Stornoway

I woke just before we reached Stornoway and berthed at the quay. There would be no need to use the Zodiacs this morning.

We had our breakfast and then boarded two coaches for a four hour tour taking in two of the highlights of the Isle of Lewis - the Stones of Callanish and the Blackhouse of Arnol. Our local guide was Mary McLeod and our driver was Donald. Mary was an interesting guide, but not always easy to hear!

It was a 45 minute drive towards the north of the island to go and see the standing stones at Callanish, which date back over 5,000 years. They are very similar to the stone circles we saw on Orkney. The sun came out and we all walked around the site, looking at the stones and admiring the views. With the absence of trees, it was quite bleak, but wild and lovely in its own way. There were many sheep and cattle on lush green grass, often close to lochs. The stones are in the shape of a Gaelic cross.
 

We took a lot of photos, including the one above of Digby and me, then we walked downhill to the visitor centre/cafe, where we boarded the coach and drove off to the Blackhouse of Arnol.

It was about another 45 minutes to the Blackhouse of Arnol, a restored crofter's house. It is an ancient house, so called because the 'new' houses built later were called white houses. The blackhouses were thatched with oats and had different sections for the animals (the byre), people and stores (the barn). They had a peat fire constantly burning, but no chimney! We went inside and were practically smoked out by the fire! We looked at other buildings, some in ruins, then went back to the ship for lunch, which we had on the aft deck with Barry and Michelle, a British couple who live in the Algarve. 

In the afternoon, we walked round Stornoway, passing the fishing harbour at low tide, and then on to  Lews Castle, which is about to be turned into a hotel.

We had a general look around the town, which was quite pleasant, but not as attractive as Tobermory. At the Baltic Bookshop, we bought a book on St. Kilda, where we are hoping to land tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

We returned to the boat where I wrote up the blog for the past two days. The boat will set sail in about an hour for St. Kilda, about 100 miles south-west of Stornoway. The good news is that the weather forecast for the island is not bad at all. Let's hope it stays that way. We wouldn't want another Tristan da Cunha experience!

A couple of photos of us leaving Stornaway.

In the evening, we met Barry and Michelle in the Panorama Lounge for a drink and then Declan and Anne made up our group of six for dinner.