Tour Of The Westside Part 2

My sincere apologies for not visiting your blogs, time has been evading me.  Gerard was taken into hospital on Saturday so I have been backwards and forwards across the moor to see him.  Victoria, Mike and the children left on the first ferry out on Saturday unaware that he was ill.  They wanted to turn around and come back but I insisted they carry on home.  It is a long road trip for them but they had plenty of stops and arrived home safely the early hours of Sunday morning.

So here we are back to the trip of the West side of the Island.  This time stopping at the Blackhouse Village at Garenin, Carloway.

The village consists of 9 restored traditional blackhouse cottages.  Some were lived in until as recently as 1974.  The first one you walk through is the shop/cafe which leads onto one set up from previous times.

This is the entrance, which consists of all the necessary working tools for the croft.  There are a further two doors one leading to the main house and the other to the loom and where the animals would have been kept.

It was a magical experience of a bygone era.  Can you imagine the hardship a time of no tarmac roads, cars planes or Ferry travel.   Most people walked everywhere or went by horse transport.

It was a great joy to share this wonderful experience with Wilbur particularly who took a great interest in the hardship and was very thankful for everything he had these days.

We also had a walk up some of the paths over the rocky hills and witnessed some stunning views.

The sheep on the beach made us all smile.

Back to the car and finally the sun shined and  off we went to the beach by Loch Dalbeg, another spectacular feast for the eyes.  The beauty of this amazing Island ever present.

They even dipped their toes, they are certainly a lot braver than me.

Gerard had more sense and watched on from a distance, enjoying the beauty of this ever changing landscape.

Some treasured memories, stored until we need something to make us smile. 

See you soon.