Some places we've been and some places we're going.

Boats, Big and Small

June 19, 2025

Unlike in Australia wherever you are in Scotland water doesn’t seem to be far away and where there’s water there are often boats. Some are fishing boats and they come in different sizes.

  • Caledonian Canal
  • Caledonian Canal
  • The Minch
  • Port of Ness
  • Stornoway

There are pleasure boats in every harbour, big or small. The “ Fryderyk Chopin” is a two masted sailing ship built in Poland and we saw it in Stornoway Harbour. Since 2011 it’s been used as a sail training ship.

  • The Fryderyk Chopin


When we were in Cromarty we saw a small ferry, the “Renfrew Rose”, come into the harbour and offload some cars. In the photo it looks as though the car is driving on but it was actually reversing off having come from Nigg, about 3 miles north of Cromarty. The ferry only operates from June until September when the seas aren’t rough.

There are a lot of Oil Rig related industries in the area and boats to service them.

The ferries that take passengers from Ullapool to Lewis are much bigger. Caledonian MacBrayne operate those ferries. The “Hebridian Princess” came into Stornoway harbour when we were there, she used to be a ferry but is now one of the smallest luxury cruise ships afloat. The ship only carries 48 passengers and her relatively small size means she is able to enter places larger ships simply can’t go.

  • Hebridian Princess
  • Old ferry in front of the new.

A yacht we saw in Stornoway Harbour was, “Le Champlain” that one takes 184 guests, has 118 crew members and obviously offers a luxurious experience.


It’s astounding seeing the big cruise ships entering the inlets leading to the harbour. At Stornoway a large area has been created to cater for them because the harbour just wasn’t big enough. The “Queen Anne “ was moored there while we were on Lewis. Buses bring passengers into town and we also saw Zodiacs bringing people ashore from a smaller Cruise Ship.

  • The Queen Anne

The Coastguard was zooming about one day when we were walking around the harbour.


We were told by a local that they avoid going into the town when the big Cruise Ships are in port and I can understand why. When we went to see Lews Castle one morning it was milling with busloads of people and difficult to see displays etc but in the afternoon there were only a few people wandering about, the buses had taken the travelers to another place of interest. Stornoway has a population of approximately 7000 and the Queen Anne can accommodate 2,996 passengers with 1225 crew so it’s easy to see how the locals could feel overwhelmed by tourists.

Souvenir shops do a great trade though especially selling Highland Cow related products.

  • Queen Anne

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Scotland 2025, Uncategorized

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Sheep, Sheep and more Sheep

June 16, 2025

Alex’ family left Lewis before he was born but when we visited his family in Keose in 1974 his uncle still kept a house cow which spent the winter in “the byre” beside the house along with his weaving loom. This time I can’t remember seeing cows on the island but sheep were everywhere. Blackface, Cheviots and crossbreeds. In the past the only sheep kept were the Scottish Blackface because they were tough enough to survive the harsh winters and their wool was used by crofters to make warm, waterproof fabric.

Cute black face and cute black knees.

When the fabric was originally made the crofter’s wife would have spun the wool but since it was commercialized in the 1800s the spun wool and the commission for the next Tweed is usually dropped off at the Crofter’s and the finished Tweed picked up. The only wool used now to make Harris Tweed is a mixture of wool from Cheviot and Blackface sheep and to qualify as “Harris Tweed” it must be produced manually on a pedal loom.

Cheviots, the red dye is the owner’s mark.

A friend’s son is a shepherd on the mainland and for 7 months every year he has Cheviot sheep agisted on his land because it is cheaper for their owner to have them trucked from Lewis and pay for the winter agistment than to buy in the extra food they need. Blackface sheep don’t lose their wool but but we visited at the beginning of summer and many of the sheep we saw were shedding theirs.


I think most of the sheep we saw were crossbreeds because Cheviots don’t have horns and Blackface don’t lose their wool.

  • Impressive horns.
  • Fancy my pink ruff?
  • Shamefaced?
  • Almost bald.

How could I forget these? I think they are Hebridian Sheep.

Category:

Scotland 2025

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Crofts and Cottages

June 14, 2025

When I look at the narrow strips of land that make up crofts it seems impossible that whole families relied on them for sustenance and still be productive enough to provide rent for the land.

The simple answer seems to be that they didn’t only rely on the few crops and animals to survive but used other skills to make some money or to trade. Skills like weaving, bootmaking, carpentry, tailoring, spinning, knitting, stone masonry, blacksmithing and boat building. All families relied on fishing to some extent. They also built their own homes which became their property, the first ones were tiny. Remains of these simple homes are seen all about the island.

  • An original Black House.
  • A new “Black House”.

Throughout Scotland you can see where cottagers have extended their original home by building on or up.

  • Road End Cottage
  • A new roof and painted door brighten this one.
  • There are windows in the rooms upstairs.

Dormer windows, Bay windows, porches, extra storeys are now common but the homes still look as though they belong in the location.

Our Airbnb looked very fresh and new but the original structure was incorporated in the new additions. It was on a croft with sheep and young lambs on the narrow strip of land leading down to the sea. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay on Lewis.

Category:

Scotland 2025, Uncategorized

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