Lewis Island has a lot more things for visitors to do and see.
We visited the Blackhouse Village of Gearrannan on the coast. We could only see the outside of the houses as they had closed for the season. People were living in the houses until the late 60s when the government built council housing for them just down the road. They have been renovated and one of the buildings is a youth hostel while others are shops.
The newspapers here have many stories that say that Great Britain is in a recession following the collapse of several banks. We have found places closed that our guide books say are open all year round. I think they believe there is a recession so they don't stay open!
Further around the island we found the Arnol Blackhouse and were able to go inside it and learn about what it was like to live in a stone house. There was a peat fire smouldering away in the centre of the house and the smoke found its way out of the roof as there was no chimney. A chain and hook hung from the ceiling to hold the cooking pots. The peat had a lovely sweet smell.
There were typically three rooms. The first room was the entry in the centre of the building and the chickens were housed here. At one end was the peat fire with bench seats on two sides. The cooking, eating,dancing and socialising took place here. The bedrooms were box beds built into the wooden walls with curtains for privacy.
At the opposite end of the building were the stables where the cows, sheep, horses and goats were housed. I'm sure no one was a light sleeper in these places.
There are several places where there are standing stones or stone circles similar to those at Stonehenge. These were at Callinish and were discovered when someone was digging the peat that covered them. There were many theories as to what they were used for but probably pagan rituals or worship places.
Stornoway, the largest city on the island was a welcome sight at the end of our island visit. It had so many trees and gardens and was full of colour. We arrived on a Sunday and all the shops were closed and there were not many people about. The islanders are very religious here and observe Sunday as the rest day. We happened upon a petrol station that was open so were able to get some supplies. There were queues out the door and into the rain.
We saw this trailer outside the petrol station waiting to go on the ferry to the mainland with aid supplies for Kososvo.
