2026 Lewes to Lewis

On Dec 31st 1919, the troop ship  Iolaire  set sail from the Kyle of Lochalsh carrying 280 soldiers and sailors returning from action in WW1.  With a Force 10 gale and a heavy sea, t he ship should not really have sailed but the prospect of returning the men to their families on Lewis in time for hogmanay, motivated the crew to take to sea. In pitch darkness, within yards of the Lewis shore and only half a mile from Stornoway harbour, the ship hit rocks - known as the 'Beasts of Holm' and very quickly sank. By dawn 201 men had drowned. It's a very moving story and a powerful memorial on the headland only yards from where the ship foundered. The men's names are listed by parish. Apparently on top of the loss of local men during the war, this incident led to further emigration and depopulation of the islands following the war. A very sad story. We walked back to the town in time for a coffee in the Arts centre, where we got talking to two very nice ladies who clearly tho...

A day in Stornoway to see the Calanais stones. First of all, time enough to squeeze in a walk up through the gardens to Lews castle. to see the Lewis chessmen A "Berserker" and some other good exhibits. Then off by taxi, driven by muscular raconteur, Jack Ross in yellow tartan trousers who said his muscle building routine was driven by divine guidance!! He's also set up a business to make 2000 Stornoway black puddings a week but hasn't started production yet because he's waiting for his electrician to turn up.  It helped pass the half hour quickly. The Calanish stones have a new visitor centre which was very good. The stones date from 3700BC and have been added to and modified a number of times over the following 1000 years.  The overall radius is smaller than Stonehenge and there's an impressive processional avenue of stones from the North and wing stones marking the points of the compass. On the way back in to town we arranged to be dropped off at the war m...

So! The walking is done,  but there a good few things to do up here now that we've arrived.  The Butt of Lewis beckons - the most Northerly point on the island and according to the Guiness Book of Records, the windiest place in the UK. Cyclists can get there by road but the walking route isn't recommended as the route goes as far as Tolsta and effectively stops at 'The bridge to nowhere'. Having bog-hopped for the last few days, another 13 miles really didn't appeal. I decided that the W1 bus was the best option by far. After a relaxed breakfast we had a walk around the town and the busy harbour - one side for leisure boats and the other for ferries and decidedly commercial. In addition, Stornoway has recently opened a deep water terminal for large cruise ships - we were told that 90 will visit this season and as a consequence there's a regular convoy of double decker buses conveying disorientated looking Americans in their tell-tale baseball caps and white s...

The last of the walking days.  At breakfast,  looking out over the loch, the weather prospects changed a couple of times - a brightening sky then drizzle then a chink in the clouds again. Most importantly, the wind had dropped. Our host Norman dropped us at Lacasaigh -  the start of this final section of the walk. Travelling by car after all this walking feels amazingly extravagant and very comfortable. I could really get a feel for it!! A family of Greylag Geese on Loch Ulapuil. Looking back towards the mountains of Harris The rain came and went quickly - we've learned on the Hebrides to always keep a weather-eye. Having not heard skylarks for the last few days, today was definitely the day for them. The route was very boggy for the next six miles.  As the previous days our progress was slow  - about 1.5 miles per hour. After the boggiest half mile we eventually arrived at firm ground at Acha Mor.  Our B&B last night had run out of bread so had off...