Callanish stones and Arnol Blackhouse, Isle of Lewis
Overview of our tour
More on Callanish
More on Arnol Black House
Walking possibilities
Although we were staying down on the east side of Harris, the drive up to Lewis was relatively short - it's barely an hour from Tarbert to the stones at Callanish. The drive along the A859 takes you across the south-eastern slopes of Clisham, the highest mountain in the Outer Hebrides. I wasn't able to climb it on this holiday, but at least I got a view of it from the main road! There were still patches of snow on the summit, although the heavy falls from earlier in the week had disappeared from the lower slopes. The views on the other side extended across Loch Seaforth which slices through the hills for about 20km.
If you're staying in Harris for a few days you'll probably want to spend at least one of those days in Lewis. This story is more a car tour than a walk, but it will give an idea of the attractions that can be visited and some short walks that can be added at different stages.
Our main objective was the Callanish Standing Stones, one of Scotland's most outstanding prehistoric sites. It's not unreasonable to call it "Scotland's Stonehenge", although it's probably older and it has the advantages over the English equivalent of being able to walk close to the stones and having an excellent visitor centre, shop and restaurant close by. It also has an impressive setting, looking out to the south.
We were also keen to visit a black house, having seen so many ruins of black houses around Harris. There are two locations just off the loop of the A858 road north of Callanish where these can be seen. We picked the Black House at Arnol rather than the Blackhouse Village at Gearrannan, for no particular reason. We also missed out the Carloway Broch (a circular stone tower around 2000 years old), another significant heritage site which we thought might be a monument too far for the two 10-year-old girls. There was much more to interest them at the Black House than the stones, although they found things to buy as presents for their friends at the Callanish shop.
The girls also enjoyed stopping off at the Whalebone Arch at Bragar, a few miles before reaching Arnol. These massive bones were from a blue whale which met its fate on a nearby beach, and they looked bigger than similar arches I've seen in Dundee and at the Meadows in Edinburgh.
A little further on from Arnol we turned right onto the A857 south-east to Stornoway. If we'd turned left it would have taken us to the Butt of Lewis lighthouse at the tip of the island.
Down in Stornoway we were looking for a cafe for afternoon tea. We parked in the town centre and did a circular walk through the pedestrianised street and back along the main road, but were disappointed not to find one. We headed back to Harris, passing a couple of entrances to Lews Castle grounds along the way.
There are good roadsigns to show you the way to this and other visitor attractions along the road. It's a short detour from the A858, and just before the turnoff there's another sign to a subsidiary stone circle up to the left. This can be combined with the main site on a walk linking the two (see below).
We parked in the neat car park along with friends who were staying down in Leverburgh and walked up towards the Visitor Centre which draws on the traditional black house style of building. First we wanted to see the stones and so we continued up the gently sloping path, pausing to look at an information board on the way.
There are information boards at various points giving plenty of background information on the stones, their possible purpose, and the excavation of the site. Apparently they had been largely submerged by peat to a height of about 2 metres before they were revealed in the 19th century. They are now thought to be older than the main circle at Stonehenge, dating back to around 3000 BC. There are believed to be connections with the numerous other prehistoric sites around Lewis and further afield. It's hard to imagine the type of society that must have existed then, devoting considerable efforts to erecting these monuments, and having some sort of cultural and trading links with other communities in Scotland and further afield.
The stones rose up ahead of us behind a fence at the back of a field with sheep. To the left was a grassy knoll with a couple of big rocks on it. To the right the gate into the enclosure with the stones. There are lots of them, spread out in 5 lines around a circle. The two longest lines stretch north towards Callanish township where we could see a black house nearby operating as a tea room. In the south-western corner were the separate, later remains of a house with a corn-drying kiln.
We all wandered round slowly, taking in the different perspectives of the stones, and taking photos. The weathered surface of the individual stones was beautiful to look at, as well as the overall presentation of the array of stones. There's not much more can be said without copying it out of the guide book. It's a very impressive site and well worth the visit.
There was some discussion as to whether the rocky knoll at the south end might have had some significance in relation to the stones - it was a bit higher than them. One large stone might even have served as a sacrificial altar (this was the imagination starting to go a bit wild). In any case it provided fine views over the loch and hills to the south and west.
The visitor centre served its purpose very well, with a good gift shop, an audio-visual display, a good cafe with pictures on the walls and relaxing views through the windows, and clean toilets.
The Gallery has many more large images of the Callanish stones.
This was about 15 miles (24km) from Callanish and a pleasant drive, past the signs for the other attractions. We had a short stop to see the whale bones at Bragar then followed the sign through Arnol to the Black House situated a few hundred metres from the shoreline. In fact there are several buildings there, managed by Historic Scotland - the ticket office and shop; the main Black House with its surrounding drystone wall; another ruined black house across the road without a roof; and a contrasting White House next to the car park.
We bought our tickets and went around them all. The Black House was most interesting and fun, with a little fire in the middle of the main room creating a drift of smoke in the air, only some of it finding its way up through the hole in the thatched roof. There was a minimal amount of artificial lighting to recreate the effect of a century ago, and plenty of period furniture and implements to make it seem that the owners might have walked out a few minutes earlier. The girls enjoyed being in there, trying out the curtained beds built in to the side of the next room, and even posing above the chamber pot!
The back door led to a grassy yard with a stack of peat, and a little stone gate leading back onto the road. Crossing to the roofless black house there was much less to look at except the layout of the stones and rooms. The walls seemed complete, just missing the roof beams and thatch.
The White House was so called because it had harled walls. It also had a second floor which was closed to visitors. Each of the two downstairs rooms were set out with displays of furniture and implements from 40 or 50 years ago. Some of these houses would have been refurbished and turned into modern dwellings, but often they too were abandoned like the black houses and new ones built nearby.
An additional Gallery has many more images of both the Black and White houses.
These are taken from the books mentioned on the summary page, which can be bought at Tarbert Tourist Information Centre to provide detailed route guidance.
From Callanish standing stones there's a walk of about 2.5 miles (4km) taking in the two subsidiary stone circles to the east and the jetty with a view over Loch Ceann Hulabhig, although some of it is along the road. It requires 1.5 - 2 hours (both books).
At Carloway Broch a 5 mile (8km) route can be followed mostly along the clifftops, taking 2-3 hours (Welsh).
A coastal walk on old paths can be followed for up to 10.5 miles (17km) from Gearrannan Black House Village to Bragar, or for shorter sections between townships along the way (Williams).
At Arnol a shorter walk from the Blackhouse crosses to Bragar via the coastline, 5 miles (8km) and taking 3-4 hours (Welsh).
Barvas and Brue are just north-east of Arnol, and both books describe a route of 5.5 miles (9km) using old tracks partly along the shore and past lochs, taking 3-4 hours. It sounds like a good way to finish off a summer visit to the heritage sites.
Lews Castle Grounds, Stornoway - the castle was once a college but is now closed. However the extensive parkland is the best area of mixed woodland in the Outer Hebrides, spreading over a couple of small hills, and has a network of paths to explore. There are two marked trails of 2 miles (3km) and 3 miles (5km) with an information board at the entrance to the grounds reached from the Tourist Information Centre via Cromwell Street. The two routes can be combined for a longer walk (Williams).
If anyone has walked any of these routes, please let us have your walking story!Contributed by Andrew Llanwarne
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