Week 5: Gap Year
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| Uig |
Five days into my first stay on the Isle of Lewis and it has provided a much needed time-out from work, responsibility, and much needed time with the family before heading back down south where the Goethe Institute awaits me in London. Stornoway, the only town on the island, is originally quite interesting, but flags after about an hour, a bit too small and not a lot of shops, but then again that is what I like about Lewis. What my cousin Hannah would call "A rip-off version of Iceland, the Isle of Lewis has several features similar to an Icelandic landscape. An impassable labyrinth of sharp, granite, metamorphic, gniss rocks. Weaving, long stretches of road that made us all wonder whether or not Top Gear could put on their show here, the only issue being that ballsy sheep inhabit the roads, they don't shift for many people. Blustering and powerful winds on occasion, this is an environment where nature controls man, but there is something about the island which does make it appealing.
The sun finally decided to come out on an unexpectedly consistent basis this evening, however since arrival the sunshine has been brief. The cloud has not damped the spirit of the break on this strangely entertaining wilderness island, the one blip in the entire being that I had completely forgotten to order my robes for graduation to pick up the degree; a classic error on my part. Nevertheless the issue has been resolved with some early morning phone calls. The beaches on this island have varied from unending stretches of sand to small but charming beaches in very secluded environments that made me wonder, if these beaches had been in the Mediterranean they would be crowded with people. However if that had been the case people would have certainly undermined the landscape and particularly rendered the water less bright a sight to behold than the beaches situated in Lewis. I have never seen water so clear and light blue in the United Kingdom than on the beaches of the Isle of Lewis. Certainly the beaches here have entered my top three beaches I have seen in my lifetime so far. Nevertheless paddling has been the furthest I could commit to the freezing temperatures of the Atlantic, although perhaps later this week I may risk the dingy the family have brought up. Although usually when I end up losing something this time someone else in the family decided to take the heat off me when Auntie Katrina dropped the keys on perhaps the largest beach on the whole island. What ensued was a crisis of unfathomable proportions, three cars one of which would have had to have been abandoned in remote place on a remote island. Dad, Uncle, Aunt and myself searched for an hour, however I figured if the keys had been dropped on the beach that would have been picked up by someone else. I found them underneath some seaweed near the shore, a needle in the haystack and another triumph to add to quite a week. I was on a role, hundreds of pounds saved and a whole lot of hassle apparently! The 'Miracle of Seilebost' will evidently go down in history....
That was the first day, and to add to the chaotic first day we were all wondering whether it was viable for me to run on a Sunday, my Uncle wondering whether the fanatical religious population would convict me of heresy for such a crime. The population on the Isle of Lewis prides itself on maintaining religious traditions (Protestant), with many of the members still able to speak Gaelic. The playground we passed today had the following reading:
"Sunday Usage: It would be appreciated if members of the public would respect the wishes of the community by refraining from using the playpark on the Lord's Day."
That moment arrives when someone tells you not to do something and you just want to piss that particular person off nearly arrived, but I refrained from engaging in using the playground. Seriously though, this Island has destroyed one or two childhoods. Despite this though the playgrounds put the ones down south to shame and we were not pursued by the zealous population for heresy for running. The Yorkshire man who had previously drilled in Gabon thought otherwise to the island's traditions in his Inn where we dropped for some monkfish, tea, coffee and beer.
The hamlet of Uig provided some mild entertainment, (pronounced like you would Ug) where the Lewis chess-pieces well-renowned in the chess world were discovered in the 12th century carved out of walrus ivory probably in Scandinavia. They may constitute some of the few complete, surviving medieval chess sets imported most likely by marauding Viking raiders pillaging slaves, lifestock, and fish. Coffee and cake followed by two bacon sandwiches, with a glimpse of sunshine. We also managed to get a look at some pre-historic ruins the standing stones of Callanish near the house which were fairly impressive, although their purpose apparently isn't know, worshiping the most likely or an ancient playground.
Yesterday we got the chance to visit the Harris Tweed factory, which turned out to be quite entertaining. The last time I visited a factory was back in 2002, the coffee factory in Stuttgart and Mercedes Benz car factory. This little factory turned out to be quite a globalized business kept afloat at times by none other than the Japanese on the other side of the world. The factory employs about one-hundred and seventy people, possessing the look of a traditional cottage industry (one computer) but thoroughly up to date with the economic shift from the West to East Asia in recent years and demands necessary to adapt, impressive given this it is quite an isolated island. The process was very industrialized, however it was a bit too loud to understand to hear how it was all done, as they were not used to giving tours. Dad may have enjoyed it, he used to wear a tweed jacket until the office told him for presentable purposes to replace it with a suit.
Today, was a walk along the Butt of Lewis on the northern tip of the island, about 3-4 miles along some cliffs with black and jagged faces, but will plenty of wildlife, oyster catchers, gannets that dive bomb into the water, sheep (naturally) and even a couple of seals with their heads poking out of the water glistening in the sunshine, which by-enlarge was a welcome replacement to cloud this afternoon. Highland cows were also spotted. Lunch by the cliffs and lots of good opportunities for photographs of the landscape, although having Arctic terns dive-bomb you when you approach isn't an ideal situation to place yourself in. Oafish prance.
Three runs so far have convinced me that this place pushes you as a runner and cyclist. This should be marked down as a great place to cycle for various reasons. There are few cars, numerous hills to give the average cyclist a challenge and smooth roads and you get clean, sea/countryside air.. You may not get your cycling tan, but it is replaced by breathtaking views of traditional Scottish highlands and rewarding cycles along the coastline of the island. I have marked it down as a possible future place to test myself. However without the road bike it has been replaced by some challenging cross-country running in boggy, heavy terrain which is like running in sponge at times, exhausting and sweaty, but you get quite a view when you reach the summit of even the medium sized hill. You look one way you see Stornoway down the valley, the other the intimidating highlands and a few perplexed sheep.
Wildlife spotted by family:
- Arctic Terns
- Red Deer
- Whale
- Dolphins
- Seals
- Ravens
- Gannets
- Oyster Catchers
- Sheep
- Highland Cows
- Geese
- Five Rabbits
- Spencer Matthews on his way to Inverness.
A barbecue to round off today as well!
Matthew Williams
