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