Eight Days From Edinburgh Part 3
This post will be shorter than most, but don’t let that fool you! This leg of our trip was one of my most favorite days! I knew it would be because of the three historic stops, but I had no idea how breathtakingly beautiful the beaches were as well! Today you will join us on the Isles of Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland! It takes some time and effort to get there, but it is TOTALLY worth it!!
To get to Lewis & Harris requires one to either take the ferry, or fly into Stornoway on the northern end of Lewis. To fly in is pretty pricey, in my opinion, which is why we chose to take the ferry. We took the CalMac Ferry from Uig, Skye to Tarbert on Harris, which also allowed us to take our vehicle. The ferry leaves early in the morning and returns late at night, and is much more reasonably priced – especially when you consider that you are ferrying your vehicle over as well.
I mentioned in my last post on Scotland that we stayed at The Croft Bed & Breakfast in Uigg. This location is PERFECT for taking the ferry. It is literally just up the hill from the terminal. The host, Vicky, is amazing as well, super friendly and informative! The breakfast was great, meat & cheese, toast, cereal, coffee, juice. I highly recommend staying there if you are in the area. They have also added some new pods to the site.
We left at about 7:15 to head down the hill, literally about 2 minutes, to check in and get in line to drive aboard the ferry. It was a good thing we were so close. “Someone” had been rushing me, and I forgot our Historic Scotland Passes, so we had to get out of line and go back and get them. Thankfully this only took about 5 minutes round trip, so no worries! Driving onto the ferry was a new and interesting experience. They definitely had it streamlined, though, loading all of the cars didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would. Nor did unloading despite the fact that our car was “on the lift”!
Crossing the Little Minch, we saw some dolphins. The water was pretty choppy, but our ride was smooth. The ferry was not crowded, there was plenty of seating. Food and snacks were sold onboard, although they were a little pricey as one might expect. Pets were also allowed on board. The entire crossing took a little over an hour and a half.
Once we disembarked the ferry, we headed south to go see what I had scheduled as our first stop, Saint Clement’s Church at Rodel, but our first stop actually ended up being Luskentyre Beach. Oh. My. Word. This is by far the most breathtaking beach I have ever been to, and I have been to many beaches! The water is a beautiful shade of turquoise, and the way the beach is shaped makes the hills seem to be in the background, which makes it an unusual site. I really don’t even have the words to describe it! And photos, of course, don’t do justice! This beach continues on for quite a distance and you can hike it if you have the time. Boy do I wish we had the time.
The road to get to the beach is a little tiny one track road, but there is parking once you arrive at the beach location. There is a short walk down a sandy path to get to the beach from the parking. I seriously could have stayed there all day exploring! There is a layby that you can pull into and get out and wander the beach that is pretty close to the main road, but I would encourage you to drive all the way to the end for the better views with the mountain backdrop. This is a must do stop!
We passed by several other beautiful beaches on the way to Rodel, but we didn’t stop at any more on our way to the Chapel, as it is on the very southernmost part of the island. If you don’t stop to take in any scenery it should take about 40 minutes to drive to, and some of it is single track. We did pass lots of sheep, in fields, alongside the road, in the road, blocking the road, and even one who was enjoying a rocky beach! We did stop to take some photos of the beaches, and the sheep, and the sheep on the beach on the way back north to Lewis.
So our first historic stop was Saint Clement’s Church, also known as Rodel Chapel or Rodel Church. St Clement was an important member of the Roman Catholic church in the 1st century, and is patron saint to mariners. It is possible that the church received its name in the 11th century when the Hebrides were under Danish rule, as the church structure as seen today was actually built on top of a previous church site. It was built in 1520, and is still standing fully intact today, although parts have been restored. It is free to wander the grounds and you can go inside. I encourage you to do so! It was a fascinating stop.
The church itself is shaped like a cross, and inside the chapel is a fantastic collection of medieval carvings. There are the “graves” of three nobles, two in the main chamber, and one in one of the wings or transepts, their likeness carved into the stone lids. These tombs are basically like stone caskets.
One tomb belongs to Alasdair MacCleod, 8th Chief of the MacCleods, who commissioned the church. He was buried there between 1545 and 1547, according to the placards inside the church. The carvings around his tomb are very detailed images of daily life, symbols of power, and religious scenes.
There are also a few slabs of stone propped up in one of the transepts that have very intricate carvings on them that date back to the 1400s and 1500s. These are believed to be grave slabs that marked the burial sites of some of the MacCleod Clan. The detailed carvings and swords reflected their power and position at the time. There are places on the floor that appear to be where these stone slabs once laid.
