Arnish Lighthouse

<![CDATA[ Over the weekend, I had the opportunity for a drive round the West Side of Lewis. The result was a good collection of pictures, some of which I would like to share.

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Old crofthouse at Brue

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The Arnol Blackhouse

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North Shawbost

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Dalbeg and its loch

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Beyond Dalbeg's stack

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Roineabhal near Balallan as seen from the Pentland Road at 7.30pm

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Sunset near Grimshader

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Windturbines on the Arnish Moor

The last picture does not convey the sound made by the farthest turbine, which was rotating at the time. I took the sunset picture near Loch Orasay, a mile to the south, and could still hear the hum of the generator. Imagine the sound when all three turbines are working; imagine the sound made by 180 turbines... Who said windturbines were quiet? The visual impact is of course the greatest. ]]>

<![CDATA[ I copy a communication I received today from the Scottish Islands Federation, formerly the Scottish Islands Network.

The Scottish Islands Network is undergoing important changes in the aftermath of the ESIN conference in Islay in November 2006. This will allow the network to develop and become a more representative body, on a par with other European islands organisations.

This is why it is changing its status from network to federation. From now on it will be called the

<![CDATA[ Monday's times for sun and moon to rise and set at Lerwick seem to suggest that Shetland has gravitated to the Antipodes. Could any of the Shetland bloggers confirm they are now basking on a beach in Tahiti?

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Information from Press & Journal, 14 May 2007 ]]>

<![CDATA[ Last week, during my foray off Lewis, I had occasion to visit the Isle of Bute. Was a bit unfortunate with the weather, in that it rained during the first 3 hours, but had some decent sunshine later on.

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Standing Stones at Kingarth

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Approaching the southern end of Bute

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View of Glen Rosa, Arran

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Choppy waters in the Kilbrannan Sound

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Rothesay
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The Serpentine, Rothesay ]]>

<![CDATA[ In the 1880s, Lord Napier conducted an investigation into the conditions that cottars and crofters found themselves in, in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Excessive rents, insecurity of tenure and summary evictions were the main complaints, which gave rise to civil unrest. The rising at Braes, Isle of Skye, prompted the establishment of a Royal Commission by Prime Minister William Gladstone.

Its findings have now been published on the Net by Lochaber College Mallaig. I would like to thank Westword, the monthly paper for Mallaig and area, for bringing this to general attention. The report is published as five PDF-files, which require Acrobat Reader to be installed on your computer. LCM is hosting the files on the servers of the UHI Millennium Institute, as they could not cope with the volume of traffic themselves. ]]>

<![CDATA[ The cruiseliners have started to arrive with a vengeance: TWO in port this Saturday (12th) morning. The Arielle lies anchored outside the harbour, as she's simply too big for the port.
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The Explorer, which paid a fleeting visit to Stornoway last summer, now lies anchored firmly alongside pier no 3.
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A shinty team from Lewis travelled down to Glasgow last weekend to play the Glasgow Mid Argyll twelve. The islanders went down 6-0, having already been down 4-0 at half-time. Nonetheless, it was a first foray into the national camanachd scene, and this trip will have been useful experience.

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