Friday 4 May

A bitterly cold day, with a steady northerly breeze. There were a few showers, some with hail, sleet and snow. Although it is May 4th, the mercury did not do any better than 6C / 43F. And it felt like it. The occasional sunny spell did nothing for the raw feeling.

The results from local elections came in through the afternoon, and there were quite a few changes in Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the Western Isles Council. The turn-out here was among the highest in the country, with up to 61% in Point, the Eye peninsula east of Stornoway. The turn-out for other elections was down to 24% in places.

I was pleased to hear that a community buy-out is to be considered for South Harris, which includes Berneray and other islands in the Sound of Harris. The estate was sold off in 1925, among other possessions of the late proprietor, Lord Leverhulme. If the buy-out bid succeeds, the whole of Harris will be in community ownership. The movement towards community ownership was started by the people of Assynt (north of Ullapool) in 1992, followed in 1997 by the islanders of Eigg. It has allowed them to determine their own future, rather than being stifled by the whims of an absentee landowner. Community buy-outs are the result of legislation, enacted in 1886, which afforded security of tenure to crofters in the Highlands and Islands.

Thursday 3 May

Today saw a change in the weather, in that we lost the sun. There were a few spells of light rain in late afternoon and early evening and a steady north wind. Spent most of the afternoon uploading the 156 pictures I took yesterday, and putting them on the preceding blogpost. By early evening, my eye caught two craft approaching port at high speed, and one of them looked like our lifeboat. The other looked like the new lifeboat that is being based at Leverburgh, South Harris. I hurried out to Goat Island, in time to see the two lifeboats coming into the harbour. The Lifetime Care was welcomed into its homeport, Leverburgh, yesterday.

Picture post - 2 May

All 156 pictures of the trip can be seen here
Cliasmol School (now closed)

Eastern entrance to Amhuinnsuidhe Castle
Loch Leosavay

Amhuinnsuidhe Castle

Huishinish
Abandoned homesteads on Scarp
Sheep and lambs at Huishinish
Sound of Harris in the distance
Amhuinnsuidhe
Taransay and Sodaigh
Glen Miavaig
Cows near Miavaig
West coast of Harris
B887 near Bunamhainneadar
Bunamhainneadar
Former whaling station at Bunamhainneadar

Community Photo Challenge: Transportation

This poor old wreck of a bus, long since reduced to scrap metal, had been hauled to a piece of waste ground just outside Stornoway in March 2008. In its better days, it would carry the fair maidens of the islands of Lewis and Harris on the annual carnival parade. The phrase "Gals on Motors" is a pun on the name of one of the bus operators in Lewis, who are called Galson Motors.

Wednesday 2 May

A faultless day, full of sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. Just a hint of 'haar' in the Minch by late afternoon. Was driven to Huishinish, 47 miles southwest of Stornoway in the farthest northwest corner of Harris. The last 14 miles to Huishinish lead along one of the most difficult roads in the country. The B887 is not for the faint-hearted, full of blind corners, blind summits, sheer drops and (worst of all) breathtaking scenery on all sides.

The road runs along the coastline, up to 370 feet above sealevel and offers stunning views along the west coast of Harris, with the famed beaches of Luskentyre, Seilebost, Horgabost, Scarista and Northton closed off by the bulk of Ceapabhal, near Northton. Beyond, the distant shapes of Pabbay and North Uist loom up. As today's visibility was stupendous, even the Isle of Skye, a good 40 miles away, stood out clearly to the east. Nine miles into the journey, you pass by the manecured lawns and incongruous castle of Amhuinnsuidhe [pron: Arvensooy].

Once at Huishinish, which took us 2 hours to reach (with plenty photostops), there was a keen northeasterly breeze blowing. However, after an hour, that dropped away and we were left roasting. The views at Huishinish comprise a close look at the island of Scarp, which you can only reach by private boat; and the hills of Uig to the north. Huishinish lies 8 miles south of Brenish (in the farthest west of Lewis). If you want to travel from one to the other by road, you are looking at 78 miles. I took 160 pictures today, which I shall upload later. I close this post with a map showing the journey.


View Trip to Huishinish, 2 May 2012 in a larger map

Tuesday 1 May

A brilliantly sunny day, which saw the mercury at a respectable 13C / 55F. The northeasterly wind kept the edge off the temperatures. Visibility was good, not exaggeratedly so, which is an indication of stable weather conditions. Went for an amble out to Sandwick Cemetery, then back to town, a distance of just over 2 miles.

