Introduction

Welcome to the fourth page of my tour of the Isles of Lewis and Harris.

Western Coast of Lewis

As well as the roads to Port Nis and Stornoway, the other road from Barvas (Barabhas) travels down the west coast of Lewis. This is where the Isles start to get more interesting (in case you haven't found them interesting so far). It's also where you'll come across the other tourists on the coaches. More about that later.

The first place you can visit are the Black House museum at Arnol. We didn't get time for this though. Secondly, you'll drive past the Whale bone arch at Bragar. Thirdly, is the museum at Shawbost (Siabost) school. Once, we didn't seem to get the time to visit this, which is a shame, as we were staying at Shawbost.

Kabuis self-catering chalet (pictured left) in South Shawbost is just off the main road. This was our base for the week, and we couldn't have asked for a nicer place to stay. We were made to feel very welcome by our hosts, Neil and Rhoda (and Sam the dog) who lived just across the road. The tea and cakes they had prepared for our arrival made us realise we had definitely chosen the right place to stay, and don't be surprised if you get invited across one evening for a chat and drink.

As well as the museum mentioned above, Shawbost also has a beach (which was within walking distance of the chalet provided you don't mind being accompanied by Sam), and is home to a Norse mill and kiln (well actually this is just outside the village if you want to be picky). The mill and kiln are about a five minute walk from the car park, so obviously you want the weather to visit these. We found them interesting, even though they are unmanned and your relying on the information at the site to get a feel of life all those years ago.

Five minutes down the main A858 road from Shawbost is the road to Dal Beg, which finishes by the first of two fantastic beaches in secluded bays. Dal Beg is the quieter of the two, and was our main destination for an evening walk on the beach. While plagued a little by seaweed, the sand and bay views our brilliant. Take a cardigan though, as it can be a little cool in the evening.

The second of the two beaches is Dal Mor. Again, this is at the bottom of small lane off the main road. This was the busier of the two beaches and was popular with surfers. You can see why if you watch the breakers on the waves. The other thing this beach has over Dal Beg, (apart from the toilet facilities) is the lack of seaweed on the beach. This is what the tourist brochures promised, and they weren't wrong. The beaches have to be the best in the UK. And we've not even got to the creme de la creme yet.

If you can draw yourself away from the beaches, the Black House village museum at Na Gearrannan is the next tourist trap along the road. I don't like that term, 'tourist trap', but it is the only term you can use for a place that is a stop on the coach tours route. Your going to get a soapbox here.

Anyway, lets start with the museum itself. Very nice. You can walk around the village and get a feel for what life was like many moons ago. The real fire with peat was just perfect. You could of curled up in a ball and gone to sleep in front of it. Two of the houses are furnished as they would have been all those years ago, so you can actually see what life was like. The museum shop is like any other on the isles, with crafts and gifts all made locally. Basically worth a look.

Finally, it has a tearoom. The smell of a meaty broth drew us in there for a bite to eat. Having ordered our broth and roll, we sat at the last unreserved table and waited. Then it arrived, a lovely vegetable broth and sliced bread. Very nice. The out of date butter was a nice touch (although at only 4 days out of date, we decided to take the risk). But what of the meaty broth? Where was the bread roll? And why was there only one table available? People were walking in, looking for a place to sit, then walking out. A lose of business for the tearoom. Yes. You've guessed it. Touring coaches parties. Basically, your made to feel like a second class citizen because the coach parties pay for these privileges. Don't get me wrong. On some days these places rely on the coach parties to make money. But why make your other visitors seem inferior because of this? We never stayed to find out.

Another stop on the coach tours route is the Dun Charlabhaigh Broch with also has a small visitor centre a short distance away (which starts to feel like a sardine tin when a coach arrives, so you know when not to visit). The visitor centre has a small mock up of how the broch might have been a long time before the coaches arrived. A small gift shop is also available.

Finally along this section of road is the most visited and photographed part of the Isles, the Calanais Standing Stones. Around 50 of them can be found here. The stones have been here over 4000 years probably dragged here by Neolithic people all that time ago.

There are two tearooms at the site, one at the main visitor centre which also has a nice gift shop (a short walk from the stones), and one at the top just across the road from the stones (pictured here). The guy who runs the top tearoom was saying he's trying to set up a webcam so that when the moon and other celestial bodies align in 2006 (I believe) it can be witnessed all over the world.

Once again this is a stop on the coach tours route, although this time we managed to avoid them. However, if you do want to commune with standing stones and nature, a couple of other stone circles can be found just a short distance down the road from Calanais.

Well that concludes page 4 of my tour of the Isles. Click here for Page 5.

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