Join the band on the Isle of Lewis…

Tags

chessmen. highland cow, heather, Sheep, standing stones, whooper swans, wildflowers

This is the welcoming scene to the Uig area of Lewis.  The tableau is accompanied by a sign and judging by the drum by an empty chair, I guess it’s a drummer they’re short of!  Not short of a sense of humour obviously though.

As expected, it rained most of the night and was still raining when we awoke. Unfortunately, therefore, this has rather limited the photographs today.  Lewis in bad weather is rather grim, with looming rock-strewn hills all around you.

One rather attractive feature of Uig was, however, the huge carved chessman near the beach.

The accompanying board tells us that this sculpture, carved in oak by Stephen Hayward, was commissioned in 2006 by Uig Community Council and erected with the co-operation of Ardroil Grazings Committee.  It is based on one of the kings in the famous collection of walrus ivory chess pieces which were discovered nearby in 1831.  They were found by Malcolm Macleod of Pennydonald, hidden inside a small stone structure in a sand dune, but the exact findspot is not  known.  Eleven of the exquisitely carved figures are in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and 82 in the British Museum in London.  They were probably made in Norway in the 12th century during the 450-year period when the Norse ruled the world.

See the the BBC History of the World link for more information.

Geraniums growing wild by the roadside:

Standing stones near the island of Great Bernera:

Heather in flower amongst the rocks:

Old corrugated-roofed stone building:

Local Highland Cow:

More locals:

Whooper Swans

Just before we reached our campsite for the night near Stornoway I chuckled at this tiny island near a large landfill site.  The gulls even have their own flag!

‘Laxdale Holiday Park’ (more car park than holiday park) is our home for tonight before we catch our ferry at Stornoway for Ullapool on the mainland.  Our island idyll is nearly at an end.