Go west...

Today we hit the west coast of Lewis and what a great day it was.  Didn't get rained on despite the threat.  Scotland is a nation of four seasons in one day but the Outer Hebrides takes that a bit further....four seasons in 15 minutes! 

We turned off before Stornoway and headed past the Calanais standing stones.  If the weather had been vastly different to our visit on Saturday we would have stopped off for a few minutes, but it wasn't so we kept on going to our next stop, Dun Carloway Broch (top left image in extra collage.  Info here.  What an amazing structure.

From there our next stop was Gearrannan Blackhouse Village, another amazing place.  The smell of the peat fires burning in the grates greeted us when we arrived.  It reminded me of my childhood village in autumn when the coal fires would be lit and the scent of the fires heralded the change in season.

The Village is very popular and there were no parking spaces when we arrived but the VERY helpful man looking after the flow of vehicles in the car park soon got a space for us.  He said we had timed our visit perfectly as a coachload of visitors had just left and more were due to arrive.  There's a cruise ship moored in Stornoway so it's been extra busy. 

Sadly the Blackhouse that's been preserved internally (some are holiday lets) isn't wheelchair accessible, but I was happy seeing the village from the outside.  The stone is so beautiful.

As we drove further north we passed the Whale bone arch (discovered by a relative of our friend Mairi in 1920) No pic in my collage but there is pic in the link :-)

From there we headed to the fabulous Breakwater Cafe (can highly recommend :-) just above the harbour at Port of Ness.  Fans of Peter May's Lewis trilogy will know the boathouse at the harbour in Port of Ness is the scene of the murder in The Blackhouse, so when we finished lunch we headed down to take a photo.  The last time we were here we got soaked in a sudden storm before we reached the harbour, so didn't get down.  Delighted to have made it today.  The harbour and the boathouse are the middle shots in the extra. 

From there we headed a few minutes up the road to St Moluag's Church where legend has it that St Moluag, a 6th Century Irish Saint and a contemporary of St Columba, built a chapel here in the 6th Century A.D. and brought Cbristianity to the Isle of Lewis.  

Such a small, unassuming but important building and a place of pilgrimage (see bottom photos in collage in extras) 

From there we went to the most Northerly point in the Outer Hebrides, The Butt Of Lewis, mentioned in the Guiness Book of Records as the windiest place in Britain.  It's certainly very fresh!

The lighthouse was built in 1862 and is very striking.  The surrounding coastline is stunning and dangerous, slippery grass leading to crumbling cliffs so we photographed from a distance.  I've not actually included the lighthouse in my collage in extras but the top right shot of the little bay was taken from the single track road as we headed away from the lighthouse. 

And then it was time to head back to Harris with the weather continuing to give us four seasons within minutes!

We ate so much lovely food in the Breakwater cafe, none of us could face dinner!  Wine for D & P and G&T for me, with some crisps, then later toast for D and granola for me.

And I planned to spend the rest of the evening editing my photos from today and the ones left over from yesterday, but my lap top is telling me my processing storage is full (think this is the same as scratch disks being full) so I have no processing power left.  It's driving me nuts!  Think I will have to contact Apple Support for advice, otherwise to will be phone shots for blips for the rest of the holiday :-(

Anyhoo another lovely day.  Every time I think about leaving here on Friday I get emotional, so trying to put it to the back of my mind.  We still have three full days to enjoy.