Dun Charlabhaigh Bloch

One of our discoveries in the Outer Hebrides was a building type called a “broch.” These hollow, Iron Age structures are found only in Scotland and are thought to have served a defensive military purpose, a kind of forerunner to medieval castles and towers. Most surviving brochs are only a couple of meters tall but Dun Carloway Broch on the Isle of Lewis reaches 9 meters in some places. Bending low to climb inside, we could see the unique double wall construction, with the two walls converging as they reach the top in an Escher-like twist.

Black Houses

The skeletal remains of “black houses” dot the Outer Hebrides. The white stone foundations and crumbling walls are what’s left of crofters’ homes built in the 1800s and inhabited until the 1940s and 50s when the government built mortared “white houses” to replace them. Some of the picturesque, thatch-roofed cottages have been reconstructed next to their more modern offspring and serve as outbuildings. Others have been restored as museum pieces like Gearannan, a settlement we visited on our tour. The houses, with few windows and insulated with double stone walls packed with dirt (sometimes 5 feet thick), were heated by a central, peat-burning fire pit. A hole in the roof allowed the smoke to escape - a chimney was a luxury. The family’s livestock—typically two cows, a half-dozen sheep, and a couple dozen chickens—were sheltered in one end of the cottage while a kitchen/living room and a separate, communal bedroom made up the other part. It’s the kind of dwelling where an early Northwest pioneer would have felt at home.

5,000 Year-Old Standing Stones

On the Isle of Lewis, atop a hill overlooking a western sea loch, is one of Britain’s best-preserved Neolithic sites. Older than Stonehenge, the Standing Stones of Callanish comprises 47 stones arranged in a cruciform with a circle where four avenues or rows meet. Most of the stones are 1 to 2 meters high but the center stone stands 5 meters high with its long sides oriented almost perfectly north-south. Within view a kilometer away are a dozen other stone circles, stone arcs, and standing stones.  Who created Callanish and why here?  How are the multiple stones connected? Theories, legends, and mysteries abound. Was this a communal temple or lunar calendar device? Are the stones petrified men who refused to convert to the local religion? Mysteries are good and the stones still give a tingle when touched. This was definitely the highlight of our five-night trip to the Outers.

For Peat's Sake - Black Lines Across the Landscape

Dried Peat Blocks

Knife-sharp cuts stand out in the peat bogs where the island people have harvested this year’s fuel supply. Many Hebridians still heat their homes with peat and use it in cooking. From March to mid-June, slicing into the bogs and removing square chunks is a family affair. We saw rows of bricks laid out to dry in the peatbogs and herringbone-stacked piles in the backyards of most houses. When dried, the blocks are hard as coal. At the Hebridian Smokehouse—one of North Uist’s biggest employers with 14 full-time employees—the manager told us that the peat used in smoking the salmon is gathered by the workers as they collect their own personal supply. Peat “grows” at only one millimeter per year, but the bogs stretch for miles and seem to hold the promise of fuel for years and years to come.

Peat Bog, Peat Cutting and Peat Blocks Left to Dry

Hebridean Textures & Colors

Grasses, Heather and Rocks - imagery and colors for those island woolens/Harris tweeds.

The Outer Hebrides - The Far, Far Northwest

Isle of Lewis

Sunbreaks lit up the gorse-covered hills sheltering Loch Seaforth as we boarded the 4 hour evening ferry in Ullapool, headed for the Outer Hebrides. This is the farthest north and west we’ve traveled: a desolate but beautiful string of 50 islands in the North Atlantic, of which only 15 are populated (and sparsely at that, with about 26,000 people). Not only do the Western Isles share the same latitude as Alaska: they also have an unforgiving landscape and climate and hardy, resourceful residents who speak a native language and practice a subsistence lifestyle like their Norse and Gaelic ancestors who started arriving here in the 3­rd through 12th centuries. 

Isle of Harris (of Harris Tweed fame, and this is a color image)

Isle of Benbecula

Visitors' Impressions

Martha & John; Jonah & Deidre; Ric, JoAnn, Jenay & David; Randy & Karen

The “Barton Inn” has been busy in May, hosting guests from Portland. We’ve enjoyed showing off our temporary home and seeing Glasgow through our friends’ eyes. Here are some of our visitors’ impressions:

The Towers: Ric & I were struck by the distinctiveness of the city's old & new architecture, with not much in between. I thought the more I looked up, the more interesting things there were to see. We loved the eclectic collection of the physician (William Hunter) from the early 20th century (in the Hunterarian Museum), and the energy of the city on Saturday when walking downtown. Marvelous.

Jonah and Deirdre: As far as surprises about Glasgow, the big one is what a substantial and wealthy place it was on the world scene between 1850 and 1900—the “Second City of the Empire”—and how that manifested itself in so much proud civic architecture that is still in place today (“Victorian piles,” I believe you called them). We also did not know about Glasgow's intense commercial ties to both the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War. The shipbuilding legacy was also impressive and very cool. Then, there were all the wonderful bridges over the meandering river walkways. (Those Scots do know bridges!)

Martha and John: Glasgow has long had a reputation as a gritty industrial city, but we found it to be an attractive destination. The areas we saw, the West End and the City Centre, seemed to be thriving with a vitality belying any hardships caused by the loss of industry in recent decades. We were impressed with the museums and restaurants we visited as well as the green spaces and gardens linking parts of the West End.  Throughout Scotland we were impressed by the friendliness of all the people we encountered as well as their lilting accent. It's true that we were occasionally unable to understand everything that was said to us, but it sounded lovely. We always felt safe, never worrying about thieves and pickpockets as in some European destinations. One thing that surprised us, aside from how cold it was in late April/early May, was how little the Scots seem to identify with the British. Scottish flags were everywhere, with nary a Union Jack to be seen until we reached Edinburgh. We were there during the U.K. national election, and saw only yellow and blue signs for the Scottish National Party. We were also there when the royal baby was born; however no one but a lone young receptionist at our hotel seemed to give a hoot. Scotland feels like its own nation, leading us to conclude the voters' decision to remain in the U.K. last fall must have been a gut-wrenching one. Our last great surprise was to learn that today fewer than 500 people own over half of the land of Scotland. There's definitely a connection between the historic land ownership system of Scotland and the waves of 18th and 19th century impoverished Scottish immigrants to the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Karen and Randy: Glasgow’s graceful, blunt, red and tan sandstone buildings, tinged with black from its coal era; green walks along the River Kelvin; the marble staircase off the City Council building fit for an emperor’s palace; the Kelvingrove Museum’s enigmatic crucifixion by Dali, plus the skeleton of a giant Irish deer; fish ’n chips and grilled sardines and monkfish cheeks; the friendly people--cabbies, waiters, clerks; drams of Jura and Oban whisky; the Madrigirls' clarion songs; British trivial pursuit 1950-1970 over cafe lattes; the angels’ share (and more) of warm and tireless hospitality by cousins Rudy and Rhonda who made it all easy for us, and delightful.