Callanish Stones, Isle of Lewis, Scotland

Today has been another long and full day. Awake at 4am we left the hotel at 4.30am and got to the Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis an hour before sunrise. We were the only people there and it was quite special to be standing at these mystical and spiritual stones at sunrise - which was quite colourful but not spectacular.

We got back for breakfast by 9am, and then after breakfast we drove back to Lewis to visit the various shielings (little herdsman houses) as seen in the first extra. It was sunny but there was a cold wind today, which was very gusty at times. We continued driving throughout Lewis, and eventually stopped to eat our packed lunch, which we ate in the car as it was too gusty outside. After our lunch we went to the beach at Uig - what a huge, unspoilt beach. There were many areas where there were no footsteps and the sand was showing beautiful patterns caused by the tides and winds, as can be seen in my second extra. The beaches on these islands are so beautiful, definitely the star attraction here. 

Then we went on to the Mangersta sea stacks (last extra) where it was so windy we had to hang on to our tripods and not get too close to the cliff edge in fear of being blown off! The light on the sea was so lovely we spent some time there until the shadows started to come in. On our drive back to the hotel in Tarbert we stopped off to photograph some reflections on a loch as the sun was going down.

We got back to the hotel at 7.30pm, it has been a very long and tiring day. We had a chance to freshen up before going in to supper. The hotel is rather tired and in need of a refurbishment (my shower is awful, it goes from cold to scalding hot with a trickle of pressure!) but the staff are very friendly and the food is good and wholesome.

I have not had any down time so I apologise for not getting a chance to look at journals. Tomorrow, it will be cloudy so (thankfully) we are not getting up at 4am for a sunrise - we can sleep in and are having breakfast before heading out for the day. We are all feeling very tired!