valley is split by many streams.

After a long walk, here is finally Loch Voshimid in sight! At the top, we meet a few fishermen fishing for trout in the loch. Apparently, the whole glen belongs to a fishing estate. The old guy we talk to is dressed from head to toe in Harris tweed.

On our way back. The day was really quite warm. We then ran back down the hill to get in time to get some fuel before the station closed, otherwise we'd have be stranded here till the next day.

Picnic on the cliff overlooking the bay. We actually cut that one short, as the midges decided to have dinner as well.

Back to the beach of Hogabost to look at the sunset. Accident with the camera :-( the light meter broke. Looks like I can still take pictures, even without it. Pfew. Beautiful rosy colours over a bright blue water. The sun actually changed shape while sinking slowly; I think the atmosphere had two layers of air at fairly different temperatures, hence different indices of refraction. That might not be a good sign for tomorrow's weather, but who cares, we're leaving.

Drive back was a bit stressful, with no daylight and areas of very thick fog. We actually drove through Breasclete without seeing our street (we had to turn right) because, driving on the left of the road, you could not see the right side of it.

Day 14: Saturday

Travel back to Edinburgh. Stopped in Stornoway, bought a set of Lewis Chessmen (but shh, it's for my birthday so I shouldn't know about it.)

Pleasant ferry trip, sunny and not too cold. Scenic drive from Ullapool, then fog. Dinner in Inverness, drive to Edinburgh in night and fog. So much fun. Finally home, the house is still there. End of the holiday.