Rupert Murdoch has been declared not a proper person to lead a multinational media empire. Yet he does, and is not likely to cease doing so anytime soon. However, all the wrong doings happened on his watch and (my quote) in the pursuit of ever larger profits, passing over bodies, lives and reputations in doing so. I agree that he was the one who gave British journalism the bad name it has, impersonated in the Sun and its page 3.

Monday 30 April

Another sunny day, with only a transitory bank of thin, high cloud to mar the enjoyment. Much better than the inches and inches of rain in parts of England. The resulting flooding claimed a life near Newbury, Berkshire.


I finished the transcription of the 1902 report into social conditions in the Isle of Lewis, which made for interesting but at times aggravating reading. It has a distinctly condescending tone,which compares unfavourable with that of the Napier Report of 1883.

There was a bit of excitement this afternoon, when the town and his wife came down to the seafront to see the Norwegian submarine Uredd move into port. Five sailors stood out on deck as she came in to dock on the eastern side of pier no 1. There have been manoeuvres in the Minch of late, but this vessel apparently came in as a courtesy call.

30 April

Today is the last day of winter in the old Gaelic year. Tomorrow, Beltane, will see the advent of the light, and the banishment of the darkness of winter for another half-year. In six months' time, Hallowe'en (All Hallows' Eve) will signal the end of summer, as we remember on 1 November those that have gone on ahead.
In continental Europe, the night of April 30th into May 1st is Walpurgisnight, which serves the same purpose. The town of Zutphen, 20 miles north of Arnhem in Holland, has a church dedicated to St Walpurgis.

In more recent history, April 30th, 1945, was the day that Adolf Hitler committed suicide towards the end of the Second World War. An evil spirit was certainly exorcised at that time.

Queen's Day in Holland

From 600 miles away, I catch a glimpse of the annual Queen's Day celebrations in Holland. It is the day when the Queen's Birthday is being celebrated. Beatrix was 74 last January, but the weather tends to be better in late April. On this day, the whole country has a day off and takes to the street with celebrations, silly games or streetmarkets, where they sell the contents of their attic. The weather is usually good, and likewise this year. Like in Stornoway today, it is sunny. Unlike Stornoway, the mercury is at a very royal 20C / 68F. Here in the Hebrides, we have to make do with 10C / 50F.

The Queen and her family also join in, and each year they visit one or two towns to do so. Three years ago, the celebrations were marred by a deranged man, who crashed his car into a crowd of people, killing 6. But this year, everybody appears to be having a whale of a time, as demonstrated by Crown Prince Willem-Alexander (45). On a visit to the town of Rhenen (midway between Arnhem and Utrecht), he joined in a spot of toilet tossing. Of course, his toilet had to be Orange (just ignore the audio).

Sunday 29 April

After a very cold night, with a low of -2C / 28F, we were treated to a sunny day with reasonable temperatures. After 3pm, a thin layer of cloud moved across the island and stopped just off the east coast. I ventured out for a walk, 5¼ miles round the Castle Grounds. The amble is locally referred to as going Round the Creed, the Creed being the moorland river which is the southern boundary of the Castle Grounds. You start at the Bridge Centre, then follow the coastline all the way to the river. The walkway then veers along the river for half a mile as far as the Iron Fountain. A little garden has been created at the junction of paths there, making for a vast improvement. More improvements were found on Gallows Hill, a 220 ft high prominent hill with nice views across Stornoway. Returned past Lews Castle, which is being refurbished, then back into town.

Saturday 28 April

Today started overcast, but after lunch the sun came out. In spite of the low temperature, only 10C / 50F, it was possible to sit out in the sun (and out of the wind). Read a large section of an interesting book, The Making of the Crofting Community by Dr. Jim Hunter. It is a historical account of how the phenomenon of crofting came to be, and how it has fared over the following 200 years. 

I also went to the Post Office to buy stamps before the rise in prices on Monday. I had five cards to send off for the Postcrossing project (to Holland, Germany, Finland, Taiwan and the USA). As things stand, I have sent and received just over 100 postcards from all over the world since I joined the site 15 months ago.

Dingwall football club Ross County were awarded the First Division Championship trophy today, after an emphatic 5-1 win over Hamilton Accies at home. Ross County is the second club from the north of Scotland to play in the Scottish Premier League, with Inverness Caledonian Thistle (20 miles down the road) already there. Caley Thistle aren't doing too well, being third from bottom in the SPL after losing 4-3 at Kilmarnock this afternoon. Ross County and Caley Thistle will be groundsharing next season, alternating their home matches at the Caledonian Stadium in Inverness.
No, you don't normally find me blogging about football, but this is of regional importance, so that's why.

