And yet more Lewis / Harris adventuring

We hope that you are not too bored by the information on the Lewis / Harris area yet. If so, then just skip this post. That would be a shame of course as it is a fascinating place with plenty to do / see even if you have to do it in a little white van that has seen better days. So, where else did we explore?

The little island of Great Bernera was lovely - just a bit chilly in the wind though. Some iron age house remains were uncovered during a big storm in the 1990s and one has been "restored" as you can see in the picture below:

If you cannot - it is the "mound" on the left hand side at beach level! This is a truly remote spot and very beautiful. It is mainly populated by sheep who sport some most impressive horn things:

Not to mention nice thick coats that were needed that day, despite the sun.

We also hit the northern part of Lewis, enjoying the little cafe in Point Ness at lunchtime with views of the beach and harbour. This was a major fishing harbour in years gone by and was built and then extended many times as you can see from the strange layout with old breakwaters appearing as "arms" in the harbour. At low water it would not be ideal for us:

The Butt of Lewis lighthouse area is as exposed as you would expect. Apparently it has a claim to fame - it is noted as the windiest part of Britain in the Guinness book of records. Well, although it was blowy, there are some great rock formations to enjoy:

 The lighthouse tower is unusual - brick construction and not the normal white painted stone job. somehow it looks more utilitarian:

The wires hanging from it don't help either.  Still, an impressive structure. Of course, visiting places like these does not necessarily excite labradors:

Food usually does though.

The harbour area around Stornoway itself has some good walks. You get views of Lews Castle which despite a bit of scaffolding is still quite a building:

Stornoway has become quite a calling spot for the smaller cruise ships and of course you can spot the average cruise passenger from several yards away. The attire and attitude are unmistakable in most cases. We did have a "special" visitor though, the Hebridean Princess:

She is an old (1964) Calmac ferry called the Columba that was converted to be a 5 star passenger ship with only about 50 passengers on board who pay heavily for the privilege of course. It is a little harder to spot the folks from this ship - more a case of "spot the jewellery, and watches" than "spot the cruise liner baseball cap".

We did find one drawback of this lovely spot. Saturday night seems to be the time when all the younger folk in the island congregate to hit the pubs and then race their elderly Subaru Imprezza vehicles (or Ford Focus or even a life expired Transit if desperate) around the town. Not such an issue for us but not good for Norman and Julie who tried to sleep in a car park that was being used like a drag strip. The noise upset Indie, our godpuppy, so much that she chewed the gas alarm in their motorhome leaving several severed wires. Our moral guidance fails again. The noise clearly doesn't upset the local police though, who do nothing at all to stop the lads at play.

Norman thinks that a 240v gas alarm might discourage Indie next time. Harsh but understandable.