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.

Failte gu Taighean-dubha nan Gearrannan

Welcome to Gearrannan Blackhouse Village and we certainly did receive a very warm welcome.  There are nine house amongst the complex.  One is a Youth Hostel, another four are self catering accommodation and the others are a meeting room, a working blackhouse/museum and a cafeteria/shop.

 

We travelled back in time to visit Taigh Thormoid Anna, back to 1955 to stroll around a working museum to experience life in a genuine blackhouse. 

 

 

A hard life but warm in so many ways.  The peat fire added warmth and the fragrance added to the atmosphere.  The blackhouse interiors had many of the features of more modern "white" houses of the time.

The traditional way of life continues beyond the 1950s but eventually the blackhouses were left with only ageing residents who were unable to maintain them so in 1974 they were moved to local council houses.

There are also two coastal walks, we had a little stroll and explored the top of the world.

Wilbur was the King of many a castle.

Definitely worth a visit.  We then continued along the Westside of the Island with Wilbur and Hector thrilled to see sheep wandering around in the road.  Wilbur also loved seeing the sheep grazing on the rough terrain and hanging off the sides of the mountains.  We certainly had a fun drive and stopped to visit the standing stones of Calanais.

It was a delight to see the two boys wandering around, holding hands and taking it all in.  We talked about how the stones got there and how many men it would need to carry them.

We finished off our outing with a visit to the coffee shop for lunch and admired the view over Loch Roag.

 

 

 

So nice to see the beauty of the thistles along the machair.  The thistle is the National flower of Scotland and also the national emblem of Scotland since the Reign of Alexander III (1249-1286).

 

Hope you enjoyed our little tour around our Island Paradise, its magical powers certainly worked on our visitors who are already planning their next visit.

 

As always thank you for all your wonderful comments, support and encouragement.

 

See you soon.