In Blighty - Part 1

Finchampstead & Fife

Lavender Cottage, The Village. Simon was born at home here

We flew into Heathrow Terminal 4. It was grim, as usual, but the chauffeur was waiting to whisk us, via a 1/2 hour traffic jam on the M4 to our friends Jim and Celia (J&C from now on) who still live in the idyllic Berkshire village of Finchampstead, where we lived for 5 years before moving to Australia. We arrived just as the World Cup football final started!

Jane testing headnet  (never worn again)

It has not changed. Even our old house was looking as welcoming as ever, overlooking the village cricket pitch, just up from the pub, ahhhh..............

Is this a crab I see before me?

But no time to linger, quick shop for essential supplies such as walking boots and insect head nets.


Then, we are off to the Scottish Western Isles, via Edinburgh and the Road to the Isles, and a detour to Crail for Jane to eat a crab.

Skye and Lewis

Skye is dark green, Hebrides orange.

We were travelling with J&C in their car for 13 days motoring around the inner and outer Hebrides, which lie off the north west of Scotland.

We shunned the bridge built in the 1990's and went "over the sea to Skye" by ferry, as the first leg.  We stayed in an amazing new B&B near Dunvegan on the north side. The owners are an ex-IT couple who were escaping from Lancashire to their island home.  Brand new and all mod cons it was wonderfully appointed to deal with the severe winter conditions on Skye with heat pumps and air exchangers etc.  Unfortunately it was unable to cope with the heatwave we brought with us.  It was positively hot in the bedrooms at night.

We were SOOOOO lucky with the weather during our journey through the islands. Out of 13 days travelling about, 9 of them were really sunny (that means daily highs of 25C or so but feeling hotter in the sun.  There were a few overcast and windy days and one or two with rain but really considering how awful it is most of the time, we really were the sun gods on this trip.

Somewhere rugged on Skye.

House in Skye - bleak!

Skye is, as are most of these islands, one of contrasts in landscapes.  From the jagged Cuillins mountains in the south west to the wide expanses of the beaches in the norther sides it is a very dramatic landscape.  One particularly Skye thing was the stark and plain look of the houses, all in a similar style, new and old.  Planning consents were clearly harder to obtain here and all the buildings looking surprisingly samey.

At Dunvegan Castle, we visited the magnificent gardens that were being tided up for a visit by Princess Anne, ahead of her attending the Commonwealth Games, which started in Glasgow the next week. We also took a boat trip to view the seals that do little other than lie on rocks all day, - the sea's equivalent of domestic cats.


Also on the day we were driving from the Mallaig ferry in the south to the B&B in the north we came across, quite by chance, (via a 15 mile detour,) the Talisker Whisky distillery.  They were getting ready to close but we managed a full tasting of their range of malt whiskies, and Jim bought a selection to keep us going over the next week.

There also happened to be a man selling his freshly collected oysters just a few doors away, so that was a small seafood treat, washed down with a (warm) gin and tonic, being bitten by midges, the beginning of many over the next two weeks.

We only had two days and nights on Skye, enough to see the seals, eat halibut and langoustine at the Loch Bay restaurant, hear Skip Gorman sing cowboy songs in the local Folk Club and to swim in the sea in the Minch! (Chilly swim #1).

The food at this first B&B was exceptional, one breakfast pictured here, with other offerings being real porridge, scallops and bacon on black pudding and big fat kippers.  I had kippers........

Breakfast!

The next island on the itinerary was Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, so off we go to Uig to catch the ferry to Tarbet.  The weather was fine for the 2 hour crossing and we quickly disembarked and found our B&B for the night nearby. Now for a big day of sightseeing....

We drove north and the weather closed in.  It grew cloudy and there were rainclouds gathering as we crossed the peat bog moors that comprise most to the heart of Lewis.  Arriving at the site of the oldest standing stones and stone circles in the UK (around 5,000 year old) at Callanish, was impressive. It was so accessible, compared to Stonehenge. We were able to freely wander among the stones, touching them and feeling their warmth. We all fell quiet. It was a very special time.

Callanish Stone Circle, who looks older?

Who's supporting who?

By now it was 3pm so no time to waste, back into the car and  off across the peat bogs again to Stornaway, and CeltFest. Yes, an island music festival!

By now it was raining, but the Festival was in full swing when we arrived.  Three tents with a wide rage of pop and folky style of music playing.  We tent hopped between shows and showers, ate and drank local food and beers.  There were a good range of quality musicians, including many locals who play in bigger bands down south or overseas, so there was some great playing and singing.  We had a great time until it was time to go, as we had a longish drive back to Tarbert across the moors and mountains and we wanted to do it before the sun set at 10.30pm! We went into low cloud for miles on the way home, like driving in fog, pretty scary, but we made it OK!
(We were 57 degrees north now. That is further north than Cape Horn is south of the equator. In fact, one of the Talisker Whiskies is named "57 Degrees", and is 57% ABV in honour of its location. )

Stornoway Celt Fest - not quite Woodford........

So that was the end of the first day on the Outer Hebrides.  We tumbled into bed after a calming single malt, to sleep like stones until breakfast - oh, look, another kipper!

To be continued...........