Day 6 - The Isle of Harris

We arose this day to what we have come to expect - blue skies and sunshine. This is Day 6 of our tour and it is the Sabbath. On the Islands of Harris & Lewis, it is strictly observed which means that absolutely nothing is open for us to visit. But Alex has a little gem of a treat in store that he is not ready to divulge. So we head out south of our hotel to view the lovely beaches and hills of South Harris.

As we head south, we encounter rocky, almost mountainous terrain. As in North Lewis, the soil is sparse and the rocks are prominent and the lochs are everywhere. However, as we proceed southward, the rock slowly gives way to fields of grass for this, as is all of Harris & Lewis, is sheep country and, though sheep will find sustenance if there is the least amount of green, they flourish in grassy pastures. Many of the sheep are with yearlings, the lambing season having just passed. Also, at this time of year on Harris & Lewis, the landscape is dominated by white. The buttercups have peaked weeks ago and the heather is still months from their blooming. The dominant flowers are the the large bushes of sea holly with their white blossoms and the ground growths of what appear to be common and oxeye daisies. Also in profusion are wild yellow iris. This is similar to what we have seen throughout our trip so far.

As we crest a hill, we see in the distance a wide line of flat white for which South Harris is well known - white sand beaches. We finally reach a hill overlooking this particular beach and I am struck by the similarity to our own Caribbean waters. Except we are viewing them from 50 to 75 feet above the sea level, something that is not possible along our Gulf coast unless you are looking from the window of a high rise condominium. And there are now mountains in the background. However, the waters are still that clear azure blue of the Gulf waters that look so inviting. Warm though they look, I am assured that the water is quite frigid and would not be suitable for swimming without a wet suit.

Just south of this point we come upon vast piles of igneous rock rolling down to still more sand beaches. This looks just plain strange to us Southerners that have spent time along our Gulf. However, I am reminded of locations on the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico along the Caribbean where craggy cliffs fall into blue waters. In particular, at the Mayan ruins of Tulum, I was surprised to walk to the top a what I thought was a rise in the rocky ground and find that it was, in fact, a cliff overlooking the cool, azure waters of the Caribbean. (This explained why a people of considerable intelligence would create a city in a seemingly hot location.)

We loaded back into the coach an proceeded on our southward journey with the lovely Atlantic waters on our starboard. Eventually we came to Alex’s surprise location for the day - St. Clement’s Church perched high on a hill overlooking the sea. Alex had been given information to a hidden key that would give us access to this ancient house of worship.

St. Clement’s was built by the Clan chiefs of Dunvegan and Lewis in 1520 to be used as their burial place. Though it fell into disrepair after the Protestant Refor-mation (as did many Catholic churches) in 1520, it was rebuilt over two centuries later by the MacCleods. It is used today for regular services and was, in fact, used by the head chef of our hotel in Tarbert for a wedding just the previous weekend. (Alex felt that the head chef’s absence affected our meal that night.)

Adjacent to St. Clements is a lovely local hotel, the Rodel. It lies on the southern coast of Harris at land’s end and has it’s own small harbour. Though the hotel has only four bedrooms, it boast a quite large restaurant that Alex had commandeered for our lunch. As you might guess, their specialty was seafood. While Amy had and excellent bowl of Cullen Skink, I had the Seafood Casserole, described as “Local Seafood with Vegetables in a Rich Tomato Base”. It included three large head-on langostines that took a bit of work to fully enjoy.

With our bellies full, we roamed the Rodel property taking in the views of the Sound of Harris. Across the Sound we could see the Isle of North Uist in the haze. As we wandered the grounds, I espied a clump of scallop shells lying on the shelf of a cleft in the rocks overlooking the sea. Linda decided that Alex, with his long arms, would be able to reach them. However, Alex, as it turns out, is rather put off by heights and refused to get near the edge. To the rescue comes Tim Keeler, a man of great bravery and, obviously, reach. He managed to scarf two of the coveted shells, one of which he gave to Linda. He tried to give the second to Amy, but she refused, insisting that he had risked a great deal for the treasures. We debated at some length how the shells got on the shelf. The consensus is that they were left by seabirds after a feast of the mollusks.

Taking leave of the Rodel, we enjoyed a leisurely drive back up the beautiful coast of South Harris. Before returning to the hotel, we made a late stop at the Ardbuidhe Gallery, the home of Willie and Moira Fulton. They apparently spend their day there by the sea producing works of art.