We left the Royal Hotel to drive to our next accommodation on the Isle of Harris on a Sunday morning.
If you are intending to travel in the Outer Hebrides you need to be aware that on a Sunday most businesses are closed and there is no public transport. Therefore, if you need to purchase supplies or refuel the car it has to be done on another day. There is a strong tradition of Christian church-going on the islands with Church of Scotland and Free Presbyterian Church being predominant. If you intend to eat out you will need to find one of the restaurants that does open and it is best to book a table, as the few that are open, are very busy particularly in the holiday season.
Our first visit on the way to our next accommodation was the Eilean Glas Lighthouse that is on the Island of Scalpay, North Harris.
In 1787 the original Northern Lighthouse Trustees approached Captain Alexander McLeod of Harris, the owner of Scalpay, to request that a beacon be erected on the island. The Northern Lighthouse Trustees preferred construction team was not available as they were building the Mull of Kintyre Lighthouse. McLeod’s own men independently started the construction in 1787, laid the foundations and raised the tower walls to seven feet. In 1788 the Trustees’ engineer, Thomas Smith, found that McLeod’s men had built the tower 4 feet greater in circumference than was planned. To save time and cost, they continued on the larger scale and the construction was completed in 1788. The lighting equipment was fitted in 1789 and the Lighthouse was first lit on 10 October 1789 with its first keeper, Alexander Reid, in situ.
The current lighthouse was erected under the supervision of Robert Stevenson in 1824 and the lightroom was raised to 25 feet above the ground level bringing it to an elevation of 73 feet above sea level. In 1907 a fog signal was installed and the light was changed to one with a flashing character, although the fog signal was discontinued in 1987. In 2019, the lighthouse underwent a major refurbishment and upgrade with LED optics and a system that automatically makes a telephone call to the Northern Lighthouse Board headquarters to report faults in the event of failure of the light. Things have certainly changed from the days of the first lighthouse keeper.
We then drove to our next accommodation near Leverburgh, South Harris through the main town on Harris, being Tarbert, and passing through places like Nisabost Beach.
We had been told that the Outer Hebrides could have four seasons in one day but so far we had been lucky with the weather. The next day we had booked a trip to the St Kilda Archipelago, a World Heritage Site and National Nature Reserve, that lies 41 miles off the west coast of Benbecula in the Atlantic Ocean. We had been advised that a trip to St Kilda could easily fail due to the weather particularly the rough seas. We crossed everything for good weather and calm seas on the next day.
Words and photos: Copyright John Cruse 2024