Voyage of the Vikings Redux – Stornoway, Isle of Lewis

Cruise Day 22

Saturday, August 12, 2023

Today we are visiting the Isle of Lewis, an island off the northwest coast of Scotland.  The Isle of Lewis is part of the Outer Hebrides Island group.  We will be docking in Stornoway, and it is another tender port as there is not a dock large enough for a ship of our size.  We have never been to the Isle of Lewis before, so we are looking forward to this visit.

We traveled north from Belfast (blue marker at bottom) to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis (red marker at the top).

The Isle of Lewis is actually the northern part of Lewis and Harris, and although they are often referred to as if they are the Isle of Lewis and the Isle of Harris, they are not two separate islands.  They are almost two islands, but there is a very narrow isthmus connecting them.  Lewis is the most populated and is about two thirds of Lewis and Harris.  Harris is much more rural and rugged and more isolated and takes up the other third of the island.  Stornoway is the capital and largest city of Lewis and Harris.

We weren’t scheduled to arrive until 10:00 AM, but we were up at eight as we are on a tour today that was scheduled to leave right after we arrived.  It was raining outside, and the prediction was for rain most of the day, with some possible clearing in the afternoon so we got our rain gear out and prepared for a rainy day.

In every port we visit, there is always a pilot who knows the local waters to guide the ship into the dock or anchorage and out again when it leaves.  This is the pilot boat delivering the pilot to our ship.  The pilot is the person in yellow and this is the most dangerous part of his job.  He has to get from the small boat along side the big ship and grab hold of a unsecured ladder to make his way up and onto the ship.

The pilot boat has delivered the pilot and is headed back to shore.  When we leave port tonight, the pilot will have gotten on already and the pilot boat will follow and pick him up when we get to open seas.

Our first look at Stornoway.

The first tender heads ashore.

Today we are on a ship excursion called “Hebridean Time Travel” that is eight hours long and will take us to Harris and the very southern part of the island.  We made our way to the World Stage to wait for our tour to be called and after a bit of a wait while the tenders were being readied, we were on our way to shore.  It was raining when we left the ship, but we had our rain gear on, so we stayed dry.

A detailed look at Lewis and Harris.  The red marker is Stornoway where we are docked and the other markers are our planned stops in Harris today.  The blue marker is right on the isthmus that separates Harris from Lewis.

We got on our bus and before long everyone was there except for two people and our departure was delayed until they arrived.  Unfortunately, when tendering is involved, there are often delays with people getting ashore which then delays the tours.

We were finally on our way about 45 minutes late and drove out of Stornoway under cloudy and rainy skies.  Our guide gave us some history as we drove through the small town, and we learned that the island has a very thin layer of topsoil and that very few trees grow here.  There were quite a few trees in Stornoway and we learned that the Lady Matherson, the wife of Sir James Matheson, the British owner of the island back in the mid 1800’s, had topsoil brought in by filling the empty ships returning from bringing goods to the mainland with topsoil as ballast.  How they loaded and unloaded and got enough is a puzzle to me, but the large number of trees in the area is proof that it works.

As we got out of town, the scenery changed into a stark landscape with no trees, but grass, peat and heather covered the area and it was very beautiful, it’s a shame the sun wasn’t out.  As it was in the Shetland Islands, much of the land is peat bogs so there is not much growing of crops, but there are some cattle being raised, but what we mostly saw was sheep.

We spent a lot of time on the bus today so there are a lot of pictures taken from the bus.  You can see why they don't grow many crops on the island.  It is very rocky and under the shallow layer of grass is peat that you can't grow anything in (but it is great fuel for fireplaces and wood stoves).

 

This is Horgabost Beach where we will be stopping at the campground at the far end of the beach.

It was a long drive, and it was almost an hour’s drive to our first stop.  Along the way we crossed the narrow isthmus separating Lewis from Harris and passed into Lewis and surprisingly, the rain had stopped, and we had some blue sky and even a little sun.  Our first stop was Horgabost Beach (the black marker with a camera symbol), a beautiful white sand beach with blue and turquoise water making for a beautiful setting.  It was also a camping spot for the local people, so we had to walk down to the beach as our bus was just too big to drive down there.  It was just a very nice place, especially since the rain had stopped.

The campers had to share their campsites with grazing cattle, but it was a beautiful place to camp and plenty of room for all.

