We had quite a bumpy night anchored in a bay off the town of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, in the middle of salmon farms. There are a host of fish farms in this region, mostly owned by the Norwegians and Russians.

After breakfast we pulled up our anchor and headed to the port, where we came along side right next door to a Norwegian de licer ship. Apparently the farmed salmon need de licing from sea lice. Well, I’m glad that the salmon you buy doesn’t have lice, but maybe I will stick to non-farmed salmon in the future.

From the pier we had a great view of  Lewis Castle and town of Stornoway.

Battling the rain and wind, we boarded a coach to Loch na Muilne RSPB (Royal Society for the Preservation of Birds) reserve which is home to the red-necked phalarope, a rare and unusual arctic wader which arrives in May each year to breed. We traipsed through a peat bog wishing we were wearing Wellies,

to the little loch and stood in the drizzle looking out for the elusive bird. Nope, there were none there. There were starlings and ducks, and we could hear, but not see skylarks. Although it would have been nice to see more birds, the location was so beautiful and you really felt you were out in the wilds of the Isles, so I was happy.

We walked back through the bog to the blackhouse exhibit. Blackhouses were so named not because the were black outside and inside as well due to the small windows and smoked filled rooms, but because they were compared to the new houses being built in the 1800s which were called “white houses”. These were standard houses with windows, chimneys, and roofs. They were often painted white. They also did not have accommodations for the family’s lifestock.

The design of a blackhouse originates back several thousand years, as does the constructional method. The building consists of two concentric dry-stone walls with a gap between them filled with earth or peat. The roof was either thatched or made up of turfs and constructed upon a wooden frame. The frame was supported by the inner wall, which gave the characteristic look of a shelf around the outside of the building.

As the roofing material had to withstand quite extreme weather conditions at times, it was often secured down by using netting with large stones tied at the ends.

The family and their livestock shared the house, apparently keeping each other warm.

Apparently, many of the blackhouses were still inhabited until the middle 1970’s, but by then some of them had fireplaces and chimneys, instead of the chimney free traditional construction. One of the local families moved out of the blackhouse into a white house, but found the new house to be cold and damp, and so moved back to the blackhouse.

The house we went into had a peat fire going in the living room, and it was certainly quite smokey inside, although at least it was warm and dry. I was beginning to feel rather bedraggled and cold. I went back to the safety of the coach.

We returned to the ship for lunch (fish and chips, no salmon in sight), and then headed off on our afternoon expedition.

We got back in the coach and had a ten-minute drive through fields of gorse

to the Tiumpanhead lighthouse. This is apparently a great spot for whale watching. Except not today. Someone did see 2 black fins, but that was all. Still, it was a lovely spot, and despite the lack of whales it was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. The lighthouse is still being used, although the lighthouse keeper and his family are now long gone. The light is controlled from Edinburgh, so there is no one there now. Back in the early 60s the Queen, and Charles and Anne visited it. Charles was the first person to use the new foghorn. I bet he enjoyed doing that.

We had a nice hot cup of tea before climbing back on the coach, and we headed back to the ship.

The Isle of Lewis was much more built up than I imagined it would be, although at times it did look like it was one large peat bog. People still use the peat, and you could see where it had been cut and left to dry. I remember learning all about peat in “O” Level geography, so it was very cool to see it in real life.

Back on board we cruised to the Shiant Isles, our anchorage for the night. The islands are the perfect place for bird watchers to be enchanted by the plethora of birdlife there. They did not disappoint.

We sat watching the birds fly around us from the warmth and comfort of the lounge, but others dressed up warmly and headed out to the open decks to get a better view. There is no lack of space on the open decks, there is room for everyone to spread out and get a great view of the surroundings. My photos of the birds didn’t come out well at all – I wish they had, it was a spectacular sight.

It was a truly magical place, and the perfect way to end the day,