Calanais is a fascinating site, a large stone circle, with cairn, entrance avenue, side stones etc. But it is also part of a larger more complex background, with about a dozen other circles or stones within just a few miles, and two circles (Calanais 2 and Calanais 3) within a couple of hundred meters or so.
As we approach the village, Calanais 3 is just a little way from the road, so our first port of call
There's a path across the moor down to Calanais 2. Liz wisely decides it's a bit risky, we've already had to tiptoe over a water engulfed path to get here. Stupidity pushes me on, after all I can see duckboards so it must be OK. Pretty squelchily and requiring some jumps that I was surprised I could make I made Calanais 2. A couple had decided to stay there chatting so no easy photo of all of the small half dozen stones but here's a couple
But onto the main site. I've been wanting to come here since a child. We've visited the main sites, Stonehenge and Avebury in England, Ring Of Brodgar and Maeshowe on Orkney, Newgrange in NI, Carnac in France, but Calanais has remained unvisited until today.
It's a large site, central circle with cairn, avenue and radial arms
Almost impossible to photograph, especially in a day of bright sunshine, strong shadows and quite a few other folks enjoying the history.
One last picture with Liz pointing out the centre stone with the cairn to her front.
Perhaps the info room at the visitor's centre would have been better visited beforehand rather than afterwards!
One more tourist destination but before we get there we stumble across a large community shop. It does coffee and cake for lunch (a lot of energy had been expended scrambling up and down slopes, wading through peat bogs etc). And Liz finds locally hand-dyed wool, and I find some interesting Scottish beers and a very local (i.e. this village) cider, and there's salmon from Stornoway smokery, and there's ... , and there's a £70 bill!! Pretty expensive coffees those!
On to the Blackhouses at Gearrannan. Blackhouses of Lewis, famous in the Peter May detective novels https://maypeter.com/the-blackhouse/ but representative of a whole spartan way of life right into the 1970s
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lewis/gearrannan/index.html
Sorry it's easier than me trying to explain
Anyway a couple of pics
There's a weaver in residence, operating a Victorian semi-automated loom from Yorkshire. Pedal powered but a flying shuttle and automatic beater makes it about 20 times faster than my wooden handloom. Fascinating to watch but the heavy metal loom dripped oil, I think Liz would prefer me too stock to my simple wooden Ashcroft one! And mine's a lot quieter to!
If anyone followed that link they would have noted that 1934 account of those Gearrannan girls colouring the herring all the way down to Lowestoft. John Ward captured it in song
Coming back to the campsite I decide on the small single track road across the island. Soon it is not much wider than the van, and passing places are few and far between. It's already buttock clenching enough but the thought of a long reverse to a passing place scares me. After about 10 miles we turn off, still down a single track road but about 5 miles shorter. Ironically we only meet one other vehicle, just about at a passing place!
Today's trip 62 miles
