To the Hebrides and Back

We left Kinlochbervie for Loch Inver - another tiny fishing village, with a fairly new pontoon.  There was also a fantastic laundry / shower facility, but unfortunately the Building Inspector, locally known as 'Stop the Job Bob' had failed to inspect it and so it couldn't be opened!

The highlight of the place seemed to be the walking, so off we went - Zilla happy - the scenery was lovely, very like the Alps. We even came across a deer.

Although I do think it looks a lot like a giraffe!

We left Loch Inver for the Hebrides - we did see porpoises, but for the first time on our trip we did have to act like the rest of the 'sailing' fraternity here, and Motor Sail!  There was very little wind - we motored for about 12nm of the 40nm crossing.

Then - the Hebrides.  First impressions were fantastic:  The port of Stornoway has loads of old fashioned charm,



There is a very active fishing fleet, although in some cases it was certainly a testiment to the quality of yesteryear that the boats were still afloat, much less actually working fishing boats!!

The picture was completed with the harbour seals, who followed the fishing fleet in and checked out the visiting yachts.

Friday evening saw the arrival of my sister, Rose Anne, all the way from Sunny Jersey.  Sadly she did not bring the weather with her (or maybe she did?) but no sooner had she set foot on the boat when it started to rain.  Lots.

Undeterred we hired a car and went to check out the island - Stornoway is on the biggest Hebridean Island, Lewis, which is approximately 40 miles long with one main road that runs up the West coast and a couple more roads across it.



Ditches where peat has been dug

As we drove round, we became aware that the place is deserted - there are some houses, almost without exception grey and pebbledashed, but we hardly saw a soul.  It was a very bleak place. There was great excitement in the car when we saw a sign for the Tourist Information Office - It did not quite live up to our expectations!!

 There were however some great highlights in our tour:

The Callanish Standing Stones - they have been standing there for 3 to 4,000 years which makes them older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids.

The Carloway Broch - a round house, dating from 100 to 300BC with cavity wall containing spiral staircase!

Then we came across a gentleman actually digging the peat - he was very chatty, clearly thrilled to find other people to talk to, and wanted to explain the finer points of peat digging!  An involved process - the peat takes ages to dry.  We could have explained that the constant rain probably wasn't helping, but he was enjoying himself too much to interrupt!

The North of the island was really beautiful - We would definately sailed to Port Ness if only it had been several metres deeper!

Port Ness was a real highlight, as it even had a Cafe - owned by an Australian from Wogga Wogga! 

Diversification!  The Tiumpan Head Lighthouse building is now a Kennel and Cattery.

Stornoway did have a great Castle, we couldn't go inside as it was now structurally unsound, something to do with one of the previous owners removing several supporting walls to make a ballroom.  No 'Stop the Job Bobs' around in those days - it was a real highlight, and had 170,000 acres of parkland open to the public.  Despite the rain, we went to check it out - it had fishing streams, coast path and was great for dog walking.

And it is still raining

Rose Anne flew back to Jersey on Monday and the sun came back out.  She probably gets enough sun in Jersey anyway - and no one goes to the Outer Hebrides for the weather.  In fact, very few people seem to go there at all.

We crossed back over the Minch on Monday - to Loch Gairloch.  Very beautiful.

Loch Gairloch - cunningly concealed.

The harbour is still used by a small fishing fleet, but there are also wildlife cruises and lots of walkers here.

This is the catch:  large prawns, or langoustine, are caught in creels (like lobster pots but with two entrances) and stored boxes similar to wine boxes - in this way they are stored alive, if they are not kept separated they fight to the death and there would only be one very well fed prawn left!

Etoile - the only yacht in the village!

And to finish - another view of the Loch.  The water really is a bright turquoise colour - we were impressed with this, but the prawn fisherman rather spoilt the image by explaining that the colour was due to an algal bloom!