Framedlight

I had another early morning wake up call and left the van very quietly, as we were parked cheek by jowl to the other happy campers in this tight spot. The van was just across the road from the sea and Harris was giving me another ripping sunrise. Even more gaudy than the one the day before. I watched as the colours intensified and then waned to an overcast sky. I have sneaked one camera movement shot into this set. Back at the van we had breakfast and then were on the road. We drove out of Huisinis and back towards Tarbert. Strangely the road passes straight past the front door of a rather grand estate and we observed some tweedy figures going into the big house. The light was an odd yellowish colour as we motored the length of the east coast of Harris down to Rodel at the southern point.

We intended getting to Harris by the end of the day, but we were determined that our trip out from the Uig peninsula should be as interesting as possible. At Camas Uig we stopped the van next to a large wooden replica of one of the Lewis chessman. This Viking chess set was found in a small stone chamber at the top of the beach in 1831. The pieces, which had been carved from walrus teeth, are thought to have been made in the 12th century, during the period when the Vikings ruled Scotland. The set is in the British Museum, not a popular place for exhibition with the Scots. We walked down to the dunes on the beach, presumably it was this shifting sand that had disclosed the treasure. Retracing our steps to the main road we came across a little stream and waterfall which I stopped to photograph from a slightly precarious position balanced on the rocks at the side. As you can see the weather was quite dark, although not actually raining and we made a spurt to r...