Our ferry to Ullapool was going from Stornoway so we returned to the town. Our first intention was to visit the museum and we were there for quite a time chatting to the curator. We probably learned more about Lewis life from him than from anywhere else.
Sue went shopping whilst I returned to the car to get a drink. There was little time left to see the place before ferry queue time.
It looks typically Scottish!
Yes, it was really quite a decent place.
But we had a bit of a long wait in the queue for the ferry. There was a problem, which wasn’t with the ferry, but rather with the coach from Surrey we had come across at Port of Ness the day before. The coach had disgorged its passengers who walked onto the ferry. But it wouldn’t start. The panicking pair of drivers went around the coach opening hatches and tapping things. One of them would try the starter motor but it was clear there was a totally flat battery. We were the nearest car. They asked us if we had jump leads. Had we got any they’d have been under all our camping gear and would, I am sure, have been far too feeble to start a coach. Eventually, we went on the ferry and finally we set sail for the mainland.
For the record, the coach did make it. The ferry company had some kind of heavy vehicle which got the coach running. Who knows what happened at the other end!
So, later than expected, we left Stornoway.
The harbour and the castle.
We eased our way through the harbour and out to sea.
Stornoway had its industrial area, much like other harbour towns.
The war memorial towers above the town.
We passed the end of the Eye Peninsula so this was farewell to the Western Isles.
A fishing boat on the millpond-calm high seas.
A huge cruise liner was heading north.
We approached the Scottish mainland – but it is still a long way to Ullapool. The whole journey takes some two and three quarter hours – it’s about twice the distance from Dover, England to Calais in France.
Islands and mountains.
The view from the ferry.
We are close to land but still have a long way to go before we reach Ullapool.
We were reaching waters used by small pleasure craft, though.
And odd buildings could be seen on the land.
A glacial aręte, I believe.
A fellow passenger.
A little lighthouse. We are nearly at Ullapool.
