On the penultimate day of 2025 I find myself thinking about the Outer Hebrides and what the weather is there at this darkest time of year. They seem to have stunning sunsets and sunrises, and rainbows. Somehow I’ve gotten myself connected to more facebook sites about Scotland than I ever imagined. The images of these northern places in December has been thrilling to see every day. I dearly hope I can make another trip to Scotland in the next year or two.
The second half of my visit to Scotland in July was a private tour of the Outer Hebrides. My friend Kari found the tour service that we chose. The tour was just for the two us, with sites chosen by us. The tour company (McKinley Kidd) made all the train and ferry connections for us, all the lodgings, and most of the meals. On each island we had a driver who had a list of sites that we had chosen to see as well as a list of sites we shouldn’t miss. I had seriously considered the idea of visiting the islands on our own. I’m relieved that I got onboard with having the luxury of this tour company taking care of almost our every need. We took a train from Glasgow to Oban to board a ferry to the southern most island of Barra. I had no idea that the ferry alone would be five hours. The map made the trip look like a mere hop and skip. From there we went to South and North Uist, then Bernaway, and lastly the combined island of Lewis and Harris.
Here is our ferry arriving on Barra after the five hour trip from Oban
The heather was just beginning to bloom in souther part of the islands.
The ferry terminal in brighter weather.
We stayed here at Hearthbank, where we were unfortunately not able to get dinner! The owner was leaving for the mainland and would have to close and lock the dining room. On the other hand, she arranged for a chef to make breakfast for us the next morning, which was memorable! Perfectly poached eggs on toast.
There was a massive hedge of fuschia long the driveway just outside the right side of this photo. Yes, it was windy!
Barra’s airport is on the beach, and the planes take off and land at low tide. That is something to see! We saw both this landing and then the next take off. It was truly something to see passengers deplane onto the sand.
While I didn’t see any wool related things on Barra, this was quite an exciting way to start our week in the Outer Hebrides. From here we went to South and North Uist (is that Grimsay?) I can’t manage the names of towns vs islands. Maybe both islands together are known as Grimsay. Feel free to enlighten me!
We had a wonderful driver/tour guide on South and North Uist. He was keenly aware that I wanted to see sheep and wool production on these islands. He also wanted us to see the mostly buried standing stone sites on these islands, as well as a couple of monuments. He is a budding bagpiper, while his brother is well established and plays at all the local festivals. During one of our walks off the beaten path he picked a handful of locks from the local white sheep. The locks were caught in brambles. They are still in the pocket of my raincoat.
He took us two wool producing places, and equally impressive was the scandinavian bakery near Scotvein where Kari and I had lunch. Every table had an embroidered tablecloth on it, covered in plastic to protect the lovely handwork. I couldn’t care less about the cake! I just want you see the bit of embroidery at the borders of the photo!
Here is our table. I pulled aside the plastic cover to better enjoy the embroidery that was done on each corner of the cloth.
We had two days on South and North Uist, and we saw a wool spinning mill where I bought some exciting things, including a batch of single spun Hebridean wool in natural colors. They spun this wool for someone’s specific project, and what I bought was all there is. I am planning the warp right now, which is pretty prompt of me, only five months after buying it! I also bought three ‘cakes’ of pencil roving that shades from the darkest natural to almost white. I gave away one cake and have spun the other two….not sure what that will become.
We were not allowed into the spinning room at Uist Wool, so we looked down through a large glass window. The website is stunning.
My treasures. I plan to weave fabric for a lightweight ruana.
Here is one of the wool cakes I spun, possibly to add to the project.
Our guide on the islands of South and North Uist took us to a museum, an historic boatworks location, as well as beaches with cows (and no people!), a somewhat submerged standing stone site, and a couple of monuments. He was thorough and understood exactly what would appeal to any visitor as well as to those of us who love history, and in particular the history of sheep raising and wool culture. I had never heard of Uist (and struggle a bit pronounce it still), and now it is high on my list. I hope to go back someday.
Welcome to Bhorrodale on Uist. This is the window in the pub. The dining room was closed while we were there, but the pub was a charming spot for our dinners.
A small museum devoted to the history of small boats in this area.
The cultural museum in Kildonan on the Isle of South Uist.
The round houses predate Viking settlements that were long houses. An entire community plus animals lived in these round houses.
Driving across causeway between South and North Uist. Didn’t see any though.
And then it was time to visit Berneray, where the Berlinn Wool Company was closed. I was sad, but I also knew we’d been awfully lucky with what we did see.
