Saturday, 29 June 2019

St Clement's Church

Are you ready for the second instalment of the Magical Mystery Tour?  You will need some sensible shoes but you will be rewarded with a picnic lunch with spectacular views.

Here is where we sat with our lunch and then had a stroll along the craggy rocks, admiring the yellow sand and the gentle lapping of the waves as they rippled across the beach and pebbles.  It was soothing to the soul  watching the gentle rhythm of the sea.  It was also fun to watch the antics of the sheep who have one thing on their minds GREEN GRASS!...and their next mouthful.








 After lunch we carried on our drive down to Rodel to visit St Clements Church.  You can see it from quite a distance away due to its tower and it is built on quite a hill.



  St Clements is a late 15th Century Church in Rodel built for the Chiefs of the MacLeods of Harris.  It is dedicated to Pope Clement 1.



It was obviously very dark inside the quality of the photographs are not good.









I took photos of the information boards so that you could see them for yourself if you enlarge them.  The graveyard contained a number of MacLeod tombs, so it was quite interesting reading some of the headstones.





We then drove on to Leverburgh the second largest village after Tarbert named after Lord Leverhulme an English businessman who funded the construction of roads, piers and houses in the 1920's. We did browse a couple of shops but were not tempted this time to buy anymore Harris Tweed.

The beaches along the coast of Harris were a wonderful sight, the yellow sand and azure sea were magnificent.  It was indeed a great day out and one that will be repeated very soon.





We finally had some sun yesterday so a start has been made washing the fleece, given to me by a generous neighbour.  It is still quite dirty so I think it may need a second wash.  This is quite a learning curve for me as I have never prepared a fleece for spinning before.  Any advice would be gratefully received.

We are going to Ness Gala this afternoon, have you any plans for the weekend?

See you soon.

37 comments:

  1. beautiful photos.
    The carvings on that tomb are amazing
    Thank you for the tour

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  2. Such beautiful scenery. It's wonderful that we have so much history all around us. Enjoy the sunshine whilst it's here.

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  3. Those views are incredible☺

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  4. Beautiful spot to have your picnic. Interesting visit to the church. Beautiful shots of the beach.

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  5. Lovely tour with lovely pictures !
    Thanks for sharing !
    Have a nice weekend !
    Anna

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  6. OH my!!! "St Clements is a late 15th Century Church in Rodel built for the Chiefs of the MacLeods of Harris. "

    The MacLeods! -smile- There was a delicious long running tv series, about Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod.

    I know this has nothing to do with your post, but it brought a smile to my face.

    Oh and we have a St. Clement's Church Catholic Church in this city.

    ✨✨✨✨

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  7. Beautiful. Interesting. Quite a slope to get to the church!

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  8. Lorraine I just thoroughly enjoy the trips you take us on around your island. I loved the church and the history behind it. And the scenery around the island is stunning. Thank you so much for taking us all along with you.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  9. Lovely photos, looks like such a great trip. there is something so soothing about the ocean.

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  10. What an interesting tour - thank you so much.
    This is a long weekend in Canada as July 1st is "Canada Day". Spent today getting a lot of things sorted in my apt. but tomorrow after church I am headed to a friend's for a BBQ and will head to some festivities on Monday.
    Today it was 29C & humid - tomorrow will be about 25 (gorgeous) and then all of next week is scheduled to hit 29C - this is just the temp - we also have to deal with a lot of humidity - but we are lucky to have so much A/C to escape to!

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  11. Beautiful church. I am thinking now of what it must have took to build this. Incredible

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  12. Those stone walls are so pretty. The meadow is so green, too. It's fun to see the landscape on your side of the world. Thanks for sharing.

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  13. hmmm...MacLeod is a family surname...interesting history...

    You are preparing a fleece? Now that is cool. I hope that the friend who gave it to you is helpful with information. ☺

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  14. So beautiful! I landed in Shannon, Ireland in 1995 for a fuel stop. It looked like that from the air. We didn’t get off the plane.

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  15. I loved following along as you traveled through the ruggedly beautiful scenery. The old church is amazing. If only it could tell us about the past.
    I hope you succeed in getting that fleece clean and ready for the next step.

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  16. Really did enjoy the tour and lovely photos of tbat old church. The picnic was good too! I know when I handwashed dirty fleece I was unable to move the wool around very much as it starts to get matted. It can be a very long task, but I found it very enjoyable.

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  17. Stonery is quite astonished
    Thank you for the tour.
    Coffee is on

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  18. What beautiful colours in the sand and sea with a delightful church nearby too. A great day out.

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  19. Lovely photos of the coast. the church looks fascinating and so interesting inside:)

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  20. Oh my goodness! Those beaches! They remind me so much of the beaches in Cape Town...white sand and broad beaches, just beautiful. Only the weather is different :D

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  21. Thanks for the trip! Looks fab.

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  22. Again, just loved the portion of this tour! Such breathtaking and captivating places!

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  23. That looks interesting I love looking around old churches. Preparing a fleece, is there anything you can't set your hand to? x

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  24. A place that has a real spiritual feel just from the photos. I have fleeces, 26 today from shearing but I have no idea what to do with them. I normally give them away to people who know what to do! Jo xx

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  25. Love your posts (I read the previous one before this one). I would love to sit and eat a lunch in the exact same spot. We are home now after a week vacation and I'm thrilled to finally be home :)

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  26. Such yellow sands and blue sea, I know that's expected but wow, so bright. I'd have loved sitting on tbat bench too. Thankyou for the tour, Cx

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  27. awesome article..
    thank for sharing :)

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  28. So lovely....what wonderful experiences :-) Have a great week!

    Blessings,
    Jill

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  29. I wasn’t able to read the information signs, but the church must be very, very old. So wonderful it appears to still be in use. Beautiful views of the island and the sea. Thanks for bringing us along!

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  30. What a beautiful place and that sand is so pretty.. I wish I had a little vial of it. I adore the old stone of that place you visited.. I'm fascinated by historic structures. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  31. I love these wild landscapes and the buildings with these old stones ! Looks just like a few centuries ago ! A pity that you have such a bad weather and we here "died" in a heatwave !!

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  32. I have been a bit late in blog reading, Lorraine, but did enjoy this tour and the previous one as well. It's always great fun to read about places that others are visiting. Glad you enjoyed some of my recent travel posts blogs and thank you for your comments as well.

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  33. Thank you so much for the tour on this post and your previous one.
    I really enjoyed seeing it :)

    Hoping your weather improves.

    All the best Jan

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  34. Always interesting to see your photos and read about your tours up there. Fascinating history!

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  35. You truly live in a magical place.

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  36. It really does look like a great day out - those beaches practically made me swoon and as you know, I love an old church! I've been to Port Sunlight and the Lady Lever Art Gallery but I didn't know about Lord Leverhulme's activities on Lewis and Harris. I've just looked him up and read about it, absolutely fascinating. Thank you for sharing this day with us. x

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  37. WOW! Spectacular views and I'm in awe of the age of those stone buildings. It's almost incomprehensible. Living history.

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