I have often gazed with bemusement at friends’ holiday snaps
posted on facebook of bikini clad folk sipping drinks in the Mediterranean
sunshine by a pool while the deep blue Mediterranean sea glimmers in the background. Why do my
summer holidays so often seem to involve full water proof body cover, welly
boots and frantically sought out places to shelter from the weather?
Things to do – Number 1 - Go cycling!!!
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| The Golden Road - a great cycle route |
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| But its a bit hilly... |
The Golden Road weaves its way along the east coast of the Isle of Harris passing peatland, lochans, rocks, and isolated cottages looking
out to the waters of the Minch. It is so called the Golden Road due to the disproportionately
high cost of its construction, the terrain and the undulations comprising to
make its construction a tricky task. As it is a spectacular route we
decided that a little cycle ride would be the best way to appreciate its beautiful
setting and its challenging hills and so much the better if there was a tea room involved somewhere on
the way. The group reduced in size proportionately according to the length of
time it took to find a tea room but eventually we found one and not a moment
too soon as the heavens opened as soon as we sat down, it was already pretty
windy so the horizontal rain was not really tempting us away from our tea and
cakes and we stayed for “seconds”. Every
so often we stuck our noses out of the door to check on the progress of the
rain and once the rain flurry had passed overhead we were on our way once more.
Clearly the break in the rain had lulled us into a false sense of security as we
hadn’t been pedalling for more than 5 minutes before the rain was once again
coming in horizontally and so, bored with waiting and clearly fearing
hypothermia, Simon took off. Bert, displaying a cadence that Chris Froome would
be proud of, followed in hot pursuit whilst John and I pedalled slowly home
completely drenched. No doubt John was cursing yet another ”great idea” of
mine.
Things to do - number 2 – Cookery!!
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| Feeding time! |
The Hebrides. Surrounded by seas, famous for its
fishing and fantastic sea food….now go
figure out where to buy fresh fish in Tarbert because we sure as ‘eck couldn’t.
Other than being able to get great seafood in the hotels and restaurants there
was not much to be bought in the village. Fortunately we had stocked up with scallops
during our drive up through the islands and our one optimistic trip into the
village to buy fresh fish resulted in a large purchase of….tinned tuna. One of
our party was vegetarian and so that pretty much informed our cookery options
for the week as Cath and I worked as a little team to keep them all fed and
happy with large bowls of stir frys and pasta dishes. Scallops were the catch of the day and Cath
and I we felt we needed some expert advice to prepare them and so another
member of the group, who shall remain nameless, was added to the kitchen team
intent on producing a starter of black pudding, scallops and poached egg – a
sort of Hebridean surf and turf. However he cracked under the pressure of
preparing our treasured scallops. Anyone would have thought it was an episode
of masterchef he’d been asked to compete in and, in a scene reminiscent of
Ramsay’s kitchen nightmares, he shouted and crashed around as Cath and I stared
on in total bemusement. Suffice to say Cath and I did the rest of the cooking
for the week without any further“assistance”.
Things to do – number 3 - Run a half marathon!!
A glimpse out of the window didn’t do much to lift my
spirits on race morning. We slowly packed up and said goodbye to the lovely
house that we had been staying in for the past week and its perfect coastal setting and
packed up the cars while the rain battered down yet again in true Hebridean
style – ie horizontally. Pre race tea
and cakes with Rob, Cath, John and Bert
in the little tea room lifted my spirits a bit and the arrival of trotters en masse
lifted my spirits a lot so by the time the buses departed for the start line in
the mist and gloom there was a lot of the usual merry banter. Simon hadn’t
recovered from the injury he had sustained on the Barrathon and retreated to
the pub to watch the rugby just emerging in time to watch the last 3 miles of
the race on his bike.
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| Dean and his trusty steed |
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| Megan |
It was a tail wind and so many people were describing the
conditions as ideal but I was less than convinced of this as I stood on the
start line shivering in my thermal top. When you have a bad race it’s tempting
to go on at length about what went wrong. So guess what I’m going to do…..
well, ok I will spare you that as I think it can be neatly summed up by saying
that for 13.1miles I wished I was elsewhere and only finished because of that
bloody Heb 3 t shirt (my 6th consecutive Heb 3 t shirt). Dean
cheered me up with his support as he zipped up and down the course on his bike
and needless to say Bert was perched at the top of the hill poised with his
camera to capture in full glorious technicolour the extent of my cold, slow agony.
Git.
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| I really wasn't having much fun |
I have never
experienced quite the same cramping like symptoms before, first of all my quads
seized completely swiftly followed by my back and backs of my legs and the
muscle spasms and shooting pains down my legs and lower back continued during
any exercise for the next 10 days or so – anyone got any ideas as to what could
cause that?
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| Cath on her way to a seasons best |
Whatever the cause I
saw Ellis and Eilidh disappear into the distance closely followed by John. I
tried to stay with Hamish (my Heb half nemesis) for as long as possible but he
too scampered away and by the time I had reached the point of complete sense of
humour failure Carrie and Anna had left me to trail in slowly to the finish.
