The Western Isles

For an unemployed person, I seem to be awfully busy... So here's the Outer Hebrides (also known as the Western Isles) breakdown:

Without a doubt, the Outer Hebrides are one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The people are reserved but also incredibly generous; the terrain is rugged and changes with every curve you round; the beaches are breathtaking; the sheep are everywhere. Like seriously, everywhere.









They are also not always quite so cute:



Most of these sheep are meat sheep so their fleeces are, um, not so much with the valued. Most of them are "blackface" or Cheviot (pronounced chee-vee-it in the Islands). I only saw one herd of Hebridean sheep while I was there. When I asked a weaver why, they said it was because they aren't good meat ship and they only have fleeces that are about 1.5 pounds or so. They are cute, though; tiny and black and skinny little things.

After taking We stayed with Margaret Cowie at her beautiful home in Leverburgh, Harris. Margaret is a fabulus cook and was really kind and conscientious with my whole deathly immune reaction to gluten thing. I seriously could have stayed with her the entire trip. Screw the Orkneys, screw Loch Ness, screw it all I'll take the Hebrides any day.

Overlooking the Atlantic:



The changeable face of the South-eastern coast of Harris:



The Southern tip of Harris looking out toward North Uist:



A cove near Geocrab on Harris:



The foreground is covered in wild iris but we were just about a week too early for the bloom... I will post the rest of the Hebrides portion tomorrow; it's too image-heavy for one post.