Harris trip...
08th June 2010
In: Trips...
I've been wanting to get back to the Western Isles for some time now and on the spur of the moment I arranged a week's self catering on Harris, booked the ferries, arranged my hotel either end of the week in Uig on Skye at the Uig Hotel, run by a South African couple Wendy & Bill and their family. My night on the way out was great nice crisp sheets on the bed and a clean room, dinner was a splendid start to an Island trip in Scotland. Oysters to start and then hand dived scallops, yummy. Sadly when I got over the sea to Harris my accomodation at Borvemor, Scarista was not so special, the bed was crisp and fresh and that was pretty much the best of it. I won't be back there.
So next day up at dawn and found some light in the sky, nothing magical but the day got better and I wandered the beaches and byways of the island, it's a very special part of the Islands of Scotland. The air is full of the sound of thundering waves which over the millions of years smashed the shells and produced the white sand which all the beaches are covered with. Dark clouds seemed to be the order of the day & that was fine for me, moody sky and brilliant sand makes for good images. Scarista, Luskentyre, a trip to the south end of the the island at Rodal, a couple of days later I visited the North end at the Butt of Lewis and found some great cliffs alive with sea birds and more crashing waves. The drop from the front of the lighthouse to the sea is sheer and quite deep, not for the faint hearted. Some kind soul had put a pole in concrete at the best place for a shot looking down the cliff, it was very reassuring to have it to lean on.
I discovered a road which runs West from just North of Tarbert across the mountains to a beach where the road ends at Huisinis, I never quite got there, but the journey along the road was something to remember. I found a tennis court, yes that's right a tennis court in the middle of nowhere, a few miles on and up an almost impossible hill and the local school sits looking down to the water. How many children had daydreamed looking out these windows on a warm summers day of places far away as the seabirds flew past the class windows, and the teacher's voice became a quiet drone in the background, & your eyelids drooped over some half remembered scene from TV or the internet.
If you think that the internet is the plaything of the city children, think again the world wide web has opened the doors and windows to children around the world who live "behind the back of beyond". The girls in Tarbert and Stornoway and Leverburgh are all wearing the latest gear bought from the WWW sites we use too. Even the boys have their jeans slung ridiculously low, or some of them anyway.
I suppose it's easy for visitors to tumble off the ferries with our expectations of this and that, but the people who live here all the year round are decent people, very religious by and large, the churches are full on Sundays and almost everything commercial is closed. Sunday isn't a day to go shopping, or fill the fridge for the week ahead. You go to Church and you don't hang your washing out, ever on a Sunday.
I did a bit of everything on Harris, I cooked most of my own meals, I tried to buy as much of my food on the Island, they have great meat, fish and seafood, you have to find the seafood in the shops, I personally prefer the Stornoway black pudding to the Harris version, but the local sausages are great and their steaks too. Fresh eggs, local bread most of all the conversation. If you're nice to them they're nice to you. Driving on the islands is an education, you get used to the vagaries of single track roads quite quickly. You remember the roads well and get to know where the single track has a passing place, normally where it's needed, the occasional problem arrives when somebody decided they have the right of way and not you. Normally common sense prevails. Some of the older folks on the Islands drive in fog with no lights on, or worse with side lights on, because they can see. Normally the system works a dream you only meet where there's a passing place... if you time it right and look well ahead.
So there you are my thoughts on my visit. Yes I'll be back but I'll find better accomodation next time. Use the facilities on the islands they have good shops, well spaced out but good and well stocked. Just remember you're not walking into Tesco, these are real people and good people, please be kind to them and you'll have a wonderful visit.
Edit: I always take towels and all the things we take for granted, a spare loo roll, kitchen roll, salt & pepper, your favourite sauce, coffee, tea bags, washing up liquid, and some washing powder tabs. A couple of pots and pans, a wee frying pan so that you have a nice fried egg with your breakfast, fill your car tank to the brim, fuel is always more expensive (+10 pence a litre) on the islands.
Go to the islands and enjoy, it's superb, you walk out your front door and smell fresh air that's travelled all the way from America across the Atlantic Ocean, washed by the winds.
All images are in the gallery...Lewis & Harris
ENJOY.
So next day up at dawn and found some light in the sky, nothing magical but the day got better and I wandered the beaches and byways of the island, it's a very special part of the Islands of Scotland. The air is full of the sound of thundering waves which over the millions of years smashed the shells and produced the white sand which all the beaches are covered with. Dark clouds seemed to be the order of the day & that was fine for me, moody sky and brilliant sand makes for good images. Scarista, Luskentyre, a trip to the south end of the the island at Rodal, a couple of days later I visited the North end at the Butt of Lewis and found some great cliffs alive with sea birds and more crashing waves. The drop from the front of the lighthouse to the sea is sheer and quite deep, not for the faint hearted. Some kind soul had put a pole in concrete at the best place for a shot looking down the cliff, it was very reassuring to have it to lean on.
I discovered a road which runs West from just North of Tarbert across the mountains to a beach where the road ends at Huisinis, I never quite got there, but the journey along the road was something to remember. I found a tennis court, yes that's right a tennis court in the middle of nowhere, a few miles on and up an almost impossible hill and the local school sits looking down to the water. How many children had daydreamed looking out these windows on a warm summers day of places far away as the seabirds flew past the class windows, and the teacher's voice became a quiet drone in the background, & your eyelids drooped over some half remembered scene from TV or the internet.
If you think that the internet is the plaything of the city children, think again the world wide web has opened the doors and windows to children around the world who live "behind the back of beyond". The girls in Tarbert and Stornoway and Leverburgh are all wearing the latest gear bought from the WWW sites we use too. Even the boys have their jeans slung ridiculously low, or some of them anyway.
I suppose it's easy for visitors to tumble off the ferries with our expectations of this and that, but the people who live here all the year round are decent people, very religious by and large, the churches are full on Sundays and almost everything commercial is closed. Sunday isn't a day to go shopping, or fill the fridge for the week ahead. You go to Church and you don't hang your washing out, ever on a Sunday.
I did a bit of everything on Harris, I cooked most of my own meals, I tried to buy as much of my food on the Island, they have great meat, fish and seafood, you have to find the seafood in the shops, I personally prefer the Stornoway black pudding to the Harris version, but the local sausages are great and their steaks too. Fresh eggs, local bread most of all the conversation. If you're nice to them they're nice to you. Driving on the islands is an education, you get used to the vagaries of single track roads quite quickly. You remember the roads well and get to know where the single track has a passing place, normally where it's needed, the occasional problem arrives when somebody decided they have the right of way and not you. Normally common sense prevails. Some of the older folks on the Islands drive in fog with no lights on, or worse with side lights on, because they can see. Normally the system works a dream you only meet where there's a passing place... if you time it right and look well ahead.
So there you are my thoughts on my visit. Yes I'll be back but I'll find better accomodation next time. Use the facilities on the islands they have good shops, well spaced out but good and well stocked. Just remember you're not walking into Tesco, these are real people and good people, please be kind to them and you'll have a wonderful visit.
Edit: I always take towels and all the things we take for granted, a spare loo roll, kitchen roll, salt & pepper, your favourite sauce, coffee, tea bags, washing up liquid, and some washing powder tabs. A couple of pots and pans, a wee frying pan so that you have a nice fried egg with your breakfast, fill your car tank to the brim, fuel is always more expensive (+10 pence a litre) on the islands.
Go to the islands and enjoy, it's superb, you walk out your front door and smell fresh air that's travelled all the way from America across the Atlantic Ocean, washed by the winds.
All images are in the gallery...Lewis & Harris
ENJOY.
