We sailed to Scotland and reached the Hebrides!!

I am sorry, but this post will be long. I should have splittet it into two but now it became like this. It is about the whole way from Isle of Man, through Scotland and back to our hometown Florø, Norway.

We said goodbye to Port St. Mary on Isle of Man. It was a pleasure to stay in the port there, and the people had been so nice to us.

Isle of Man is really a place we want to go back to!

We were so lucky we could stay inside the breakwater, even if I had to use a long ladder to climb!

Port St. Mary

Port St. Mary

The weather was calm in the morning and we were on our way before 8 o`clock!

A beautiful morning!

On the top of the hill you can see the “cafe” we visited the day before.

Green hills.

Calf of Man Lower lighthouse and Calf of Man Higher lighthouse. Calf of Man is the island south of Isle of Man. It is possible to sail through the sound between the main land and Calf of Man, but because of the wind and the stream we decided to sail around Calf of Man.

On the south side of Calf of Man we passed by the Chicken Rock lighthouse.

You can read more about Chicken Rock here:

https://www.nlb.org.uk/lighthouses/chicken-rock-2/

Due to the weather forcast we had a plan to sail to Scotland to hide in one of the fjords. But the wind was not on our side and we didn`t wanna sail through the night with too much wind. So we decided to anchor in Glenarm in Northern Irland. Of course we should have been ashore here so we could say we had been to Northern Irland, but we had to set sail early in the morning to reach the next destination.

But it looks like a nice place! We had a plan to stop in Belfast, but when you are on the way home and the time is running and the weather is against you, you don`t have time to stop every place you want.

Beautiful with all the green fields.

Late afternoon we arrived in Tayvallich, a beautiful small village in Loch Sween. The anchorage lies in a lagoon and is sheltered from almost all kinds of wind. We took a bouy and stayed here for one night.

Lots of boats in the bay.

We saw a lot of trails on the map so we went ashore to do a hike.

Some of the houses close to the dingydock.

You will find a cafe there but we didn`t visited it because we had dinner plans in the boat.

North Knapdale Parish Church Tayvallich

We walked by a playground. But no kids were playing even if this is Sunday.

We walked along a gravel road first, then we took off to the right and walked on a trail in the forrest.

A little bit uphill!

When we came up to the top we had a nice view to the fjord.

Nice trail and the weather was almost like what we were used to in Norway, we were expecting rain…

We thought we were walking uphill, a little bit on the top before downhill, but on the top it was flat for a while. Really nice to walk.

We walked along Lock Sween.

On the way along the peak we met a local guy with a lovely dog and we started talking. And he told us he had been sailing to Florø (our hometown) some years ago and had a story to tell about checking in to Norway. That was fun. But suddenly it started to rain and we had to run!

A bit downhill….

… before coming into the forrest and got a little bit sheltered from the rain.

Nice trail!

Beautiful colours this time of the year!

Down from the hill and we walked along a lake.

Then it was asphalt to walk on, but not much traffic.

Back to the village and now it was sunny.

Here we could have stayed for many days, so quiet and calm anchorage!

We walked to the end of the bay where we found a camping site. There were also a restaurant.

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From the end of the bay towards the village.

After the hike the wind had turned and we sailed out of Loch Sween and north to Loch Craignish. There we anchored in Ardfern Lagoon. And if the last anchorage was beautiful, this was even better! Many boats, but no people onboard. It was so quiet and when we woke up the next morning it was like paradise!

So quiet!

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We had a plan to sail to Oban to fill diesel but Astor checked a website and found out they had diesel in the marina just around the corner. So we sailed there to fill up. We didn`t paid the tax because we were sailing out of Scotland, so it was one of the cheapest places to fill for a while.

We had heard so many nice things about Oban so we sailed there anyway. And we had to do some shopping, because we didn`t know where the next possibility was. Here we also took a bouy for a night.

We went ashore to do some shopping, but it was already late afternoon so we didn`t had time to check out the town.

