Toodling around Lewis

Monday is our day for driving around the Isle of Lewis. It's not a big island. But there's no reason to hurry either. And there are plenty of amazing sights to enjoy. We take our borrowed car and negotiate a couple of backwards traffic circles. Very soon we're deep in the countryside.

We head to the northern tip of the island, to a place affectionately called "The Butt of Lewis." Not far from the lighthouse, there is a beautiful beach (Port Stoth) with the bluest ocean north of Puerto Rico. We enjoy a picnic in the white sands, and I take a thousand pictures.

Circling south along the coast, we visit a quilt shop and a rather random standing stone. It's adjacent to a working-class farmhouse, and looks like it was dropped out of a space ship.

Through the moors, there are occasional sections where the soil has been cut. This is how the traditional folks cut the peat, which they cut in precise blocks and dry as fuel. It's a lot of work, but the fuel source is free to anybody who wishes to work for it.

Continuing south, we arrive at the Blackhouse Village of Gearrannan. This is a small settlement of traditional croft (farm) homes which have been lovingly restored by the local community. The homes were inhabited until about thirty years ago. They sat unoccupied for ten years after the final residents (three spinster sisters) passed on.

The local folks decided to keep the heritage alive, and began a historic preservation association. It's possible to book a room, and a number of youth groups "camp" in the hostel which has been established in one of the blackhouses.

After the blackhouses, we continue driving to the Calanais Standing Stones -- to enjoy them by daylight and to read the interpretive displays. The stones are still a bit spooky. They are shaped in the form of a Celtic cross. That's striking, since they were here for two or three thousand years before the crucifixion of Christ.

Like I wrote before: this collection of stones is one of those Unsolved Mysteries on the planet.

We head back to Stornoway again, crossing the peaty moors and doing our best to keep the car on the left side of the road. Dinner is at a Thai restaurant; it's every bit as fine as our favorite place in Manhattan.