Thursday, August 09, 2007

Harris & Lewis


As promised more photos of the holiday. We started our little island hopscotch by sailing over to Harris, one of the most spectacular places on earth. As we drove to the south of the island to spend our first night in the sweetest little B&B ever, all we could do was soak up the amazing scenery of one golden beach after the other.

An evening stroll along Scarista beach

Sorrel Cottage B&B, Leverburgh, a stunningly simple, home from home place to rest your head, made even more special by the lovely warm welcome from it's owner Paula.


Flying the kite on Luskentyre beach, Harris.

Luskentyre is also home to Luskentyre Harris Tweed Company, we had a great chat with Donald, who showed us his workroom, the weaving loom and how it worked. He designed and produced the Harris tweed that was used for the limited edition Nike trainer back in 2004. On looking out of his shop window I asked him where he got his inspiration from, but kind of knew I was looking at it, the aquas of the sea, the golden sands, the pale blue skye and the amazing colours of the machair.


The view from our first nights campsite, at Cliff on the West coast of Lewis. This patch of harebells just gently bobbed in the sea breeze.

Our second nights campsite on the beach at Garenin, the blackhouse village, a conservation village of traditional blackhouses, some of which have been turned into a hostal. There is also a wonderful museum set up as to how the house would have been originally, (another) Donald weaves all day demonstrating to visitors in the weaving shed, and then through in the kitchen there are demostrations of spinning, making oatcakes and the day we were there how to make butter. Theres also a superb little tearoom selling good coffee and great homebaking!

Donald weaving Harris Tweed.

Butter making with a roaring fire in the background.

Looking down through the black village.

Callanish Standing stones.

Feeding the pigs at the Callanish Visitor Centre - really nice little place that do a great bowl of soup, coffee and cake!

Uig Sands, a gorgeous big stretch of sands of Lewis.

Surfers at Dalmore beach, this was probably my favourite beach, a little cove of golden sands, aqua sea and great waves - ooh how I wish I'd had a surf board! It was so hot I ended up sunbathing for the afternoon, stripped down to my bra and my jeans rolled up as there was hardly anyone else there!

We spent our last night on Harris camping at Scarista beach, shown in the first photo. We sat down on the sands with a bottle of wine and watched the sun set (more photos but taken in a different format, will show them later!). It was such a beautiful night, not a single soul on the huge stretch of beach, then, all of a sudden what pops up in front of us but two dolphins! They gave us the pleasure of watching them play for a good five minutes, you can't pay for scenery like that. It just rounded off our first few days perfectly, we were off to The Uists the next day, once we'd seen a bit of the east coast of Harris. I have to admit I was looking forward to a soft bed and a good shower, our second night of B&B....

More to follow on the Uists next week, see you all soon.

L x

20 comments:

AC said...

What an amazing holiday ...sheer bliss!
Alison x

Ragged Roses said...

It all looks breathtakingly beautiful - you couldn't ask for anything more.
Kim x

Anonymous said...

What wonderful pictures. Those beaches look stunning. How nice to see how the locals make their living. It does look like you had a great time.
Is your husband camera shy or does he just like to sit behind the camera and photograph you?
Looking forward to seeing pictures of the sun setting!!

Poppy

Tracy x said...

before i came to Scotland i would never have believed how beautiful the beaches are - i feel soooo lucky to live here.
your pictures are wonderful - looks like a great holiday x
tracy x

Anonymous said...

it looks heavenly, a real get away form it all!

Anonymous said...

What can I say - Wow!

Nonnie said...

It looks amazing Lisa. I would love to visit that part of the World. The beaches look beautiful. Really looking forward to seeing more pictures next week.

Anonymous said...

What wonderful images! They're like a breath of fresh sea air :-)

Rowan said...

What an absolutely marvellous place Harris looks to be - I would love to see the stone circle at Callanish. Your photographs and description make me want to set off right now and see these wonderful scenes for myself.

tea time and roses said...

Beautiful pictures... It all looks so lovely and relaxing...

Beverly

Anonymous said...

God, you must be so busy since arriving home from your holidays. Must say I can't wait to see further pictures of your island hoping adventure when you have time to post.
Will drop by again soon

Poppy

Anonymous said...

Oh Lisa, what a beautiful place. It sounds like you had a wonderful holiday and the scenery is really breathtaking. What an idyllic place to visit.

Marie x

Anonymous said...

Oh Lisa, what a wonderful time you had. I have to admit to really needing to read a post like this today. It's such a good reminder of the beauty that is out there. Lots of love to you.

Cherry xx

Samantha said...

What beautiful scenery - how could anyone not be inspired there?

It is dream to live by the coast one day.

Joanna said...

that looks a wonderful holiday, I would love to camp on thoses beaches. I'm a little worried about if you had any problem with the midge.

ginny said...

Hi Lisa,
looks like you've had a great holiday too... such a beautiful place.... and i love the photo of the kite and your pumps...would look great blown up on a wall! Regarding courgettes.. i did watch the Jamie Oliver this week and last night saw me cutting my baby courgettes in to penne sized pieces as he had shown for my version of his carbonara. As for the marrrows.. my sister had a stuffed marrow rice recepie which i am going to try... The alure of a Sarah Raven book though is now calling to me..
Have a fun day
love
ginnyx

Tracy x said...

you have an award.....
take a hop over to my blog to receive it.
please feel free to not pass it on!
tracy x

weirdbunny said...

I love campsites like that, where you literally camped next to the beach.

Janie said...

Beautiful photos Lisa.

salsal said...

Hi Lisa,

I attended the craft fair yesterday at The Green gallery, your table was lovely, so sorry we could not buy more than the little wooden tree, normally at these fairs the items are not up to much, but both myself and my Mum were pleasently surprized.

I have made some good contacts through attending so that is always a plus.

Both myself and my husband Colin will more than likely pop in next sat.

Have to mention that your photos of Harris are amazing, I really like the one with the sandals :-) I long to go there, hopefully next year, fingers and toes crossed x

Anywoo tara for now hopefully see you again next week

Sarah :-) salsal