Travel to Harris - September 27

Today we made the almost 8-hour journey from Glasgow to the very upper northwest of Scotland on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides.  It was fairly uneventful for the most part . . . once one got use to the lanes that are narrower than oncoming trucks (lorries), the lack of any advance notice of roadway construction (thank god for good brakes), and the occasional squeal coming from his companion riding shotgun and gripping the seat whenever she thought he was in danger of going off the roadway edge and blowing a tire as was done during the previous Scotland trips (see 2012 blog for play-by-play on that event).

We made it to Uig, Isle of Sky for the ferry to take us over to Tarbert, Isle of Harris when we learned that the electricity was out for most of Skye and the Outer Hebrides, including the Isle of Harris.  Betcha it is the queen getting back at all those separatists in the highlands who voted for Independence.

Coming into Tarbert, Harris - A little stormy

Ferry arrived late so we didn't get to Tarbert, on the eastern side of Harris, until after dark and we still had a 20-minute drive ahead of us to get to the Borve Lodge on the west side of the island.  It got a bit dicey when we began to experience rain and gale force winds.  It definitely got dicey when the road narrowed to one-lane with turnouts and we started playing chicken with oncoming traffic.  When we started having to dodge sheep lying in the middle of the road we realized we hit a whole new dimension of absurd.

As we approached the lodge we began to look for a sign.  Ha!  That would have been too easy, nothing doing.  We finally, by the graces of the gods, saw a sign next to a house saying Borve Lodge Estate.  We screeched to a halt, parked, and trotted up to the house at around 9:00 pm and knocked on the door just as, who we thought were the proprietors, were turning out the lights.  Darling Heather and Tony, an elderly couple, answered the door and informed us that while they were once the caretakers, they were no long and that they'd phone Steve and Karen to come fetch us as we were clearly lost.  Just then, in the midst of sideways rain, up drives a pick-up and out jumps Steve and his lovely young daughter (about 6-yrs old), Lucy, both resplendent in Harris tweed vests, caps, and jodphurs.  They graciously escorted us to our "Broch" after bidding farewell to Heather and Tony.

Living Room in the Broch

Steve, explained that he was watching the ferry traffic go by (as there wasn't much else to do on Harris at 8:30 pm) and saw a car pull into Heather and Tony's and figured it was us.  Steve and darling Lucy showed us around our three-story broch (the complete antithesis of the micro-room of the Citizen M Hotel) and Rick and I quickly settled in and had a dinner of meats, cheese, fruit and wine.  More pictures to come in the next post.  Needless to say, it is magnificent.  Can't wait to see it in the daylight.