Exploring Lewis

On a rather grey and damp Monday morning we set off for Stornoway. It is the commercial and administrative hub of the Western Isles, a harbour town and ferry port connecting the island to mainland Scotland. 

We walked through the town centre which is actually really only a couple of streets. It felt very sleepy. Lots of places don't open on Mondays - even the Tourist Information Centre was closed. Its a working town and not especially attractive from an architectural perspective but most of the retail premises are independents. We couldn't find a bakery  -  much to Mrs B's consternation.

Stornoway Harbour

After exhausting the retail opportunities offered by Stornoway - which didn't take long - we walked over the footbridge into the grounds of Lews Castle. This is a Victorian house that was the home of James Mathieson, one of the founders of the Jardine Matheson trading empire. In 1842 he purchased the Isle of Lewis and built Lews Castle between 1847 and 1851. It is now publicly owned and houses the museum - which, being a Monday, was closed. After a brief walk around the grounds we returned to the car and went off to explore the coast of the North East in search of a coffee shop. Cafes and coffee shops are not plentiful in the Western Isles and the only one we found was part of a petrol station and didn't look very inviting. The coastal views were however much better and the stand out beach is at Tolsta. 

Tolsta Beach

I had looked, very briefly, at google maps and it appeared to show a road continuing on from North Tolsta around the island but it very soon came to an abrupt halt at 'The Bridge to Nowhere'. This bridge crosses a gorge and has this nickname because it doesn't actually go anywhere. In 1918 Lord Leverhume bought Lewis and had a plan to construct a road connecting Stornoway to the Port of Ness on the northern tip of Lewis. The bridge was built but the plans to complete the road were abandoned. Once over the bridge there is just a rough track and then miles of moorland. 

The Bridge to Nowhere

I turned the car around and as I'd spectacularly failed to find either a coffee shop or a route around the island, headed back to our base for what turned out to be a late lunch. In the afternoon I went off exploring on foot and took a walk up into the moors, following a stream to Loch Morsgail. After crossing a stream on a footbridge the path became increasingly indistinct and I found myself searching for something vaguely dry on a very wet peat bog. After any semblance of a path disappeared I called the walk to a halt, retraced my steps trying to avoid sinking into a bog and returned to the car. 

Loch Morsgail in the west of Lewis

The next morning we decided to go somewhere that's undoubtedly one of the highlights of the Western Isles, Uig Bay.

The road to Uig winds it's way over moorland, passing inland and sea lochs and then passes through Glen Valtos. Eventually you reach a turning for Timsgarry, a small settlement but the heart of the community with a small museum, community centre and cafe all housed in one building. It's worth taking this loop off the main road as it provides sweeping views of Uig Bay.

Uig Bay from Timsgarry

Two miles further on is a small car park and camper van site at Ardoil. It was an overcast morning but Uig beach still looked beautiful. We walked through the dunes and walked for a mile along the soft sand, having this amazing place pretty much to ourselves. Just up in the dunes an important discovery was made. The Lewis Chessmen comprises 93 exquisitely carved chess pieces dating back to the 12th century and in all likelihood owned by a viking chief. They were found in 1831 but mystery surrounds how they were found and who found them with various tales recounting how they were discovered. In one tale a cow gets the credit. Most are now in the British Museum, (which I've seen) some in Edinburgh but there are replicas on display in Stornoway. On the rough track leading to the parking area is a wooden sculpture of one of the chess pieces to mark where they were found.

Views of Uig Beach

The chess piece is the one on the left

Leif Erikkson

After walking the sands of Uig we carried on south, stopping to see more of the beautiful beaches on the west coast of Lewis.

Mangersta Beach

Once we'd reached Mangersta Beach we turned around and headed back to Timasgarry, stopping to see a small waterfall tumbling through a gorge.  We went to the community cafe for lunch. Mrs B opted for a toastie but I went for some smoked salmon pate, made with salmon from Uig Lodge, an award winning smokery nearby. It was mouth watering. After scaping every morsel from the plate we had a look around the museum, which gave insights into crofting life and information on the chess pieces. It wasn't very big but packed a lot into a small space. Poignantly, in the entrance to the building was a board listing all the men from UIg and the surrounding areas who had served in the two World Wars including Mrs B's late father, Malcolm Mackay.

Our final destination for the day was Gallan Head. A three mile long single track road took us to Aird Uig and Gallan Head, a remote promontory facing the Atlantic. Until recently nobody from the public was allowed to wander here. It was an RAF cold war base, RAF Aird Uig, a radar and communications station and strictly off limits. It was abandoned by the RAF in 2000 and in 2015 the land was purchased by a community trust. It has a forgotten, at the end of the world atmosphere with former RAF buildings now abandoned.

The community trust has plans to build a visitor centre, gallery and observatory but so far there's little sign of progress although some of the old buildings have been painted. What is up and running is a little cafe appropriately called The Edge. We planned to have tea and cake and only found out on arrival it was cash only.

The Edge cafe

Fortunately I had just enough to purchase tea and cake so we avoided a wasted journey. Next to the cafe was a small gift shop with lovely locally crafted gifts - this was also cash only so we promised to return later in the week after finding a cash dispenser. After cake in the cafe we braved the wind and drizzle and walked up to the RAF base which is a desolate spot. One building had been brightly painted but most were decaying.

Former RAF buildings at Gallan Head

Despite the cloudy skies and increasing breeze we'd had a varied and fascinating day, discovering things about this part of Lewis we never knew existed.

