Onwards - not back again
Another lovely day dawned and after breakfast and packing the camping gear onto the tractor it was off to the ferry terminal where the ticket pickup went without a hitch.
Shortly after I had got everything sorted out I discovered that I was not to be travelling alone. Unsurprising really, like a bad smell, there’s always a tosser lurking close by. Enter (stage left) one ‘Gimlet’ of this un-club and his better half on heavily laden, very pretty, red 1100
The ferry manoeuvred into position at the end of the jetty and we were soon loaded and off to leave Loch Broom and cross the Sea of the Hebrides to the Isle of Lewis and Harris
We left on time about half ten and by one we were approaching the Isle of Lewis and Harris.
We had been talking about what to do when we got off the ferry (yes OK – ride motorbikes, I know). It turned out I was on a slightly tighter time scale than Mr & Mrs Gimlet who had the week. whereas I was on the Wednesday ferry to Oban.
We decided to stick together for Monday but that I would strike out on my own on Tuesday to be sure of reaching the ferry port Tuesday night for my ferry departure on Wednesday. Neither of us having been to the Western Isles before we were not really sure of travelling times, road types etc.
Gimlet had the GPS as mine was not working so I followed him out of Stornoway and we headed up to the north end of the island following the dotted route until it meets our later route where we turned north.
Our first port of call was to be the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse, as far north as I was to get on this trip. We got there about 2:15, parked up and went for a wander round.
Clear seas, rocks showing all their folds and buckling. Someone said the rocks here are the oldest in the world. Not sure about that, but you could sure see lots about the geology and rock structure.
The grass was sprinkled with a dusting of pink flowers. No idea what they were but perhaps some botanical tosser (there must be one) can say what they are.
If you’re going to jump, can I have the bike? Just wait a sec while I set up the camera…
Better get a picture of the lighthouse in here somewhere. Below and left of the lighthouse you can make out Mr&Mrs G. A real people oriented picture huh?
If I had stepped back much further I would have been down there. Beautiful clear seas.
After half an hour or so we ambled off heading south towards Harris.
This was the view south on Lewis, tiny spec in distance on road, Gimlet’s bike, lump on the horizon = mountainous area of Harris to the south. Also, note small village to right of road.
Outside the villages, a lot of Lewis is like this, flat, empty, with lots of evidence of peat cutting (not in this pic though)
We pulled over at Steinacleit to examine one of the many prehistoric remains around the island.
From Steinacleit we followed the main road south until we reached Callanish where we wanted to see the famous standing stones (see earlier map). From the flatness of the northern half of the island (Lewis), we were moving into more lumpy scenery in the southern half of the island (Harris). I never quite figured out where one ended and the other began, still, you could see a difference.
We arrived at Callanish about 5pm and after a cup of tea and a snack walked up the hill to see the stones. I was impressed. They did seem to have a certain something about them. I think it comes across in the pictures.
We left Callanish about 5:30 and I was looking at the map and thinking I needed to get a bit further south and find somewhere to stop to be sure of getting a ferry in the morning because if I just missed a sailing it would be two hours before the next one.
We pressed on and as we returned towards Stornoway and turned south, the scenery became more dramatic.
We followed the road you can see in the following picture – nice
About this time we spotted a sign for a hotel and although we had camping gear we had not seen any campsites and were a bit unsure about whether wild camping would be OK near the main road. We tried them (Loch Erisort) but they were fully booked and told us that a lot of accommodation would be but that we might be lucky in Tarbert. We cracked on riding along a really nice mountain road and reached Tarbert sometime around 7 (I think) and set about finding somewhere to stay. I ended up in a single in one hotel down by the harbour while the other two were in a B&B overlooking the west loch.
I walked back past the east loch up to the main hotel in the town and met the others for a meal.
Gimlet wasn’t hungry
He left everything he didn’t like
After that, time for a wee dram and off to ma bed.
More soon,
TP
