Island hopping

Once again we find ourselves a few days behind in the blog. Since the last post we have done our best to fit as much in to a day as possible but as we close in on the finish line we can only dream of a few days in Dunalley doing absolutely nothing....

Our first stop was the Isle of Lewis off the west coast of Scotland in the Outer Hebrides, we were keen to check out the standing stones at Calanais on the other side of the Island from where the ferry docked at Stornaway. Not really a problem given the size of the island but it was definitely on a single vehicle track road with mostly conveniently placed, passing points. The stones themselves were pretty impressive. There were three main sites but as we have discovered there are sites dotted all over the Uk and Ireland. The origin and design are not clear but there are similarities to others but little is known. They were predominantly covered in Peat prior to being dug out and protected for future generations. We did all three sites as they were easily accessible and free......

Next stop was a Broche Round House ruin just up the road. An amazing example of Medieval architecture. All that is left is a shell of a building but still enough to give us an insight into the construction techniques including the twin walled rock structure with internal staircases and storage spaces. We finished the day with a wander through the Black House Village and a return to the port of Stornoway via a Northern loop of the island.

Leaving Lewis and heading to the Isle of Harris you would expect to travel over a bridge or via a ferry to transit from one Island to another but there was no distinction between the two “islands” other than a sign in the road on the mountain. Even the local tourist agency was unable to fill us in on why the two names were given for a single island! The only differentiation we were able to find was that Harris comes from a Gaelic word for mountains and there certainly is that differentiation between Lewis - largely flat and Harris _ very mountainous and hilly. We found ourselves driving from sea level to mountain top and back to sea level within minutes. The Isle of Harris is where Harris Tweed comes from, in fact, it can only be called Harris tweed if it is made on the Island. (given the fact I own a Range Rover it would be wrong of me not to get some appropriate attire for driving around Dunalley) We visited a Tweed shop in Stornoway as well as an exhibition centre on the History of Harris Tweed and it turned out to be a good decision because had we waited until we got to Harris we would have been even more disappointed than we were as one of the weavers (Yes there are many individual weavers who work from home under licence had passed away) so all the retail outlets and weaving showrooms were closed for the day!

Our accommodation on Harris was an old seaside fisherman’s cottage of the shore beside a small bay in Manish. Great little place but no windows on the shore side meaning you would have to sit outside in order to appreciate the rugged beauty of the bay. Too bloody cold and wet for that! But they did provide some outdoor chairs!

Early start for the 6.20 ferry that was 20 minutes up the road in pitch black on one of the windiest and narrow single lane roads ever known to mankind. (It is locally known as the Golden Road due to the cost to build but seriously it is one lane wide and follows the natural landscape. ) Plenty of sheep to navigate (not that they were at all bothered - mostly didn’t move) but thankfully no other cars. On arrival at the ferry terminal we got the text message from the ferry company that our sailing had been delayed by 2 hours.... Yep, our isolated accommodation was also without phone or wifi so we didn’t get the memo that everyone else had received. The town of Tarbert has a pub a grocery shop and a few Harris Tweed outlets but of course none of that is going to help you at 6.30 in the morning. We convinced the manager of the pub to get us a coffee and a bacon sandwich around 7.30 so at least we had something to eat and kill a bit of time.

Isle of Skye

The ferry comes in to Uig in the North and our accomodation is a little over half way down the East Coast at Broadford so the best option is to take in as much of the North and East as possible to avoid backtracking the following day. 1st stop the Fairy Glen for a lovely walk around some small mountains, very scenic but obviously a few other tourists around to get in the way of your photos. En-route to the Kilt Waterfall we stumbled on an Ironage farm structure - actually for storage - that hadn’t been in any of our guide books but it was discovered by a farmer when the tractor wheel broke through a lintel in a paddock and then followed a community project to dig it out and open it up for us to visit. Just a donation and no one anywhere to be seen. Unfortunately the rains that have been playing havoc on us lately had found there way into the entrance so that was as far as we got. Apparently it is 15 metres long and varies between 800 and 1500 mm high so we would have had to crawl through the mud in order to get inside. Next time! 

