Day 4 What will today bring?

Really thankful you are  still with me.   This day was the highlight of Martins holiday we  went  to places being an amateur  archeologist he wanted  to see.

On  our way through Lewis .

This was the sign to the Calanais Standing Stones.

These stones were  incredible. 

more info.

So many people taking  photos.

These  stones are older than Stonehenge.

My man hugging a stone.

Whether it was just  wishful thinking when  I placed my hand on this stone  it  felt powerful.  Hmm  perhaps imagination.

Looking down toward the centre ring of  stones.Sorry there  is  a couple more of these .

The middle circle.

A burial  chamber in front of the large stone  , someone of  great importance  may  have been buried here.

A fabulous place  with so  much history. We  spent   quite a while here and admired  the  few too.

A  truly historic  view.My man  is  happy,but he still  has  the rest of the day  to enjoy. We climbed aboard our coach and the next place we visit.is  Dun Carloway Broch.

 Built by our forbethears at the dawn of the Christian era. It  is a  tribute to their skill  that this fine drystone  building-known to and the wider world as a broch,  still  standing today it when it  was  built the stones at Calanais
just a few miles  down the  road was already three thousand years old.

A tiny doorway,

Kimberly was up the steps inside on the right.Martin said they weren't very safe.

What they think it would have been like inside  the broch.

It was very dark.

A little more info for you.

I just happened to spot this as we drove away.

carved on a gatepost. Again a happy man . Now  we were taken to The  Gearrannan Blackhouses
A Quote from  a booklet we purchased.  "Our situation was unfavourable , and meagre was our sustenance".
It must have been a hard life ,but 6 elderly spinsters were still living here in the 1960s. The ladies  that  remained were all ones who had had the experience of hard work throughout their lives, whether on thecroft or at  the fishing. They were able to cope with the special demands of the blackhouse,and  there were neighbours or relatives close by who could lend a hand with the heavy work had to be  done.

This was a superb stop. We had to pay a small amount  to go through and see the village. We all  crowded into one of the houses where a lady gave us a talk about the village and life there.

 The fire was lit and the smell of peat filled the air.Peat was  cut by the women too.

I did try and  get a decent pic of the fire ,but with 40 of us in  this little room it was rather cosy.

Not a lot of furniture as you can imagine but a dresser along one wall ,a table and 4 chairs were about it.

The clock on the mantlepiece .

Such an old world place.When we passed through to the other room in the hallway was this. Do any of you remember these things . I do.

I remember  an aunt of mine using one of these. We do have it easy these days really.

I am not a lover of ironing but can you imagine having to wield one of these. We could here clacking so  went to investigate and here was a man making tweed.

Very  noisy ,but mesmorising  watching the woven  cloth being made.

I forgot to mention in the main room was  some  knitting left for us to see .

Socks,Miss Julie !
So off outside  to see the village . 

We wandered down to the sea.

I think from what was said it was a very close knit community. So we  again  climbed aboard the Skylark as we affectionately named the coach as we seemed to forever climbing on or off. I swear Steve the driver made that first step higher every time.
Kimberly had arranged for us to have lunch at our next port of call. The Butt of Ness . Duly refreshed we ventured out. This is reported to be the Windiest place in the UK and it did not disapoint. This is the furthest north you can go before you hit Canada. The lighthouse stands very tall.

The rock formations were fabulous where the strength of the sea had shaped them.

You know how  it is with children , I was willing him to step away from  the edge.. A stack on the other side.

A cormorant was standing right on the edge about a third of the way down on the right. Just about level with him  to the right in the sea we saw 2 seals. Squint and you may see them lol. We did not stay here long and we were back on the road and heading for the hotel and Stornaway. We drove to the Castle of Lews and were hoping to see the new museum which had 6 of the Lewis Chessmen pieces on display. If you have read the Peter May trilogy you  will know about the Lewis Chessmen, his books are set on Lewis and I have just bought all 3 to read again.
So Lewis Castle a victorian building which is now rented out for weddings etc. This is the main room ,what a difference to the little crofts we have seen.

This is the hall ceiling,we saw something similar to this in a castle in Bavaria.

 The staircase.

 The view across to Stornaway harbour where our last ferry will take us across to Ullapool on the mainland.

 We had a couple of hours before dinner and as we had the morning free on day 5 we decided to have an after dinner stroll after dinner into Stornaway. It was a toss up between going to the museum or shopping in the town. I will let you know tomorrow what we decided . Or can you guess.
Thanks for the comments and sticking with me. This is really for me to keep as a record as being a bear of very  little brain and age I forget.
See you in the morning
Hugs.Oh forgot Please excuse any grammatical or spelling mistakes ,once I have written this much I just press publish and don't check it. Hmmmmm.