Scotland trip 2022 - week 2 - DRAFT

 Sunday we went to church at the Stornoway branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Brandan had been invited to be a guest speaker in sacrament meeting.  Gibson gave the closing prayer.  There were about 20 people there, all very welcoming.  Gibson and I both attended priesthood meeting during 2nd hour among a group of half a dozen other men and no youth.

The entire Isle of Lewis observes the Sabbath.  Everything is closed.  So we visited some outdoor sites.

We drove west to see the Callanish standing stones which were first built about 5,000 years ago.  There are about 20 such stone circles around the island.  We went to Callanish III ...

then walked over to Callanish II ...

but we didn't see where Callanish I was until the next day.  Callanish I is a larger ring of stones, with a line of stones fanning in each of the 4 directions.

Back to Sunday, we drove south to see the rest of the island.  Lewis is the northern part, which is low rolling hills, purple heather and green and yellow grass.  Very similar landscape to much of the Scottish Highlands.  Absolutely stunning.

A mountain range across the island divides Lewis from Harris.  The southern part of the island is more rocky and mountainous.

The southern end of Harris has some gorgeous beaches with white sand and blue water.  Apparently humans aren't the only ones who enjoy them.

Along one of the beaches is the Harris Golf Club.  Low grass grows on the sand, with longer grass in places.

Sunday evening we were invited to dinner with the branch president and his wife, Frank and Katrina Sengewitz.  He is from Germany and she is from England.  They moved to Lewis for her job.  As we left their home, Gibson said, "I really like them."

Returning to Lewis, we drove along a remote single track road with regular turnouts to allow room for oncoming traffic to get around each other.

Along this remote road is where people dig up peat for their stoves.  We passed a lot of rectangles where peat had been dug, with piles of peat drying.

Monday we went into downtown Stornoway.

We went to the Harris Tweed Hebrides store and got a wool blanket and some fabric to make throw pillows.  Sadly the mill is not open to visitors, but their website HarrisTweedHebrides.com shows some of the process of making Harris Tweed.

We headed back to the church to meet Alistair and Katrina Macleod, family history consultants.  Alistair has a beautiful thick Scottish brogue.  Katrina is also half Morrison and shared a wealth of information with us.

We visited a blackhouse museum.  Blackhouses were built of stone with thatch roofs.  They have a bedroom, a kitchen / living room with a peat-burning stove, and an area for animals.

In the area where animals would have lived, a man sat at a traditional style loom to show us how to make tweed.  

[more to come]