Friday 27 April

Still a cold day, but far less wind than yesterday. We did have more precipitation: hail showers. In spite of that, I maintain we had the best weather in the country. I have today continued the transcription of a 1902 report into the social conditions in this island at the time, and the focus of chapter 11 was on industries - particularly kelp.

Kelp is dried seaweed, which used to be harvested in huge quantities for the production of gunpowder. However, when the Napoleonic wars ended in 1815, the bottom fell out of the kelp market when a cheaper alternative, dried bird poo (guano), became available again. The cruelty for the west of Scotland was that landowners had amassed large numbers of people on the coastline to harvest kelp - people that were now surplus to requirement. Combine that, 30 years later, with the potato famine, and you have a stamped recipe for disaster.

Dutch society is known to be tolerant, but this tolerance is being squeezed with regards to cannabis. The coffee shops (where cannabis use is tolerated) are now no longer allowed to supply pot to people who are not Dutch. It really should be stressed that cannabis remains an illegal substance, but police tolerate the presence of the coffee shops, provided individual quantities do not exceed 5 grams (1/6 oz).
There are intermittent calls for cannabis to be legalised, or at least decriminalised, but I am strongly opposed to that. Cannabis can have profound effects upon the user, and in susceptible individuals could precipitate serious mental health problems, such as paranoia or schizophrenia. And I hate the stink.

Thursday 26 April

The noteable feature of today was a strong and bitingly cold northeasterly wind, which was blowing at 30-35 mph, force 7 on the Beaufort scale. That is normally not enough to prevent the ferry from sailing, but the direction churns up a strong swell. The freight ferry has been off for several nights now, and even the passenger ferry Isle of Lewis remained tied up all day. Its traffic was diverted the 40 miles south to Tarbert to take the ferry to Skye. The Hebrides was delayed by 40 minutes this morning on account of the volume of traffic. Otherwise it was a bright day with only the odd rogue shower (and rainbow) and the mercury at 8C / 46F.

Murdoch was grilled by the Leveson Inquiry, giving rise to more political controversy. Rupert Murdoch used the excuse that the Nazis used in 1946 at Nuremberg. To quote them in German: Ich habe es nicht gewusst. [I didn't know about it]. And former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor was found guilty of complicity in the mass murder of a million people in neighbouring state of Sierra Leone.

Wednesday 25 April

A very cold northeasterly wind, force 7, is blowing throughout the day, and will continue for the next few days. It will veer north, but that will not make any difference for the temperatures. At least here in these islands, there will not be much rain. That contrasts sharply with the inches of rainfall elsewhere in the country. Snow is blanketing the mountain tops. The strong winds are disrupting our ferry service, with the passenger ferry coming in nearly an hour late this evening, and the freight ferry off altogether.

I am continuing my transcription of the 1902 Crofters Commission Report, which involves cleaning up a slightly messy OCR of the scans. The issues of weights and measures will require some further research. Ain't I glad we now have international standards, rather than the town-by-town units in use in the 17th century.

Tuesday 24 April

Another bright day, but the northeasterly wind is now strong, making the 8C on the thermometer feel even colder than it already is. Fortunately, it being late April, the sunshine compensates.

I am continuing to transcribe a 1902 report into the condition of local crofters, and am coming across some unusual units of measurement. When meal is being doled out, it is measured in bolls, and I'm actually yet to find out how much that is in kilos or pounds. Worse than that, bolls are subdivided into seteen, pecks and lippies. However, when I started to research the issue on the Net, I came across a bewildering array of units, which varied from town to town in the 17th century. In Orkney, a barrel equates to so many lispund. Then there is such a thing as a Last, being subdivided into a chalder, a boll, a firkin, a peck and a lip. The mind boggles, and there is a document full of that. The Earl of Orkney was being taken to task over the fact that his lispunds were make up of 18 lips, rather than 15. Still with me? Me neither. I'll find out more.

Monday 23 April

Quite a nice, bright day with good spells of sunshine, but a cold nor'easter blowing. Our nor'easters are commonplace in spring, and they usually bring fair and dryish weather. I'm not speaking for the south of the UK, which is set to received inches and inches of rain - much-needed, incidentally.

