When arriving in the Outer Hebrides (the Isles of of Lewis and Harris), the first thing you notice is that there are trees. There were very few trees further north, because the wind is just too fierce. Archeological finds imply that there used to be trees there when the vikings first arrived, but they cut them all to build houses, and they just could not recover in that climate. The winds are not as fierce here, at least in the protected area of Stornoway, the largest settlement on the islands, where we are docked, and there are lovely forested trails.
The other thing you notice right away is that we are no longer in Norse territory, but in the Gaelic part of Scotland. All the signs are in both English and Gaelic, and the names are clearly English (rather than Norwegian). I think this says “Welcome to Stornoway.” The Vikings were here too, but left in the 1200’s, so I guess they had longer to get over it….
I had an excursion planned for noon, so went for a walk in the morning. When I asked the nice woman at the visitor center what there was to see in town she said: "the town is nothing to write home about, but the castle and castle grounds are very nice to walk through." She was right on both counts…..
The town is basically one street, with few buildings of note.
It does have many stores to buy all type of wonderful garments, scarves, bags, and more, made of Harris tweed, because all of Harris tweed is made here (it cannot be be called that if it isn’t). It took a lot for me NOT to buy one of these…. But when do I ever use a purse these days???
The town also has a series of very nice statues dedicated to its fishing past- mostly based on catching and processing herring. This is one of them. (Another one is shown above in the town square).
I enjoyed the locals political POV….
I then walked to the castle, along wooded trails (picture above) and then got quite thoroughly lost along said winding trails…. A nice local woman rescued me and pointed me in the right direction, and walked along with me for a bit discussing life here. She has lived here her all live, went to school in the castle (which became a school after it was in use as a house and before it became a museum). She made life here sound lovely, and indeed, the little town, while not particularly full of tourist attractions seems very livable. I mentioned to her the very large cruise ships that dock here, and asked if things got crazy. She said they didn’t mind those (good for the economy), but did mind the summer tourists who come with big campers on the ferries, because it means the locals are basically unable to get on or off the island for months at a time because all the ferries are booked.
The weather was perfect for getting lost and wandering, enjoying the many (many!) rabbits who scampered away as I walked by,
and the many birds, only one of them (a European robin) stood still long enough for me to take a picture.
The trail provides nice views of the harbor and the town (note the very large Queen Anne cruise ship anchored here too) .
The castle was never built as a defensive place, in spite of the turrets and the walls, but as a house by a rich guy, in the 1800’s.
It was choppy in a fun kind of way.
We drove along the coast discovering the stark and beautiful landscape. (That’s mainland Scotland in the background).
Wildlife proved elusive though, and only one seal was spotted.
At one point, seagulls, guillemots and gannets were in a feeding frenzy, a telltale sign of whale activity underneath. But the whales stubbornly refused to surface. Also, I had set my camera on the wrong setting, so you’ll have to take this poor picture and my word for the fact that it was cool.
On the way back, I got good pictures of the Queen Anne, and of our “little” ship, for comparison. The Queen Anne carries 2000 passengers, ours carries 150….
Every day, there are multiple tours offered. Joe and I picked them several months ago independently and mostly, didn’t pick the same ones (I tend to pick the ones that involve more hiking, he does not…) . That has the advantage that, as a unit, we see more of the sights around.
For instance, Joe got to see the inside of the island, with dramatically different landscapes. He also go to taste more whiskey…. It has the disadvantage of giving the impression that Joe has somehow disappeared….So be relieved! He has not and is having a good time.
I have not mentioned anything about the live music on board yet. Everyday, in the afternoon and evening, there are very good performers entertaining us. And today, we had a local trio perform Ceilidh (pronounced Kay-Lay) music. They were excellent and fun.
So are the ones on the ship, who perform in the lounges, including this odd underwater one…
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