Oban

The next morning we set sail again to sail west to the island of Iona.

Iona

We anchored outside the village on Iona. Iona is not a big island and the most important things you will find around the village. The ferry is going from here to the mainland so be aware to anchor outside the ferryline. We took the dinghy ashore to the beach but it is not the best place because of the big differense between low tide and high tide.

A memory of all the fallen people in the WW1.

In the village.

Iona Heritage Center and Iona Parish Church. We tried to stop here on the way back from the Abbey but unfortunately it was closed.

Many beautiful gardens on the island.

Right before the entrance to the Abbey you will find St. Oran`s Chapel. I have heard in many years that we could find a church on Iona which is simular to a church on Kinn, the westernmost island west of our hometown Florø. And I guess this church has to be the one. The big differense is that the church on Kinn is still in use, and has been in use since it was build around year 1100. This church on Iona was build at the same time.

Inside the church.

This church was the burial chapel of the McDonalds Lords of the Isles. It was build in the 1100s and it is the oldest intact structure on Iona. Here is a collection of elaborately-carved West Highland grave slabs.

The church seen from the other side.

Iona Abbey

It is one of the oldest Christian religious centres in Western Europe. The abbey was a focal point for the spread of Christianity throughout Scotland and marks the foundation of a monastic community by St. Columba when Iona was part of the Kingdom of Dal Riata. Saint Aidan served as a monk at Iona, before helping to reestablish Christianity in Northumberland, on the island of Lindisfarne.

In the 12th century, the Macdonald lords of Clan Donald made Iona the ecclesiastical capital of the Royal Family of Macdonald, and subsequent Lords of the Isles into the early 16th century endowed and maintained the abbey, church and nunnery. Two of the Macdonalds (each named Angus) became Bishops of the Isles with the bishop’s seat at Iona.

The building to the right is the entrance to the Abbey, where you buy tickets. When we told the guy we were Norwegians he said they have had bad experinces with Norwegians (Vikings) before…

St. Martin`s cross. This is Iona`s early high crosses still standing in its original position.

Abbey Church

Abbey Church

Back on his feet

It is said that the miracle-working statue of St. Columba stood in this niche. Only his feet remain, but you can see the saint`s outline recreated in contemporary wire form.

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Book of Kells

This book is believed to have been produced by the monks of Iona in the years leading up to 800. The book we could see in the museum is a replica. In 1654 the governor of the town sent the book to Dublin for safekeeping. Henry Jones, then Bishop of Clogher and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dublin, presented the manuscript to Trinity College in Dublin in 1661, and it has remained there ever since, except for brief loans to other libraries and museums. It has been on display to the public in the Old Library at Trinity since the 19th century.

How it was many years ago:

From the seaside

After walking around in the abbey we took a walk to the northern part of the island. This is the Abbey seen from north.

Iona Pods

We walk by a farm.

The highest point on the island.

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World of Women

This was the realm of Iona`s women, where a community of nuns worshipped in a strict round of services and private prayer. Founded around 1200, the convent flourished for more than 350 years.

Many nuns came from noble families. The convent provided refuge for unmarried daughters, widows, illegitimate girls and estranged wives. Far from leading lives of proverty and seclusion, these women had daily contact with the outside world. They supported themselves financially, living off income from nunnery lands on Iona and beyond. Until the 1600s, the south shore of Mull`s Loch na Keal was known as “Leirnavalloch”, meaning “hillside of the nuns”.

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We had a plan to eat lunch on Iona and we saw a cafe close to the Abbey, but unfortunately when we arrived there they had no food left. The next cafe was in the harbour, so we went there and bought one portion of fish`n Chips. It was too expensive to buy two. We took the food back to the boat and had lunch on the way north. And finally the sun arrived and it became really nice weather.

The Abbey seen from the sea.

It has been many viking raids on Iona and I haven`t told you much about it yet. But the most tragic episode was on this beach, Martyrs` bay, in year 806, 68 monks were massacred here.

In 1114 Iona was seized by the King of Norway, who held it for fifty years.