The weather hadn't improved much the following morning but it wasn't raining so we continued to explore the west coast of Lewis. We started with a visit to probably the most visited place on the island, the Callanish Stones. This megalithic stone circle is now managed by Historic Scotland but is free to enter and open all year. There's a small visitor centre and cafe but for such an important site remarkably little in terms of infrastructure. It really is a special site. First of all the location conveys a sense of magic and mystery. The stones sit on a small hill overlooking Loch Roag. The weathering of the rock and moss and lichen make the stones rather beautiful. There are many theories about why they were constructed, some simply outlandish but the most probable ideas link their construction to ritual and observation of the seasons. It was a little busy when we arrived but even so we didn't feel surrounded by crowds.

Callanish

Further north on the coast road are two other historical sites that are worth exploring. Brochs were once common in Scotland but very few now remain. The Dun Carloway broch is probably the best preserved and was built around 2000 years ago. It was a circular fortified house. Historic Scotland are doing their best to preserve Dun Carloway broch which meant it was surrounded by scaffolding when we visited and the site is closed. Nonetheless we were able to walk up to the little hill on which it sits, and walk all around it and, unlike Callanish, we had the place to ourselves.

Dun Caroloway broch

A few miles on is the Gearrannan Blackhouse village. This is a collection of rebuilt and restored blackhouses. These were the traditional homes lived in by many islanders until as recently as the 1950's. They now look rather attractive and some of the homes at Gearrannan are let as holiday homes. The reality is that with earth floors and cramped space, often shared with livestock they were poor quality housing that often contributed to disease. Two of the homes have been opened as museums to give visitors an idea of how life would have been like living in one of these homes. In one there was a loom and a demonstration of Harris tweed weaving.

A restored Lewis blackhouse

Although the Western Isles now seem remote the history and archeology shows their cultures have always been important, connected and influential. Nowadays the islands are served by fast broadband and good mobile phone coverage meaning that islanders are far from isolated from the rest of the UK and still have the opportunity to influence thinking and share ideas.  

We carried on our journey, heading further to the very northernmost part of Lewis - the Butt of Lewis, breaking our journey for lunch at a quirky little cafe in Ness called the Wobbly Dog. I had a bowl of excellent home made spicy soup.

The Wobbly Dog Cafe

Then we drove to the lighthouse at the Butt of Lewis, a brick construction built in 1862 right on the edge of the cliff. The skies had brightened but it was very windy so we kept well clear of the cliff edges. This place has recorded wind gusts of 115 mph! On the small islets just offshore are seabird colonies and we spent some time watching fulmars nesting on the precipitous and rocky outcrops opposite the lighthouse and spotted a solitary seal sharing a rock with a cormorant.

The Butt of Lewis lighthouse

After this I suggested to Mrs B we return all the way back to Gallan Head to purchase some gifts from the Edge Cafe. By now we'd managed to withdraw some cash,so we drove all the back to this remote place, confident we'd be OK when it came to paying for anything that took our fancy. As we drove south the blue skies disappeared and it started to become very wet andd windy. We spotted some highland cows that had decided to take shelter from the elements in one of the old buildings abandoned by the RAF.

Local residents of Gallan Head taking shelter from the elements

The cows seemed to have made a sensible choice given the weather was pretty wild, so we took their lead and headed back to our temporary home and spent a cosy evening planning the next few days.

The weather forecast for the following morning wasn't encouraging, so we headed back to Stornoway to visit the museum at Lews Castle. Its free to enter and has a focus on life in the Western Isles. There were some nice displays all housed in a modern wing attached to the original Victorian building. 

Lews Castle, Stornoway

It also has extensive wooded grounds. As the weather had improved after our museum visit we had a walk and ended up on moorlands on a place improbably called Strawberry Hill, well out of Stornoway before finding our way back to a waymarked path following, this until we had views of Stornoway harbour to guide us back.

After this little excursion I spent the afternoon out walking whilst Mrs B did some reading and painting. I decided to revist Callanish but also explore some of the connected circles on nearby sites. A lot of people are aware of Callanish but fewer know that within a mile or so are two smaller stones circles, imaginatively called Callanish 2 and Callanish 3. Parking at the visitor centre again,  I walked to Callanish 2 and 3 before returning to Callanish 1 - which was surprisingly quiet.

Callanish 1

Callanish 1

Callanish 3

Callanish 2

A little further away, set on on a small hill on a peat bog, is Callanish 4, another stone circle and I walked over peat bog to see it and marvel at just how many  neolithic standing stones and circles, all many thousands of years old,  can be found on the Isle of Lewis. 

Across the road I found an old beehive dwelling, probably a shieling, used for shelter when islanders looked after cattle grazing in the summer on the moorland.

Beehive hut.

I returned back to our base, Mrs B had painted a lovely watercolour of puffins, and we made a meal and then drove down to Bosta beach on Great Bernera. It was a beautiful evening, and in one of those strange coincidences of life, found someone had recreated Callanish stone circle on the beach.

'mini' Callanish

We walked on the sands and across the dunes, enjoying the warmth of the evening sun with aqua marine waves gently lapping at the shore, our only company a few curious sheep. It was a perfect way to end the day. 

Bosta Beach

Having spent a few days exploring Lewis it was time to turn our attention to its southern neighbour, Harris and this would be the focus of our travels for the next few days.