Thursday 22/08/13
The drive through the
rest of Skye and down through the Scottish highlands was awesome –
photographs won’t do it justice. It was a long drive since we took
the windy route down along Loch Lomond and then over to Stirling to
view Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument. Passing south to
Falkirk, we viewed the Falkirk wheel. It was too late in the day to
enter any of these last places even if we had wanted to pay for this
or to see the Falkirk wheel in operation. Then on to Glasgow for a
late dinner and a night in a rather cramped room in Charing Cross
Guest House right in the centre of the city. Not classy! But we are
enjoying sampling the varied accommodation and hospitality as well as
the quite different types of towns and cities.
Wednesday 21/08/13
We drove south through
the Isle of Lewis and then through north and south Harris. It was
cloudy and drizzly while we travelled through the rugged and
impressive area of north Harris, but when we got to south Harris it
turned fine – a few fluffy clouds and blue skies. Quite beautiful
but rugged scenery – granite rock everywhere in South Harris. There
are some nice beaches on the west coast of south Harris but New
Zealand has plenty just as nice.
At the tip of South
Harris is the St Clement’s church – an empty ruin still in decent
condition.
We got back to the
ferry, located between north and south Harris, on time for our 4:00
sailing; reporting was 45 minutes prior to sailing, similar to the NZ
ferries. It was a beautiful, smooth ride to Uig, Skye. We then drove
through country which was the closest to New Zealand that we have yet
seen – high hills covered with green grass – only the granite
showing through at places giving away that we were not it New
Zealand.
Tuesday 20/08/13
We viewed local sites
in Stornoway – a bit of a relief after yesterday – and also drove
out to the tip of the Eye Peninsula on which we were staying. Just
about every information site where we stop we’ve bought a book of
some sort. We’ll have to share these out.
In
the evening we had tea with Bethany and Ewan Finlayson, a young
married couple (now with a first child) who had visited our church in
Oamaru last year when they were working/visiting New Zealand for
three months. It turned out they live near Stornoway less than two
miles from our host family, the Macivers! We had haggis, neeps and
tatties (turnips and potatoes). Can’t say we liked the haggis – a
sticky, heavy, peppery mince with a small amount of oats in it and
some onion. Ewan said it should have had more oats and thus been less
sticky.
Monday 19/08/13
Today we travelled to
the various places of interest on the west and northwest coast of the
Isle of Lewis: Calanais Stones (huge stones along the lines of
Stonehenge but without so many specific ideas about their pattern and
purpose), historic blackhouses of crofters, a broch (double-walled
stone dwelling and defence structure – the brochs had quite an
amazing construction), an old Norse mill and kiln, an old church
right on the coast near the top tip of the island, and then the Butt
of Lewis itself with its historic lighthouse. At each stop the fierce
piercing wind and some showers made for very cold sightseeing; I
didn’t quite bring enough wraps (on the day trip) to handle this,
but I’ve recovered.
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