Wednesday on Lewis Island

Today we took a ride to and a walk on Lewis. It is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland. It is way up there!

The day started out nicely with looming clouds but no rain. We even stopped for a sighting of a golden eagle. It was clearly visible with just your naked eyes as it flew almost directly overhead but everyone wanted to be able to count the feathers. So out came the binoculars, monoculars, and telephotos lens for everyone. 

The view was also outstanding. Here is a panoramic photo of the area.

Next stop was for a walk on a long trail where we would get a chance to visit a 4-8th century iron age house that was discovered buried in the sand. It was discovered in the 1990s, excavated, and then restructured. We got to view the inside and received a wonderful explanation from the women who works there all summer. You can see it in the back ground.

From there (and after a lunch on the beach) we set off on our hike. It started out windy and then the rains came, and came again. 🌧 Everyone ended up in their rain gear: raincoats, rainpants, rain hats, ponchos, etc...

We were able to snap a few photos of us when the rain let up ocassionally.

We also came across a couple of the local highland cow. Both the males and females have long horns and shaggy coats. We were told that they are very docile but no one tried to pet one. (This is a mother and her calf. The males are even bigger.)

And one last photo as we wrapped up our walk today. We have never seen so many buttercup flowers before.

Everyone was pretty wet by the end of today's walk but very happy. After getting back to our hotel, we set out all of our wet clothes in our room to dry. We all met together for a delicious dinner at the hotel.

All-in-all, it was another fine day! 😴