More Lewis / Harris by van

Towards the top of the island is the sort of famous "Bridge to nowhere". It was built by the then owner of the island, Lord Leverhulme just after the first world war. He wanted to change the island into a more industrial area; the returning soldiers from the war wanted to go back to their crofting lifestyle and rebelled against his changes. Hence, the planned road around the top of the island didn't get completed and the bridge is a reminder of this attempt:

Shock, horror - we did return to Stornoway during the rush hour and had to wait at a roundabout with at least 4 cars ahead of us. Having the modern stop/start function on a car is really not needed here....

The "Lochs" area on Lewis is also beautiful and kept us amused for an afternoon drive around:

We stopped off at Ravenspoint, where there is a hostel come community centre come fuel point come shop, come cafe sort of place. Sitting at a window table, with views across the loch (binoculars provided so you can watch the wildlife too) was pretty good. Seeing the enormous scones, we ordered one cream tea and one tea, planning to share the food bit. The relatively mute lady serving duly delivered a teapot, two cups and one enormous scone with two plates. Very good it was too. So, half a scone and 1.5 cups of tea later the captain paid. She said that she had just given us one cream tea between two and so that would be £3. Get that Starbucks... If we'd got the extra tea we ordered, we would probably still be there drinking it all. Some bargain, just a shame that the lady serving was a little monosyllabic.

Norman and Julie (the Bobil people) arrived by ferry to Tarbert (yes, yet another Tarbert) as part of their Scottish motorhome tour. Why so many Tarberts we hear you ask (and if you have not then you need to develop a more enquiring mind). Well, it is pretty simple - here is what Wikipedia says:

Tarbert (Scottish Gaelic: An Tairbeart) is a place name in Scotland and Ireland. Places named Tarbert are characterised by a narrow strip of land, or isthmus. This can be where two lochs nearly meet, or a causeway out to an island

Of course, Norm and Julie brought the canine trio along too. So, we had to find a beach and the one at Luskentyre is amongst the best:

Roxy had a great time playing ball in the water then dripping gently as she emerged:

Indie, our Godpuppy wanted to play with mum, or bite her, or steal the ball or generally just be the centre of attention:

As you can see, our moral guidance responsibilities are not going well. Still, the beach is an amazing place. It is a must see when you come to Harris (that was when, not an if, the place is too special to avoid). After a suitable amount of ball throwing and chasing around, we had one sandy godpuppy:

Of course, Milo the Jack Russell just stood and looked on with a sense of dignified amazement at how silly labradors can be:

The southern tip of the island at Rodel was a good stopover for tea. No carrot cake available in the little hotel of course so no chance for it to overtake the all time best from St Ives. The little harbour area was typical of the coastline and such a peaceful spot too:

There is even a tucked away little anchorage we might explore in future. The area is just wonderful, it is a shame that most of the the houses are typical little "Scottish boxes" - plain architecture, rendered and in drab colouring. We also don't get the way that the folks dispose of old vans, tractors, equipment etc. by just leaving it dumped in the corner of a field / along the roadside / wherever. Perhaps opening a scrapyard here is a way to make money?

A little more about you folks:

Well, the number of reads is still increasing. The average is now up to 1,600 per month, no idea why, Must be the breathless prose in here. However, mentioning a few folks has clearly frighted them off. The UAE reader has gone away as has the (potentially Mossad employed) reader from Israel. No recent accesses by either of them.

Since it seems so simple to get people to leave you alone, perhaps we should just mention "EU referendum campaign" now and see if all the irritating people telling half truths and trying to persuade us to take a massively complex decision with little reliable data will vanish too. We live in hope.