This stop also turned into a bit of a debacle for the women on the tour.  This was also a bathroom stop and when we arrived, the women’s bathroom was being cleaned and the cleaning lady would not let anyone in.  There was a single, handicap bathroom, so the women ended up in line waiting for that bathroom for most of the time while we were at the beach.  They tried to get the cleaning lady to allow partial use and she wasn’t budging and being pretty nasty about it.  When we got back on the bus, our tour guide apologized profusely about this and said she had spoken to the camp manager and he had said this shouldn’t have happened and spoke to the cleaning lady, but this didn’t help the ladies on this trip.  It may not seem like too big of a deal, but restrooms are rare and far apart in this area and most of the ladies on this tour, including Val, spent most of their time at this stop waiting in line.

From there, we drove to the southern end of Harris to St. Clement’s Church (the black marker with a cross), a very old church that was built around 1500.  We got out and walked through the church and surrounding area.  The church itself was somewhat interesting mostly because it was so old, but the surrounding area was beautiful.  The weather continued to be kind to us, and it had actually turned warm enough to not wear our jackets.

A few more pictures from the bus as we drove to the southern end of Harris.

Although we saw cattle at the campground, we mostly saw sheep.

There was even a golf course out in the middle of nowhere, but Scotland is famous for its love of golf.

 

St. Clement’s Church

Some pictures of the church and the surrounding area.

Some of our group and also other tourists.  Our bus is parked along the road.

As we drove further and further south, the land turned rockier and much more rugged.  The only kind of farming we saw was sheep grazing and they were everywhere, even on the narrow roads which made driving a bit challenging.  On this remote part of the island, some of the roads were only one lane with turnouts for oncoming vehicles.  It was quite a challenge for our driver (Ivar the bus driver) to maneuver the large bus around.

From the church we turned back north and made our way to the town of Tarbert (the blue marker) where we were scheduled to have lunch and then have some time to explore the town.  Tarbert is located on the isthmus that separates Lewis from Harris.  We had passed by Tarbert on our drive south, but now we stopped there as we drove back north.

More pictures from the bus.

There was heather everywhere, it was beautiful, too bad the sun wasn't out.

And plenty of sheep too.

Things didn’t go quite as planned as when we all got off the bus and made our way into the Harris Hotel where lunch was supposed to be served; they didn’t know anything about us coming.  After waiting around a while in confusion, our guide found out that her tour coordinator had changed the lunch venue and failed to tell her.

Everyone got back on the bus, and we drove a short distance through town to the Herbrides Hotel where they were waiting for us.  We had a surprisingly good lunch of what amounted to an excellent chicken pie with chive mash (mashed potatoes in the UK) and vegetables.  All of this caused quite a delay which meant our time to explore the town had been cut short by quite a bit as it was already close to 4:00 PM.

Val and I opted to forgo our dessert as Tarbert is the home of Harris Tweeds that is evidently a well-known brand of wool and Val wanted to visit the store.  It was about a half mile walk through town, but it was easy, and we found the shop and Val spent some time browsing.  She found some gifts to purchase and we started making our way back to the bus.  On the way we met our guide who was looking for us and several other couples.  I guess most everyone had just gotten back on the bus after eating and were ready to go.  Our guide was very nice and said don’t worry, we have plenty of time.

From our walk through Tarbert.

The Isle of Harris Distillery where whiskey and Gin are distilled.

The Harris Tweed shop.

Tarbert's small harbor.

The clouds had moved in and as we got closer to the bus, it started raining again, but we had our rain jackets on, and we stayed dry.  It was getting late, and we had to make the long drive back to the ship so there would be no more stops.  It was another scenic drive back to the ship and it appeared the storm had moved south as the weather cleared a bit as we drove north.  We arrived back at the port around 6:00 PM and were quickly on the tender heading back to the ship.

This had turned out to be a very good tour.  Because of the distance we traveled, we spent a lot more time on the bus than off, but that turned out to be okay.  The drive was very scenic and our guide’s knowledgeable commentary on the history, geology and general life on the island, made it very interesting.

We settled in and relaxed until dinner.  We sailed away around 6:00 PM, but the clouds had moved back in, and we got a bit of rain again.   

We say goodbye to Stornoway as we sail on to our next port.

We had dinner and were going to a presentation on the history of the Holland America Cruise Line, but after three straight port days, we were tired and decided to just go back to the room to relax and get some rest.  Tomorrow is a very welcome sea day, and the clocks will be turned back an hour tonight giving us an extra hour of sleep so we should be well rested.