A Day Ashore in Stornoway, Lewis
Off the ship at Stornoway and out across Lewis: the Lewis Chessmen in the castle grounds, then the Calanais Stones, the blackhouses of Gearrannan and the broch at Carloway.
Words by Hidden Scotland
Cruise ships call at Stornoway, the main town of Lewis, through the season. The biggest berth at the Deep Water Terminal, with buses running into the town centre on cruise days, while smaller ships tie up at the piers right in the middle of town. The Stornoway Cruise Ambassadors meet passengers off the ships with a brochure and maps.
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In the town, Museum nan Eilean in the Lews Castle grounds has six of the Lewis Chessmen. The woods and shore of the castle grounds, laid out from the 1850s and now owned by the community, have a loop with a wide view over the harbour. By the harbour, Stornoway Distillers pour their island gin at an hour-long tasting.
The island’s great sights are on its west side, and they take a tour or a taxi.
01 · West Lewis
The Calanais Stones
On a ridge west of Stornoway, visible for miles from land and sea, the Calanais Stones are a cross-shaped setting of standing stones raised between 2900 and 2600 BC, before the main circle at Stonehenge. At the heart a monolith 4.8 metres tall stands inside a ring of stones, with a small chambered tomb within the circle.
02 · West Lewis
Gearrannan Blackhouse Village
At the end of the road on the Atlantic coast, Gearrannan is a village of restored thatched blackhouses gathered by a small bay. Blackhouses, with their thick stone walls and thatched roofs tied down against the wind, were once the common homes of the Hebrides, and these were the last group to be lived in, until 1974.
03 · West Lewis
Dun Carloway Broch
Dun Carloway is the best-preserved Iron Age building on Lewis, a drystone tower of a kind found only in Scotland, on a rocky knoll near Carloway. It was probably built around 200 BC, and at nine metres it still stands close to its full height, one of only a handful of brochs that do. It is the furthest of these from the ship, so leave time to get back.
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