Callanish and Gearrannan

My second trip to the Islands for the Tweed project.

A half hour flight from Inverness (fastest in-flight cuppa ever!) and as there was a blue sky on landing in Stornoway I jumped in a car and drove over the peat moors to the west coast.... stunning!

I visited the Callanish Stones and was told how at one time they were almost devoured by 1.5 metres of peat... which might explain why they haven't fallen over in 5000 years.... yep... 5000.... hard to comprehend.

Dun Carloway Broch sits high on a hill with a magestic view of the coast to the south and west and seems amazingly preserved considering it has been there, braced against the Atlantic for 3000 years. And to think there was probably tweed of a sort keeping everyone warm even then.

A Broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure of a type found only in Scotland. Brochs include some of the most sophisticated examples of drystone architecture ever created,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broch

Lastly a quick stop at Gearrannan Blackhouse village. The last occupants moved out of the traditional blackhouses in 1974, but they have been renovated now and and are let out as holiday cottages.

The last of the daylight at 4.30pm

Cullen Harbour

Sunday morning - dropped Mum off to the patchwork shop in Cullen for a workshop then wandered down to the Harbour. A dark, dull day but still and peaceful. Cold and salty air on your face and hands and a welcome bowl of soup when you get home! Not so bad really!

Hebridean colour and grey seas

My first visit to the Western Isles for the Harris Tweed project.

Only a very brief stay this time but just enough time to stop on the half hour drive on the single track road from east coast to west. Miles and miles of peat bog in glorious autumn colours and the mountains of Harris to the south waiting to be explored another time.

A reported force 8 gale for the ferry back to the mainland was.... interesting!

Click on the first photo to see it enlarged.

First frost

A brisk walk to work this morning!

The frost on the car was amazing!!!

Stranded shark

A little lesson in the mysteries of nature... a young basking shark stranded on the beach at Lossiemouth.

There were attempts to get it off the beach but the waves and the exhaustion of the youngster made it impossible. A very sad day.

Devon Tweed???

As I drove through Dartmoor I stumbled across the Bovey Handloom Weavers. Using peddle power Hattersley looms much the same as the Harris Tweed weavers use on the Western Isles, this gentleman has been weaving tweed for the last 30 years.

Summer down on the farm

After the wedding I had two days in Devon and Cornwall visiting boutique wool mills and staying on organic farms meeting the locals.

Summer cheese cake and roses

The most visually delicious wedding in an English country manor!

We stayed in nearby Lacock, the home of Harry Potter and modern photography.