High winds in Harris…

We’re not expecting too much of the weather today but hope that the late afternoon will prove to be brighter and perhaps less windy.  At the moment it’s a little bit cloudy.  However, the water in the lochs is always very clear.

We decided to turn right out of the campsite and go to take a look at Rodel, before driving up to Leverburgh and the Community Co-op (we know how to live).  On the way, we stopped at Finsbay to off-load our stale bread for the gulls.  There was quite a large group of Common Seals slothing away on a rock.  Some of their poses are hilarious!

A Mallard took off from the water:

The road to Rodel winds up into the hills:

And Peter spotted a Hen Harrier take off from a telegraph pole but the photo turned out only good for identifying so you won’t see it here!  St Clement’s Church at Rodel looked pretty unremarkable but it is unusual for the Western Isles to see a mediaeval church apparently.

The rock that forms Harris and Lewis is called gneiss and you can see it used as attractive roadside barriers.  When cut it has a myriad of colours (the pier at Berneray was a good example).  This cliff on the road into Leverburgh has mostly golden colours.

Leverburgh is a pleasant little port although I think this particular boat may have seen better days.  Most old things are just left to rot here, whether they be cars, boats or houses, but there’s something rather romantic about them.

The Co-op has a variety of goods, including gardening equipment and household bits and pieces, although not a great selection.  It is run by the community and today the person on the till was a very elderly gent.  As he was ringing up our purchases he suddenly said, “I think something has gone terribly wrong” and he was right – our bill was in the millions of pounds!  He soon put it right with some pressing of buttons and our bill was suitably reduced.

The west coast road was not quite at its best today, as what sun there had been had gradually retreated behind threatening dark clouds.  I still couldn’t resist a few pics though…

A farmer was rounding up some sheep on the road and they were sent running helter-skelter up the road in front of us.

We arrived at Tarbert and, in spite of the rather misty weather, decided to drive over the bridge to the island of Scalpay.  More hair-raising hairpin bends hanging over cliffs but there was not an awful lot to see that we hadn’t already seen on the larger islands.  One thing we did notice was the children’s playground, with a notice that they were not to be in it after 9pm and that it was closed on Sundays!  Calvinism still alive and well in some of the Western Isles.

The bridge still had the worrying electronic warning of high winds so I was glad to get back safely on the other side.

From Tarbert we decided to be brave and, once again, attempt the scary coastal road to Flodabay that we had driven on the first day.  Although now somewhat hardened to this hair-raising way of life, I occupied myself firmly with the camera.

The Bog Bean plant is beginning to appear in the small lochs:

But the track up to the campsite is still as steep…