You can read about the two local bards who are buried in the cemetery (or the church), Bardess and John Morrison. Bardess, also known as Mary MacCleod, has an interesting story. She died in 1709, and her grave is possibly inside the church. According to local lore she requested to be buried face down “to keep her lie-telling mouth to the underside.”
You will want to be sure to wander around the church and the grounds while you are visiting. You can climb a few flights of stairs up into the tower, and you will want to be sure to wander around the old cemetery and take note of the two stone “plaques” on the outside of the church tower. One is of St. Clement, wearing what would eventually become known as a kilt, but the other is of a “sheela na gig,” a naked woman with her legs spread. The plaque at the church indicates this could be a warning against lust, a symbol to ward off evil, or a symbol of fertility. The story also goes that the woman is meant to distract the devil so the people inside can worship in peace!
From Rodel, we headed back north toward Lewis. We stopped at a food truck, Blas Bhon Iar, for lunch. The food was great. The truck was parked near a campground, which if that is your thing, has gorgeous views of the ocean. After lunch we continued north to Lewis. This took us a little longer than planned due to all of the photo stops at various beaches along the way!
One interesting thing about Lewis & Harris is that they are two separate islands, but yet they are connected. The terrain is different on each one, however. In the photos below, you can see that Harris is more rocky (top), and Lewis is more boggy (bottom).
Our first stop on Lewis was about an hour and a half drive north from Rodel, and my main motivation for traveling all the way out to the Outer Hebrides in the first place – the neolithic Callanish Standing Stones. Stone circles have always fascinated me, and I have yet to make it to Stonehenge, BUT Callanish may be even cooler! Callanish is 5000 years old – older than Stonehenge – constructed in about 2900 BC, and you can wander around amongst the stones!
Callanish is a very unique stone circle in that it is more in the shape of a Celtic cross than just a circle. There are 5 straight lines of stones that extend from the circle, 2 forming what has been referred to as “the avenue” to the South, and one single line on the north, east, and west. The stones are huge – the center stone is over 15 feet tall and weighs an estimated 7 tons! A chamber tomb that contained human remains was also discovered inside the circular part of the formation. Archaeologists believe cremated remains were stored in pottery and placed in the chamber. Not much of it remains today.
No one knows for certain why Callanish was built this way, but then we still don’t know for certain why any of the stone circles were built. For now, you can choose between the local lore that the stones are giants who were turned to stone for refusing to convert to Chrisitanity and the archaeological evidence that points to some sort of astronomical purpose and ritual practices that took place at the site for about 2000 years.
Admission to Callanish is included in the Historic Scotland Pass. You can wander around in this stone circle, and they have a great little museum to check out as well as a gift shop and cafe. I, of course, had to touch the middle stone to see if I could time travel. No, I cannot, in case you wondered. Haha! Fun fact, for all of you Outlander fans, do you recognize the center stone? Casts of these stones were made to be used as Craigh na Dun on the set of the series.
Our final stop of the day, another 5 miles north from Callanish, was the Dun Carloway Broch, or at least what is left of it. A broch is an Iron Age dry stone hollow walled roundhouse found mostly in the north and west of Scotland. Most were constructed between 1900 and 2300 years ago! They were thought to be the homes of the prominent families in a given area. A common misconception is that they were built as a defensive stronghold, when in reality they were built as a symbol of power.
Dun Carloway is open to explore for free. Beware of sheep – they are very friendly – and sheep poop – it is everywhere! The ruins of this fort were quite interesting, you can see how the stairs spiraled up around the outside edge of the fort between the two stone walls. You can even walk up some of them. We wandered around here for a little while, and then had to head back to the ferry terminal a little over an hour away.
One could easily spend several days on Lewis & Harris, but we only had so much time to allocate, so we did what we could. We did not have time to go to the Gearrannan Blackhouse Village, or the Norse Mill. Both of these were on my list, but we just didn’t have enough hours in the day. So maybe next time!
I will also mention that one thing I like to do when I travel is to read a book that is set in the location I am traveling to. For this trip, I recommend The Blackhouse, the first book in the Lewis Trilogy (The Blackhouse, The Lewis Man and The Chessmen) by Peter May. The novel is set in the Outer Hebrides, and his descriptions are spot on. It is also a great mystery/crime series if that is your genre!
Back in Tarbert, we drove onto the ferry to again cross the Little Minch and return to Skye. The ride back across was smooth, and we saw more dolphins. But the sunset we were blessed with was even more stunning! It was almost midnight by the time we got back to Uig, and again, we were grateful our bed and breakfast was so close. We headed back up the hill to call it a night! I will leave you with a few more sunset photos until next time!
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If you missed the previous Scotland posts, you can find them here: Day 1 Day 2
One Comment
Karen Erwin
We have been to Scotland, but we missed this part! Looks like a fun place!