Hopping around the corner at the island of Lewis. This route made it possible to do two ports in one day.

From Raasay it was a few hours sailing to Tarbert located on the border between Harris and Lewis. There are quite a few Tarberts in Scotland as the name means “Ford” or connection between two areas where you can pass. Same as the Dutch have the word DAM in town names, such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam. A DAM where you can go from one area to another area.  Thus this Tarbert grew automatically in importance an eventually became a ferry terminal. There was a ferry in when we arrived and thus the captain anchored for the night until the dock became free and we could dock for the morning. The Hebridean Princess, being an old local ferry, has the right lenght for these sort of docks and so it was all easy-peasy. The government of Scotland has been upgrading all these ferry docks in the last few years, with new dock podiums, mooring fenders, and new terminal buildings so it was a delight to be alongside there. Certainly for me, who has seen docks that were on the edge of collapsing.

The guests might be advanced in age but it does not stop them from having a “wee-dram” at 09.30 in the morning. Here you see Mari of the Hearnoch distillery extolling the virtues of a glass of her whiskey in the morning.

Today there was no sleeping in for the wicked as there was another distillery on the program. The distilery of Hearnoch. Located a 5 minute walk from the dock. The ship had arranged a visit for 9 am. so we could enjoy it all before the official opening time of 10 am. By 09.15 we were having our first “Wee-Dram” followed by a short walk through the distillery plant, narrated by a fiercely proud lady. whose patriotic heart was first to the small island she was born on, then to the larger island of Harris, and then to Scotland. And there it stopped. It seems that the Romans did not built Hadrians Wall for nothing.

The distilling tanks. The brass was bought in Italy as there was not enough good copper in the UK.

Unfortunatelly my lack in whisky meant that the sales fever did not grab me and with 70 pounds a bottle, I was not tempted anyway but many of my fellow guests were. Especially the discount (Bottle of Whiskey and bottle of gin for 110 pounds) did well. I must admit the specially designed bottle was worth the purchase if you are into it. The distillery was founded in 2013 to provide work for the locals who were slowly fleeing Harris for a better future. More information: https://harrisdistilley.com

Here the stern of the Hebridean Princess. Where the name is painted, used to be the ramp with access for 50 cars into the car deck. Now there are cabins in the car deck, bicycle stands for bike tours, a small gym and a lot of storage for all sorts of items, including our suitcases.

Our natualist Bryan pointed out a shop next door that sold Harris Tweed so everybody marched in that direction. Harris Tweed is not produced in a factory but in private houses and the production is strictly regulated. No more than 2 looms per house and a whole host of other requirements to adhere to, to ensure it remains a cottage industry. Exccellent quality materials are the result but very expensive. Still some Gentlemen and Ladies who felt compelled to feel more Scottish supported the local industry with some purchases. I had hoped for a tweed bow tie and cumberbund but they did not stock those. Plenty stuff though to make your dog feel very scottish with cold weather blankies and dog harnasses. Also that sold well.  Scotland is very popular with the Dutch and Germans, who feel culturally closer to the Scots than to the English and by 10 am the first German campervan was seen descending on the town to enjoy the ambiance.

The lunch and dinner menu for the day. The Exe Chef has been off and on the ship since before 2010 (he catered for Queen Elizabeth when she chartered the ship in 2010) and his menu’s are very good.

By 11,30 we all had to be on board as the captain was going to race (with a warp speed of 16 knots) to Stornoway for at 15.00 hrs. arrival.  Between 11.30 and 14.00 it was good to be in the lounge for cocktails and to enjoy the Scottish scenery coming by. The morning had started in a hazy way but by noon time, the sun came out so we had a glorious view of the landscape with an abundance of Autumn colours. Then there were dolphins, whales and all sorts of birdies to see and everybody had a great time. 1300 hrs. was time for lunch and there is no whale who can keep a guest away from that occurance.

The portside section of the diningroom. You can request a table for 2, 3 or 4 but also a table of 8. If you are social and enjoy good dinner conversation, I suggest to request a big table as the discourse is normally very good (each evening the large tables are the last to leave) and also the officers dine with the guests when duties allow,

Indeed we were docked at Stornoway at 15.00 hrs. There is a big dock now (see the Nieuw Statendam review on this site) but the small Hebridean Princess docked at the 2nd ferry terminal, right in downtown. We threw the mooring rope right into the Pub so to  speak. (e.g the Star Inn, made up of a pub, restaurant, cafe and accommodation, with a great view over the harbour).

The village. I do not think that when people were living there it was so clean and tidy, but then museums tend to be. The reed on the roofs comes from the local peat bogs, little ponds created after peat had been removed.

As we had been to Stornoway many a time we opted for the complimentary excursion to Gearannan the Black House village. This is an open air museum about how the people of Lewis lived before modern housing came in. The houses were made of Black stone with a open peat fire in the center of the cottage (more Scotts died in those days from smoke related cancer then from any other disease) and with it came the cottage industry of weaving Tweed. This village was reconstructed in 2000 and all houses have roofs but there are still hundreds of similar ruins all over the island, where only the walls still stand. This village was abandoned in 1972 but the descendants still live, now in modern houses, nearby.

The cottage industry of tweed weaving. A very laborious activity and hence the reason that good quality tweed is expensive.

As it is the end of the season, the local weaver had already packed up, but a video in the small museum gave a good idea of how it went. Very difficult and very skilled work.  There was also a small restaurant with home made cakes, all included in the excursion, and thus the whole bus (with a small ship everybody fits in one bus) marched into the place for tea and scones. I have no idea where these people put all that food, we just had an elaborate lunch, so I avoided the temptation and inspected the bookshop which was very impressive for such a small place at the end of the world.

The standing stones of Calanais. (Photo courtesy: www. Outerhebrides.com}

Then on the way back, our naturalist Bryan Hogg had the driver deviate for a short visit to the standing stones of Calanais. I had never heard of them but it is the Scottish answer to Stone henge. The stones are not so big, but there are more and there are also more then one. We could see a second circle not too far away on the top of another hill. As with other stone circles scientists really do not have any idea what it was all for, and then this one is even more complicated as it ended up in a cross formation, although it is much and much older than christianity.

By 18.30 we were all back and in a hurry as at 1900 hrs it was cocktail time with the next appearance of the Captain to explain where we were NOT going and where we WERE going. The ship is now going to slowly sail south again and with an eye of on the coming weather hugging the coast. Tomorrow morning we will have the morning at sea with the ship leaving Stornoway at 08.30 and then sail to Gairloch (another local ferry dock) and from there, one can take the excursion to Inverewe to visit the gardens or go for an un-accompanied walk.

Jamie Campbell in full action. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBDyL-e6bKE)

The Captains show was followed by dinner  (we had the Chief Purser Jim Fraser at our table this evening) and then by 21.30 hrs, we had a local show. Willie Campbell a local singer (folk, own songs, country etc.) with a very good voice gave an hours performance which was very well received. The atmosphere was good enough for all the English present to join in with the Scottish National Anthemn “Flower of Scotland”.

Weather for tomorrow: Overcast with maybe sunny periods, temperatures around 12oC/54oF, and a moderate breeze in open waters. But change is a-coming with rain and more wind. The shipping forecast speaks of Gale Force winds in open waters by Sunday morning.

 

 

 

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