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Lewis

15 April 2024 · Outer Hebrides, Scotland, Scottish Island Bagging

This trip to Lewis, the most recent of several over the past few years, did not go according to plan but did not disappoint, at least for me …

I had arranged my visit to Lewis to coincide with a photographic trip my friend Steve was making. His plan was to spend two weeks photographing in a very small area so as to put together a body of work of one place in different conditions. I’ve seen this done by others and whilst I ‘get’ the idea, it doesn’t really appeal to me as a purely photographic endeavour. For that reason, I had arranged to meet Steve a few days into his trip and to leave a few days before he did. My plan was to join him for some of that time and to venture off when I felt the urge.

Whilst still on Kintyre, I received a message from Steve to say that his trip had not unfolded in quite the way he’d hoped, as he was messaging me from hospital in Stornoway! He’d gone out on the very first morning, missed his step and ruptured a number of tendons around his left knee. Long story short: he was rescued by the coastguard; transported to hospital by ambulance; remained in hospital for several days; had a pretty big operation and was joined by his wife, who drove them both back to the cottage he’d rented, where they spent the rest of the 2 weeks before a tortuous (for him, - leg still in a brace) drive home.

I was parked at Ardroil Beach and decided to stay there, as planned. This gave me a chance to visit Steve from time to time and to enjoy some nice home cooking by his wife! Whilst Ardroil beach itself is absolutely enormous and makes for a very nice walk - at least at low tide - it is not photographically very interesting. On one of my walks, I did though come across this sheep with the most fabulous horns

From where I was parked, I had great views over to Suainebhal - one of the beautiful hills that surround Uig Bay - which I climbed about a year before. This region, including Suainebhal, is dominated by Lewisian Gneiss, one of the oldest rock formations found in Europe, dating back about 3 billion years. This ancient rock forms the foundational bedrock of much of the Outer Hebrides and appears to continually change in colour in response to differing weather conditions.

Beside the road down to the parking area is one of two statues inspired by the Uig Chessmen, with another not far away along the road to Mangersta.

I made a number of visits to Mangersta Beach and, having my e-Bike there for the first time, found a fabulous ride to the remote area of Tamnabhaig. As there are quite a few images from both of these locations, you can follow the links for more detail.

When Steve left, I moved on to Ness for a couple of days. I had a couple of nice bike rides, but didn’t do much in the way of photography, before driving down to Leverburgh for the ferry across to Berneray. Not though before a very nice lunch at the Anchorage Restaurant, home of the Isle of Harris Brewery.