This Lewis beach, Bosta, is not only a lovely white beach on Great Bernera. It was also a farmed area in Iron Age / Pictish times with settlements. A reconstruction of an Iron Age house opens on warmer months.


This Lewis beach, Bosta, is not only a lovely white beach on Great Bernera. It was also a farmed area in Iron Age / Pictish times with settlements. A reconstruction of an Iron Age house opens on warmer months.
Four thousand years ago a Neolithic conversation in Callanish went as thus:
“Why don’t we stand huge fekin’ boulders on top of this hill?”
“They weigh five heffers each! Why?”
“Lets do it on the longest….no shortest day.”
“Eh Why?”
“Lets put them into the same pattern as the lights in the night sky, as god commands.”
“Come again beardy”
“No look over there, that group of hills resemble a sleeping woman. Lets do that !”
“Have you been smokin’ kelp weed again hairy? Word to the wise, keep magic fire away from that face.”
“I know. We’ll knock-up a prototype stone circle here on this hill here then build a bigger one 1,000 beardlengths over there. In that one lets bury the bones of Morag the Mammoth”
Today we have no clear idea why Neolithic Scots created the stone circles at Callanish. Without written history things get lost. We excavate, scan, carbon date and take arial surveys to guess how it was done and hope it leads to why. I love follies and curiosities and some very special buildings. You might guess the how, but never get the why. Neolithic Scots – I salute you. What is your ‘Callanish’ ?
This is a random collection of blade, rock and bows photographed on Harris.
On leaving the campsite on Isle of Harris Scotland I noticed someone waiting for a bus, so I offered a lift. One of many pleasures of rural Scottish highlands is be friendly and you get friendly. They love to share the island and the culture with you.
Hebridean weather is driven by the jetsteam and prevailing south west atlantic winds. I experienced many changes from sunshine, howling horizontal rain, oodles of rainbows then beautiful sunshine – within an hour. Photography becomes a waiting game, but unlike most places it changes quickly so you often get your wish many times in one day.