Here is the video from Iona:

Now we were sailing to the Hebrides and on our way we made pizza. Normally the weather out here is windy and I was not happy to go there, I would rather do the Caledonien Canal to avoid bad weather. But the weather forcast was good and Astor really wanted to sail to the Hebrides.

One good thing with nightsailing – sunrise!

The Hebrides

We arrived in Stornoway, Hebrides, in the evening, and we had a beautiful journey from Iona.

We couldn`t have ask for better weather on arrival on the Hebrides.

Stornoway

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Lews Castle. This is a beautiful hikingarea, unfortunately we didn`t had time to visit.

The marina is a perfect shelter for bad weather and we had a warm welcome by the harbourmaster.

So quiet!

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The next day we rented a car so we could see more of the island. We had a small problem when we picked up the car, because we needed two example of proof of address, like electrisity bill or something. And when you are sailing for a couple of years that is not easy. But we found what we needed and we got the car. We drove first to the northern side of the island because we wanted to visit Butt of Lewis Lighthouse. This is a flat area and we could see far away.

And it was not a curvy road!

Unfortunately the road to the lighthouse was closed, so we couldn`t go there. So we turned around and went to Eoropie Beach instead.

It is a beautiful beach with huge waves coming in.

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Don`t want to go swimming here!

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Shawbost Norse Mill and Kiln

We drow further south on the island and stopped to see Shawbost Norse Mill and Kiln. From the parking it was a nice view to the lake.

Shawbost Norse Mill and Kiln is a renovated pair of thatched buildings used in past times to process barley grain into meal.  The Corn Mill and kiln were in use right up till the 1930’s, showing its useful location.

The Norse Mill and Kiln buildings give a very rare glimpse into the Scandinavian past of Lewis. The mill was powered by water from the stream from the nearby Loch Roinavat.

The two building serve two different purposes, the Kiln is, as it describes, is a drying room with a raised stone floor and fire pit underneath to prepare the corn for milling. This building is on the right as you approach.

The other building on the left, has a mill laid running through the middle of the building to drive the paddles and mill wheel.  The two stones rotated and also moved a feed hopper to drop grain onto the rotating wheels

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Gearrannan Blackhouse Village

Our next stop was Gearrannan Blackhouse Village. Facing the Atlantic lies the blackhouse village of Gearrannan, an evocative port of call for anyone trying to understand a way of life once very common on Lewis. This is a unique place in a beautiful environment.

Although people lived in this area of western Lewis in the Iron Age, as witnessed by nearby Dun Carloway, “modern” settlement here dates back to the 1600s. For over three hundred years people eked out a living here; lived, died, paid their rents, or were quickly evicted if they didn’t. The 1886 Crofting Act gave crofters a security of tenure they had never had before, and patterns of living and farming changed as a result. The blackhouses you see in Gearrannan today, though seeming much older, date back only to the end of the 1800s.

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Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of life in Gearrannan was how far its inhabitants had to go to earn a living. In May 1920, as part of an annual cycle, seven teams of three women from the village left for Stornoway to process fish. They then followed the herring to the east coast of Scotland then down to eastern England, only returning home at the end of the season. In 1934 a team of three sisters from Gearrannan won the title of “Supreme Champions” in Lowestoft for gutting, salting and layering a barrel of herring faster than anyone else.

From inside of one of the houses.

The main room at the museum

The village lies close to this bay.

In Gearrannan, oil lamps were replaced by electricity from 1952, and in the 1960s piped water arrived in the village, though it still had to be fetched from outside taps. This brought to an end the tradition of communal washing of heavier laundry in the loch, with water heated over open fires on the shore. And from 1965 a daily milk delivery started, ending the need to keep a cow and grow the crops to feed it.

By the 1970s those who could leave had left for easier and more modern accommodation nearby, and only five residents remained in the blackhouses. In 1974 the last occupants moved out, leaving the blackhouse village to the ghosts of a way of life now gone.