The day started with the surprise arrival of ferry boat MV Finlaggan, which normally plies the route between Kintyre and Islay, in the south of the Hebridean archipelago. Finlaggan is reported to be testing berthing at various ports on the Scottish west coast.

It is reported that last Saturday's traincrash in Amsterdam could have been caused by one of the train drivers passing a signal at danger, known in the UK as a SPAD. Her Sprinter train was less seriously damaged than the Intercity double decker she smashed into. However, a formal investigation is still underway. Still in Holland, the Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, has tendered his resignation after no agreement could be found in his coalition for austerity measures. General elections are likely in late June.

I have often highlighted our high fuel prices, 152p per litre. However, I was surprised to see that fuel prices in London have now reached the same sort of level, 145p per litre (as seen on London Marathon coverage yesterday). For my American readers, that equates to $9.24 per US gallon.

Sunday 22 April

A bright and sunny day, although cloud is gradually increasing as the afternoon wears on. In the sun and out of the wind it is quite pleasant, feeling even warm. But the mercury is firmly rooted down at 10C / 50F.

I was bemused by the tales of woe of a 69-year old, who is walking the 1150 miles from Lands End to John o'Groats, getting stuck in mud, losing her glasses and GPS as well as walking into roadsigns. Just plain mishaps, and not attributable to her age, I should hasten to add.

I was sad to learn in the last hour or so that one person, a woman of 68, has died of the injuries she sustained in yesterday's railcrash in Amsterdam. One of the trains has been towed away from the accident site; the other could not be moved much beyond 200 yards, due to the instability of the train. This is the result of damage, sustained in the 30 mph head-on crash. It is thought likely that the component carriages of the double-decker train will have to be separated before they can be shifted.

Train crash

At 6.24pm local time, two trains collided head-on a mile or so west of Amsterdam's Central Station in the Netherlands. One was headed north from Amsterdam, the other south towards the city. The trains are reported to have been travelling at 30 mph. Nobody was killed, but 136 people were hurt. 56 were seriously hurt, of whom 13 very seriously. The force of the collision is thought to have thrown passengers around in the carriages. The train service west of Amsterdam, including to Schiphol Airport, remains suspended for the evening.

Image courtesy www.rtvnh.nl

Saturday 21 April

A bright but cold day, with the mercury barely into double figures. The little dredger Admiral Day keeps going back and forth to the dumping ground off the lighthouse, after continuing to clear out the inner harbour here.

I spent most of the day rebuilding the blog of a lady by the name of Pamela Hilger. She died 6 years ago, after a 10-month battle against breast cancer. Her blog was one of the first AOL journals, but it was lost in 2008 when AOL pulled its journals service. Using the Wayback When machine on the WWW, I managed to retrieve about 130 entries from August 2003 until November 2005, when she moved to another blogsite. This one was salvaged in 2008; the first blog was not.

Reading back those entries is in fact profoundly saddening, as the outcome is by now known to me. From someone who is blogging about her cats, her daughter and her ex, Pamela changes into a cancer patient, looking only at the positive - whilst all points to the negative. The blog also demonstrates how things have changed in another aspect. Until 2008, blogging in J-land was done several times a day; my old blog Northern Trip would have updates up to a dozen times a day. Now, I manage one, sometimes two entries a day. The rest goes through Facebook and Twitter.

Friday 20 April

Quite a nice bright day, until this downpour trundled past at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Continued the transcription of the Crofter Commission's Report from 1902 about the care of the poor and of lunatic paupers. Generally speaking, the report has quite a condescending tone, but remains a valuable piece of social history of this island.

In the afternoon, I happened to glance into the backyard (which is enclosed by a 7 foot high wall) and spotted a female mallard duck.



She was frantically looking around her and quacking intermittently. Standing in amongst a patch of dandelions, she was soon spooked by a passing bumblebee and flew off. Ten minutes later, an SSPCA van pulled up and the driver rang the doorbell. Did we see a female duck - yes. The duck had flown away in the direction of the sea. The SSPCA man had 5 ducklings in a box in his van who were found wandering in the middle of the road, holding up the traffic. The animal welfare had been called and they were now looking for their mum. Well, to cut a long story short, mum never turned up again. A lady had been located who could look after the chicks, so they got taken away to be reared by hand. The duck had waddled in under a wooden fence, set in the wall. The fence has a 6 inch gap underneath. The duck had not been followed by her brood, who could no longer see or hear her on account of the fence and the noise of traffic.