Day11- Stornoway

The weather yesterday was pretty dreich and miserable by Lowland standards and even I suspect by the Western Isles standards. Only the beaches cut through the gloom with their bays of white sands, none more than the huge swathe of glowing golden sand fringing a bay of turquoise sea at Uig.

We lunched at the museum at Timsgearraidh while watching a film about the rigours of life on St Kilda, and dined royally at Carnais in an auberge overlooking Uig Bay. The French chef gave us a magnificent meal and one that we will remember along with the fine dining at Hamersay House at Lochmaddy and Langass Lodge near Clachan.
Well done to the Outer Isles for superb cuisine.

Today we have made it to Stornoway with a car that is losing power on the hills and worrying His Lordship enough that he now wants to get back to the mainland without it dying on us here.

Unfortunately that means we miss a drive up to Port of Ness, and a visit to the Bridge to Nowhere, featured in a book by Peter May, but we did manage a visit to the Black House village at Gearrannan in Carloway while en route here and it was fascinating to know that it was still inhabited as late as 1974.

We have wandered round Stornoway, a veritable metropolis in comparison to the villages we have passed in our 11 days on the Islands, and had the pleasure of listening to primary school pupils in the Arts Centre practising their Gaelic singing for the Mod.

If we have time we will try and visit Lews Castle, seen here in my blip.