Today the village offers residents and non-resident visitors alike a shop and a café. There is also a remarkable collection of self-catering accommodation on offer in the village sleeping from 2 to 16. In the morning you can wake up to the sound of Atlantic waves, while in the evening you can relax in front of a welcoming fire. Each blackhouse has its own character, and is named after the family who once lived there.

On the Hebrides you can find many standing stones. And our next stop would be to one of them. It was hard to find a place to park the car and the visit center was closed due to renovation. But finally we found a place for the car and we could walk to the standing stones.

It was in a beautiful area.

Calanais Standing Stones

The Calanais Standing Stones are an extraordinary cross-shaped setting of stones erected 5,000 years ago. They predate England’s famous Stonehenge monument, and were an important place for ritual activity for at least 2,000 years.

Patrick Ashmore, who excavated at Calanais in the early 1980s writes: ‘The most attractive explanation… is that every 18.6 years, the moon skims especially low over the southern hills. It seems to dance along them, like a great god visiting the earth. Knowledge and prediction of this heavenly event gave earthly authority to those who watched the skies.’

The Western Isles would have been a lot warmer 5,000 years ago, and food and wildlife were plentiful. The extensive ritual landscape around of which Calanais is a part, speaks of a thriving and sophisticated society.

The form of the site and the artefacts found during excavation also show that this community was part of a wider culture which involved the construction of earthen enclosures known as henges and impressive circles of timber or stone.

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Standing stones from above:

After the standing stones Astor wanted to drive further south to Tarbert. It was a beautiful day but we didn`t search for places or what to explore before going there, so Astor drove to Tarbert (I was quiet, sleeping in the car… ). In Tarbert it was not much to see, only a ferry terminal and a few houses. So we turned around and drove back to Stornoway.

There were some nice viewpoints were we had to stop the car and take a photo.

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We drove back to Stornoway and delivered the car. From the car rental we walked back to the marina. It was a beautiful evening.

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Early morning and it was time to leave the Hebrides. I am so happy that we manage to sail here.

Here is a video from the Hebrides:

We sailed over to the northern part of Scotland before we headed north to Shetland. Due to the weatherforcast we decided to sail on the western side of Shetland. It took us 40 hours from the Hebrides to the northern part of Shetland. Through the night we didn`t see other boats so we could relax and also sleep a lot. We arrived in North Roe after sunset. It is a huge bay and no one else was anchoring there so we had the whole bay to ourselves.

Unfortunately we didn`t had time to go ashore because we had to sail our last distance back home to Norway. It looked like a quiet place. We have been on Shetland three times before so we have been in this area with a car earlier.

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Our journey from Shetland started very quiet and after six hours we still could see Shetland. After that it was better wind and we could sail for many hours. But when we came closer to the coast of Norway the wind picked up, in the wrong direction, and it was no fun anymore. We had a plan to sail directly to Florø, our hometown, but late in the evening we decided that was not possible and we took the shortest way to the nearest marina, which was Bulandet, a bit south of Florø. We arrived there at 2 o`clock in the morning and it was difficult to moor because of the wind, but after many attempts we were safe and we could go to bed!

The next morning we went ashore to the supermarket where we found fresh bread. The supermarket is right on the harbour.

And we were ready to sail the last leg towards Florø. The weather was much better than the day before, the sun was shining and the wind was calmer.

After 6 hours of beautiful sailing we arrived at home in a beautiful weather.

Finally in the guest harbour in Florø! Many people were waiting for us, it was flag, fanfare and champagne!

The last mile!

A happy couple after 2 x 40 hours of sailing the last days!

This has been an amazing journey, from we started in Greece in June 2022. We are so happy we did it! Now we have so many memories from the trip, we have seen so many beautiful places and met so many beautiful people!

We will now live in our boat and we will continue writing this blog, so if you like to know how it is to sail in Norway, pls continue following us! And if you like to see how it is to sail in the westernmost part of Norway, you are welcome to visit us!

We would like to thank you all for reading this blog, we really appreciate that!