View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Monday 22 February 2010

Visit to Arnol

Decided to take advantage of the sunny weather and head out of town to Arnol. That is a small village, 15 miles northwest of Stornoway. It is famous for the Arnol Blackhouse, a restored blackhouse of the sort that people used to live in until the 1970s. I did not visit the Blackhouse, which has halved its entrance fees, but instead went to the RSPB bird reserve at Loch na Muilne (Mill Loch), half a mile away. The weather was brilliantly sunny, but quite cold. There was a lot of snow around (although not deep), and the moor was frozen over. The loch was also frozen over, and there were no birds. The only birds of note were a group of three geese, some starlings and chickens and geese in a farmyard. There were also plenty of cats about, and some kids having fun on swings and roundabout by the junction.

Arnol has a remarkable collection of ruined blackhouses, and some of the ruins show a progression from blackhouse to modern house. The village also overlooks the shoreline along to Bragar and Labost, further west up the coast.

As I type this, the 91 pictures are uploading, so I shall post a selection of these in a later post.

1 comment:

  1. Glad you were able to get out and about today. I got out to work but that was it. It rained the whole day but due to so much snow, we still cannot see the ground...

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