Kilt Waterfall was great although i did lose my sh*t with another tourist who pinched my car park so i gave him a serve and then put it behind me. 

Next was a scenic walk to an old site where they mined minerals used in production of dynamite, great little walk and very scenic but..... rain! And by the time we got back to the car we were soaked, bugger.

A little further down the road and just starting to dry out we came across the mountainous “old man of Stor” - an outcrop of basalt rock structures off to the side of the road but up a hill, do we or don’t we? It was only a Km, but it looked like more showers were coming. Bugger it, lets do it! Kilometre my ass, it had to be at least two miles and most of it uphill. 3/4 of the way up and the rains were getting stronger and the track looked never ending. We don’t normally let things beat us but i think we made the right decision to turn back. Lovely dinner at a seafood restaurant called Cleeries near the airbnb ( with a fire) and two weary little bodies but a great day out.

Day 2 on Skye was more adventure. The mountains are incredible and very reminiscent of Norway but the roads do take some getting used to.  We explored the main township of Portree - it didn’t take long as there really isn’t much to it, and then we headed west to take in a walk out to Coral Beach - underwhelming but it got us moving.

Time for a whisky? Talisker Whisky Distillery is the only on the island but they give a good tour and you get to taste/buy some samples and it killed a bit of time. Finally we headed out to the Fairy Ponds for a walk, more rain, and it was getting late but what the heck, its only a 30 minute walk each way! Stunning and you can only imagine what it might be like in the middle of summer as the waterfalls and crystal clear water which were actually shades of green/blue due to the mineral content were beautiful under the grey skies. I have actually been checking out the “shades of Grey” lately as we have certainly had our fair share of grey skies, seas, buildings etc over the last week. Back to the same restaurant again for dinner as we enjoyed it the night before and were just too tired to cook.

Another early start in order to get down to the bottom of the island for the 10.30 ferry, unfortunately the rain meant our early start was a bit wasted as there was no stopping and very little to see due to the conditions. An interesting Ferry trip and thankfully reasonably short at 45 minutes as it was rough and the ferry was being hammered by waves. I think we made the right decision to stay in the car.

Back to mainland Scotland and we are heading off on another of their scenic tourist routes with the end point being Fort William. The weather again was rainy and grey but the scenery didn’t disappoint. Not the greatest for photos but beautiful just there same. We stopped at Glenfinnan for a short walk (about 30 min each way) to view the train viaduct, still in use and featured in one of the Harry Potter films. Some lovely views along the way including of a monument to Bonnie Prince Charlie. 

Our stop for the night was a hotel in Fort William that looked far better in the photos than reality! The town was billed as the outdoor capital of the UK and it is where you would come if you were intending to climb Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK. It is surrounded by some spectacular scenery. But the town itself does. Not take long to explore and there were much better outdoor shops in Snowdonia. 

Next day, another tourist route that would take us through Loch Lomond national park enroute to Glasgow. A couple of photo stops along the way including an attempt, despite the weather the capture the beautiful reflections in the loch. A short stop in Luss on Loch Lomond for lunch and a look around before continuing on to Glasgow and another airbnb appartment on the river Clyde for the next three nights.

First day we decided to spend touring. First stop - “the Kelpies” - two spectacular metal sculptures of horses. Very impressive. They are part of a much larger complex of tourist attractions. Time restraints only allowed for photos before we continued on as we had two castles we need to bag! Next stop Stirling Castle - another castle that features very prominently in Scottish history. It’s early history saw lots of battles and serges, then once abandoned by kings and queens the military took over and gutted much of it because it might make the soldiers”soft”. It has since been taken into car by Historic Scotland and quite a bit of restoration has been completed. Great job!

Next stop Doune Castle - the site of some of the filming of Monty Python’s Holy Grail and the series “Outlander” as well as another new Netflix series on Robert the Bruce. The audio guide commentary was done by one of the Monty Python crew and was very entertaining including some short clips from the python skits as well as some bits of commentary bu non other than “Jamie Fraser” of Outlander fame. Very entertaining. Great visit.

Back to our accommodation for a bit of reorganisation, booking of the last of our accommodation and a night in!

Tomorrow- Glasgow city!