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| My Heb Half Nemesis |
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| He's having way too much fun!! |
I often think it’s a shame when I do this race and barely
notice the stunning scenery as we race alongside one of the most beautiful
beaches in the world but a glimpse at Bert and Simons photos confirmed that the
bleak Hebridean landscape had indeed been shrouded in a damp claggy mist for
the duration of the race and we were not to witness the usual sparkle of the
golden sands and azure blue sea of Luskentyre as has characterised the Harris
half marathon in previous years and I did feel it was a shame for the “first
timers” to the island. But hey, that’s the Hebrides for you but when the sun
shines on the Hebrides there is nowhere better.
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| My prize! |
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| and the sunshine appears... |
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| does it smell ok..?? |
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| Perfect recovery food |
By the prize giving I was feeling better and glad that I had
hung on enough to win the prize for the first old lady in the Heb 3. Trotters
had won first team in the Heb 3 and the usual suspects, Gillian and Megan
picked up prizes and there was even a prize for a little Mowbray in the fun
run. By the time we all descended on the pub I was much happier and the change
in my spirits was matched by the change in the weather and it turned into a
glorious afternoon followed by a glorious sunset witnessed from the decks of
the Calmac “booze cruise”.
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| Enjoying the sea air |
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| Yet another glorious Hebridean sunset |
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| Bye for another year! |
Things to do – number 4 – Archaeology!!
All across the Hebrides the echo of times long past can be witnessed in the land, the architecture, folklore, traditions and archaeology. Maybe
it’s because of the hostile environment as people now, as they have for two
millennia, make a living from the land, cutting the peat since time
immemorial and providing a living link with the past.
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| Carloway Broch |
The fascinating archaeological remains include a norsk mill
and chambered cairns that I have visited on previous trips to the Hebrides.
This time I was acting as tour guide and so I thought that my little gang of
tourists would all appreciate the magnificent Broch of Dun Carloway which dates
from 1st century BC (Iron age, I think) and apparently was last
occupied in 1300AD. An imposing fortress designed to protect against both
invaders and the weather, it stands some 9m tall and in places its walls are 3m
thick. We huddled in the shelter of the walls making use of its well designed protection against the wind and rain.
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| Staircase within the outer wall |
Many theories have been put forward for the construction of
standing stones especially to do with the timing of solar and lunar astronomical
events, equinoxes ect but I don’t think anyone really knows for sure why these
monoliths were erected. What is certain however is that they are beautiful
landmarks and the Callanish stones are no exception and create of a landscape full of mystery. The
guide book states that “Evocative times to visit include dawn and dusk, when
the moon is full or when this mist rolls in from the sea” and I’ve even seen equally
evocative photos of the stones during rare snowy winter days.
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| Callanish Stones |
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| An ancient mystery |
The guide book makes no mention of visiting the stones in
horizontal rain and gale force winds. Still, it was atmospheric. In fact wildly
so, an ancient structure built by ancient peoples for reasons long lost in the
mists of time in a wild untamed environment viewed in inhospitable hebridean weather – what more atmosphere could you
want?
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| Some ancient ruins...and the Callanish Stones |
Considering the weather it was just as well there is a nice
tea room at the visitor centre along with an interesting shop selling all manner
of interesting touristy stuff so we took shelter from the wind and rain in
there. All except Bert. Bert had spotted a pig in a field, a rather magnificent
specimen it has to be said, and he was determined to photograph it no matter
that the rain was lashing down. However even the pig had, unlike Bert, the good
sense to run for cover from the rain so no photo for Bert.
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| Black house village |
Our final stop on our history tour was the Blackhouse
village of Gerrannan, a cluster of traditional Hebridean blackhouses by the sea
now turned into a working museum, self catering accommodation, a youth hostel
and the ubiquitous tea room and gift shop. The weaving on Harris on a
traditional loom had us all fascinated but the man was not forthcoming with an
answer to Bert’s question “ why isn’t it Lewis tweed if it is weaved on Lewis”
and he looked at us all as if we were stupid. Can’t think why…
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| Weaving Harris Tweed |
The Blackhouse museum was kitted out as it would have
been when it was inhabited and was very interesting, transporting you back in time,
and was surprisingly cosy. I am very
tempted to book a Blackhouse cottage for a week sometime. Anyone want to join
me…?
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| The village was last occupied in 1974 |
A Blackhouse is a traditional type of single storey, thick
dry stone Hebridean house with a thatched roof. There was a central fire but no
chimney for smoke to escape from and the smoke just went up through the roof.
The people occupied one side of the house and lived cheek by jowl with their
livestock in the same house with a partition between the living quarters of the
people and the area where the animals were kept. This type of house was ideally
suited as protection against the fierce Hebridean weather and Gearrannan was
occupied until the 1970s.
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| I really want to stay in one of these!! |
Amazingly we gave the tea room a miss and opted to go to Stornoway
in search of one in which to end our tour.