Off we headed to our last island destination, the dual island of Harris and Lewis. If ever there was a celebration of Harris Tweed, this is the place to enjoy it. Now you might well think I’ve taken leave of my senses. I went a bit overboard taking photos of Harris Tweed on every chair and wall that I came across during our stay! This is the wall in our room at the Hotel Hebrides.
Breakfast and dinner at this hotel featured dining chairs with Harris Tweed fabrics, as well as handwoven napkins (although not wool).
When we arrived we decided to have afternoon tea at a lovely spot within walking distance of our lodging. This is the Inn at Harris. We enjoyed the gardens along with Harris Tweed decorated dining room.
I know some of you will believe how it was for me to choose a chair to enjoy my tea!
And then a stroll back to our hotel took us by Harris Tweed company. This is the building that houses nothing but bolts of fabrics. It was hard to choose, but I managed to buy two lovely tweed fabrics.
Across the street from the fabric shop was the gift shop. I had waited to visit this shop in order to choose a Harris Tweed handbag. I had seen one in Edingburgh that I loved, but I needed to make sure there wasn’t something even more entrancing at the actual shop in Harris. As it turns out that bag in Edinbtugh won my heart. Even though I had taken a photo of the bag, I neglected to note which shop had it! I was lucky to find it quickly when we returned to Edinburgh for only half a day.
I took a walk along the harbor on my way back to the Harris Inn. There is a very small marina. It is a late July day, and it’s quite chilly. I really cannot imagine visiting here by boat, but clearly a few other hardy souls are doing it. I wish Bob could have joined me here. He would have gone straight down onto the dock to meet some of these sailors.
The rest of our visit to Harris and Lewis was quite dramatic. We saw the Callenish standing stones and our guide was well versed in telling us the history of that place. It is supposedly older than Stone Henge, and is roughly the age of the pyramids. I was fascinated by the stones that were chosen. They are metamorphic rock, which is the hardest hardest. Somehow the ancient people here moved these stones and set them up so that once a year on the winter solstice the sun moves straight down the path between the stones that run north/south and east/west. Several times a year the sun has a different interesting path through the stones. There is an altar at the north end of the standing stones. The patterning in these hard stones is magnificent, almost like petrified wood grain.
We visited a round house and an entire village of black houses that has been conserved as a museum. They have been well cared for over the centuries, and still have their stone walls and thatched roofs. Our guide is a Harris Tweed weaver, and the loom he uses is in this black house village. These are the style of buildings brought here by the Vikings. They are called ‘black houses’ because they generally had a central hole in the roof for the smoke from the fire to rise, and had no windows so the inside walls turned black over time.
We are inside the black house where there are several docents who are friends of our guide (Tom MacMurray), and where his loom resides in a separate building. This particular house has been left with items from its last occupants, in the 1950s. These houses date much earlier but were in continuous use for centuries.
I’m giving this fabric serious attention while I attempt to design the fabric for my Hebridean ruana.
This is John’s bobbin winder. His recently deceased wife used to wind the bobbins for him. She could wind a whole set of bobbins in about 10 seconds. Hard to imagine (but yes, it is electric).
Tom wanted us to meet another Harris Tweed weaver who has left the company to start her own business, Three Sisters’ Weaving Shed. Since I’ve been home I’ve enjoyed following these three sisters, one husband, and one small daughter through the photos they post on Facebook. I bought a hand painted merino/silk skein dyed by the sister in this photo, who is also the mother of the little girl and the wife of the man in the group. I’m using it in a knitting project, “Golden Poppy” by Elenor Mortensen. I’m almost finished (not obvious in the photo) which will make another project bought and executed in a rather brief space of time! The rest of the yarn is Jamieson “spindrift.”
For those of you who have made it to end of this post, I sincerely thank you for sticking with me on this trip down memory lane. I hope the photos made up for my longwindedness! If you’ve been to this part of Scotland I hope I’ve brought back some good memories for you. I’d love to hear about them. For those of you who have never been to the Outer Hebrides, I hope this whets your appetite for going. My friend Kari had been in Scotland 50 years ago, and her plans to get to these islands did not happen. Never too late. We both loved every minute of our visit.
I’ll leave with with an image of a highland cow that I took on Harris.
…and two of Kari and me visiting the large whale jaw bone installed in the village of Bragar on the Isle of Lewis.
Be well, take time to work with your hands, and enjoy the new year.