Rhonda Bracey: At Random

Today we started off with a drive to the Seaforth Harris Tweed premises, where we spent 2 hours learning all about Harris Tweed – its provenance, how it’s made, the processes that MUST be done on the Outer Hebrides islands to be called ‘Harris Tweed’, the act of parliament that preserves the tradition of it being called a ‘hand-woven’ fabric, the ups and downs and ups again of the textile industry, etc. And we watched Iain, the foot-pedal weaver, demonstrate how the tweed is made. Fascinating stuff!

The day started off brilliantly – no wind, lovely sunshine, just a magnificent day. One of those days where you say to yourself ‘I could live here!’. But 2 hours later the weather turned really bad, with heavy rain, grey skies, bitingly cold wind that at times was horizontal, and a wind chill factor of maybe 1C (the max was 6C). The sort of day you say ‘Who the hell would choose to live here?’ 🙂

How the day started

Arriving at the Seaforth Harris Tweed location

1934 Hattersley pedal-driven weaving loom

Examples of Harris Tweed made by Iain

2 hours later…

We visited the Blackhouse Village and had lunch there, and saw the Atlantic Ocean beating down on the beach, then we went to the Callanish Stones, one of the oldest standing stone circles in the world, and much much older than Stonehenge. Along the way we saw lots of cute little white cottages and homes, but equally a lot of abandoned ruins that were likely abandoned many years ago during the land clearances etc. It was bitterly cold at both the Blackhouse Village and the Callanish Stones — and the bus was invitingly warm and comfy and we were wet and chilled to the bone! By the time we returned to Stornoway (just 16 miles away), the sun was out again! Go figure.

Atlantic Ocean from the Blackhouse Village

Callanish Standing Stones