On our way home

Early morning for us. We managed to get breakfast, check out of the B&B, brave rush hour traffic, drop off the rental car, get our tickets, and go through security all before 10am.

Rush hour traffic is pleasant compared to Phx. People our courteous and just drive slower. Which was great since we only put £3.00 worth of fuel in the car last night. According to the fuel mileage the gauge said we had about 50 miles worth of fuel left.

I think we're both looking forward to getting home. Hopefully we'll see some sun light and blue skies.

Back to Edinburgh

Today (Sunday) will be heading back to Edinburgh a little five hour drive stay at the B&B there. We're going on the Literary Tour this evening and learn about all the poets and writers from Scotland. Should be interesting.

Rain Rain Rain

So Saturday we thought we would spend the day doing a little walking around and looking for souvenirs. However the weather just didn't allow it. So we decided to do a little sight seeing instead. Even with the rain we were able to see quite a bit. We wished we could have taken more pictures but the rain just kept getting the lens wet even when we took the shot from within the car. So the best of what we could get is below. Some might be a little foggy and I apologize for the water spots but we tried to take the picture as quickly as we could to avoid having to wipe down the lens every time.

We're staying in a B & B in Portree. It's okay nothing real special. The nice thing about Portree is that there are about 100 hundred B & B's so there are lots to choose from if your making arrangements last minute like we did. There are also  many B&B's outside of town closer to the coast and I'm sure the prices are comparable.

Portree is about 20 miles South East of Uig on its own little Sea Loch.

One of the photo's below is at the Tea House right off the main road and over looks "The Little Minch", and is a new find not in any of the travel books that we used to plan our trip. Its a great place to warm up with a nice cup of tea and fresh made (daily) pie or cake.  Other photo's are along the drive and some heading up toward Talisker the only whiskey Distillery on the Isle.

Harbor in Portree

End of the line

Look closely and you can see a bunch of water falls off this mountain. When the wind blows so hard up ward it also blows the water up.

Same Mountain different view

Tea Room down below view from the mountains

Tea Time

Water falls everywhere, on our way to Talisker

Water Fall up close

Talisker Distillery, getting a wee dram

10-30 year cask strength (no water added yet). They are picky about pictures so you can take them at the beginning of the tour and at the end.

It rained all day and finally quit about 9pm

On the Road Again

Tomorrow morning we leave Stornoway and head to Tarbert on the Isle of Harris to take the Ferry over to the Isle of Skye. We'll be staying at at B & B right outside of Portree called Viewmount. We'll be on the Isle of Skye for two nights and then have a five hour drive to Edinburgh on Sunday.

A bit out of order

I post the meeting earlier, I didn't have my camera left it in the car so here you go.

So these pictures are were taken earlier today before the meeting. After lunch we went and saw the Black Houses. Their called that because the people that lived in them kept a peat fire going constantly, so the smoke would coat the inside black.

House compound

Peat Fire in the middle of the room

Bed room 

Smoke from the fire

Emily is standing next to the entrance, its to her left

Black houses had thick walls on the outside this helped with insulation

Step stones on the outside wall of the house

Like I stated earlier the single track road is very popular in the more rural areas. This road is rated at 40 mph. Up ahead on the right in front of the vehicle we're behind you'll see a white sign. That's the passing area. Either an on coming car would use it or we would stop so they could go around. This can be very tricky especially with Bigger trucks. By the way the Tom Tom GPS has been helpful. If you get a GPS to use in Europe make sure it has that capability to do that many do not.

Single track road in UK

Site seeing!

Our Tour Guide

Ok, so before anyone gives me a hard time she posed for this picture on purpose. Now that the disclaimer is out. Emily is pointing the direction to the Calanais Standing Stones in Callanish, Lewis.

Not Stones

Ruins in the middle of a Loch

Nathan, Brea, Callum..I'm guessing Wizard of Oz's not sure?

 You'll noticed that we're all bundled up. Again one of Scotland's claims to fame is that you get all four seasons in one day. We started with jackets, took them off and in a blink we were back in them. A little sunshine, rain, Hail, sunshine, skip rain, back to hail and sprinkles. Insert wind wherever you like because it really never stops in Lewis, its just the temperature of the wind that you notice.

Calanais "Scottish Stonehenge"

explanation of the stones

cut and paste to read it.

Okay look closely and you'll see Sammie..Oh and if you try and push the stones over they don't budge.

A "wee dram" of the only Scottish Malt on the Island.

We had a chance to visit the distillery its on the Red River. Back in the day of the Vikings if you didn't pay your taxes they would use the sword to take off your head. Thus the river ran "Red" with blood. Today we were assured that the locals pay their taxes and the water is crystal clear. This is one of the only Whiskies not sold in the states, yet! It's also the first Malt produced legally in Lewis in quite sometime. A whisky is only considered to be a whisky until it has matured to three years and a day. Anything less is considered a spirit. We tried the same exact Spirit as this Malt and there is a considerable amount of difference to the taste. If you were to drink the Malt first then the Spirit, the Spirit will taste very bad. But cost wise you can buy the Spirit for about 20 pnds and the Malt for 150 pnds. We only bought a couple of these wee drams for 6 pnds each. We were hoping to bring them back but the corks do not seat well. So were stuck with leaky bottles, not sure what to do with them now?

Stornoway--Kingdom Hall--Party--Dinner

A few quick pictures of what it looks like in Stornoway. Some of the picture's are from the past weekend when went to service, the meeting, the going away party and Sunday dinner.

Ferry Stop in town. 

From the bay

Kimes Clan's Neighborhood

Kimes Clan's Neighborhood

Kimes Clan's Neighborhood

Our sweet ride! NOT...

Sheep across the street. That's your basic Scottish road down there by the way single lane.

Kimes Clan Casa

Kimes Clan Casa

Kimes Clan Casa

Kingdom Hall. It is upstairs, they do not serve food.

Main hall

I'm standing in the door way. No 2nd hall, the library is on the wall. And only one toilet.

A great feast

Hedge Hog Cake

Drama

Steven playing the Accordion 

Callum, Breanna, and Karen

Jonathan and Callum

Some brothers and sisters in the congregation enjoying the music

Brother Randolph giving the Sunday Talk

Jimmy helping Sister Ferguson with some literature

View from the stage of the Hall.

sound department

On our way to the "Butt of Lewis"

View from the north end of the Isle

Emily and I. Notice a rainbow just starting to form above her right shoulder :)

Double Rainbow

Jimmy's Wife Stephanie cooked a fine meal

Nathan's getting lessons.

Callum giving it a go as well, he sounded better.