L2L Day 97 Calanais Stones

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 memorial.


A plaque at the base pointed out the number of servicman from Lewis serving in WW1 was 6700.
It's recorded that those who lost their lives comprised 17% of the population. Apparently a much higher proportion than in the rest of the country.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

L2L Day 1 Dover

Image
While waiting for the 09:14 from Arundel to Dover Priory , I had a perverse exchange with a driver on the taxi stand who I thought was cleaning out his coffee machine. After a brief, rather one-sided discussion over coffee blends and flavours greeted by his puzzled expression, I realised he'd actually  been cleaning his vacuum cleaner and the detritus from the floor of his taxi. Ah well!  Here's to more enlightening conversations over the next few months!! £37 gets you two tickets from Arundel to Dover Priory in comfort in just about 3 hours which at a rate of about 10p per minute, I reckon is pretty good value. Alas, on arrival in Dover  and checking-in to the hotel, the smiling receptionists told us they had no mains water supply. Catastrophe!!!! While looking for alternative accommodation, we were also struck by the intriguing instructions on their key-cards. With the prospect of no showers or flushing loos, we checked in to Dover Travelodge - cheap, cheerful and with...
Read more

L2L D5 Rye to Hastings - 13 miles

Image
With the prospect of a longer walk today, we had an early breakfast and were out to enjoy Rye in bright sunshine and a gentle breeze. There were few others around and we almost had the streets to ourselves. Our route for today. My apparel for the day now includes Barrie and Sheila's oyster shell from Whitstable. After  leaving Rye, we walked along the Royal Military Canal and came across a Stanton shelter dating from 1942. These were of prefabricated concrete panels that could be bolted together. This one was used to provide shelter for the men organising a Starfish decoy - made up of lights and fires set up in the middle of fields - a long way from habitations to mislead and confuse Luftwaffe pilots into believing that they were flying over a burning town and thus drop further bombs - out of harms way. Along the Royal Military Canal we came to the ruins of Camber Castle.  Commissioned by Henry VIII, he realised that the location could defend the whole of the estuary. Today, a...
Read more

L2L Day 2 Dover to Folkestone - 11 miles

Image
The weather forecast for the day was promising full sunshine all day but a low temperature combined with a keen wind from the North resulting in a 'feels like' temperature of 2 degrees. It was going to be a cold walk. Despite the forecast, the bright sunshine gave us a welcoming start to the day. Before heading out of town, our eyes were caught by a shop selling an alternative form of transport which might well become more attractive as the days go on. The 'Savvy Defender' had an air of indestructability and at a mere 6 and a half grand seemed to be a mere snip. We soon realised that the route was not going to be flat. The King Charles III coastal path as it heads West rises steeply out of Dover with open views back towards Dover Castle, the White cliffs and the harbour. The route westward passes the Drop Redoubt, built in 1804 to fend off any French invasion. The walk along the clifftops was a delight   with hearing our first skylark of the year, gorse coming in to f...
Read more