Scotland autumn 2016, dunes and a blackhouse

I had to get up at dawn to see the sun rise over Stoth Inlet. Then we drove back to Butt of Lewis, to see what the light was like there first thing in the morning. We had some breakfast and it was time to start back south, down the one road on the west of the island.

We passed an intriguing sign to Europie Dunes and had to stop. The people of Lewis are pretty serious about the Sabbath. On that day no washing may hang out and children must not use the playground. The dunes and beach were quite stunning, and almost deserted.

Further down the road in Arnol there are two houses managed by Historic Scotland. The first, an old blackhouse, was lived in by crofters until 1966. People and animals lived under the same roof and the heating came from a peat fire, which burned perpetually in the centre of the house feeding out through a hole in the thatched roof.  Unfortunately the exterior was under scaffolding when we were there.

A new dwelling was built across the road in the 1920's. This is a whitehouse. The animals were kept outside of the living area and the house had hearths and chimneys. Both houses were furnished with appropriate accoutrements. Outside there was a stone cattle byre which had the appearance of a maze.