Yesterday I hired a car and explored Lewis and Harris. Today I am heading off to sea as it has calmed a bit and there is a short window of opportunity to get south before the next gale. That said, the Met Office has issued a strong wind warning for this area today (which it hadn't last night) so we'll have to see what it's like. But if I don't go now I'll be here for another week.

The Vikings came in yesterday. The lifeboat behind them is 56 feet long so their longboat must be 80 - 100 feet. Quite substantial. They only came in for a short visit, it doesn't take long to do a spot of pillaging.

Here are my Lewis and Pix:

 

 Glorious beach near the north of Harris:

The sea at the Butt of Lewis, which counter-intuitively is the top, not the bottom:

Peat still being dug on Lewis:

The old black house at Arnol:

The estate agent's blurb would have been interesting. Here is the main living/dining area. No-one had thought of chimneys at this point. Or maybe the smoke saved them money on fags. I'll bet it killed the midges though.

The master bedroom (note en-suite under the chair):

And the guest bedroom, guests being mostly bovine:

The standing stones at a rather misty Calanais (Callanish):

Harris is more rugged than Lewis: