Tell me about Lewis

That is, ‘Isle of’ Not ‘Inspector’
Anyone been, lived there, weather in general, people & community etc.
Mofta bed now but will check in tomorra.
Thank you!

My Mrs is from Lewis and we visit at least once per year to see the out-laws.

Typical insular island community – which can be good and bad. Everybody knows what you are up to, but folk tend to help each other out. Lots of Lewis folk still leave their front doors unlocked.

The Free Church still has a massive amount of control. Alcoholism is rife (these two facts may be connected). There’s no cinema, and few other social venues other than the pubs.

It’s windy. VERY windy. Go over to the west side and there’s nowt between you and the Americas. This is also handy if you like surfing as there are some great beaches for it.

Petrol/fuel and other costs are higher than the mainland. But if you want to cut peat, you have a cheap source of winter heat.

It’s dark all winter – but you get long summer days.

Some of it is very bleak (Harris – actually part of the same island – is more scenic, has better mountains and beaches).

Forget mountain biking – unless you want to go to Harris.

email in profile if you have any specific questions.

I miss the F1. Why is it on a break! [boohoocrybabyface]

+1 with Druidh I have in-laws there too

There are three to four days of very special trails to be had if you centre yourself near Tarbet….which might be Harris.

WINDY

Outlaws from up there too. As Druidh says, the various free churches have significant influence over the older community and local authority. Can be difficult to get your head round their strict adherence to the ‘Sabbath’, particularly in the outlying areas.

Stornoway is the only sizeable settlement and has the look of a busy wee fishing port. There is bugger all for teenagers to do and the place is jam full of pubs. The women generally look like Subo, which might explain the unbelievable amount of drink consumed on a regular basis.

Young lads who work the boats can afford fast cars and make the most of them on the empty roads. Darwinism can result.

The interior is vast and bleak, the coast is rugged and very windswept.

Harris is far more impressive from a wilderness, pure beaches, mtb, varied landscape point of view but the bible thumpers are rife and the ageing population is in decline.

Nice to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.

Thanks for those replies. Just me & Mrs Gruntfuttock were talking about going for the simple reason it looks like there’s no fecker else there (hardly). We’ve just been to Islay which was lovely but still not empty enough for me, ( sounds like I should be on a completely deserted island!)
Might give Harris a try & take some time to check Lewis out.

if islay isn’t empty enough for you then you’re likely not to find lewis and harris that satisfying. it is a tad of a bugger that these places remain relatively settled enough to lack that isolation that mainlanders do so love as a holiday destination. if it’s deserted you want then gruinard seems like the ideal destination for you.

i did live in lewis for some years andy while the descriptions above are familiar they’re not really the island i recognise. also, if it’s movies you’re wanting to see in stornoway this month they’ve everything from transformers to the tree of life and that’s not in the screen machine either!

Gruinard would be cheap as well

Had a great couple of weeks surfing there a few years ago. Wild camped at Dalmoor beach for most of the time, had the beach to ourselves 99% of the time (bar the residents of the graveyard). Couple of sessions with a guy called Angus, who camped with us for a night.

There were a few weird moments looking back at the beach to see 50 tourists on it, look again and they were gone. Coach parties, not halucinagens!

Good: Amazingly clear water, seemed to be less salty(?), barely colder than SW England, powdery white sand. Good, consistent surf on our doorstep. Got some good sessions at Europie and Barvas, too. Inquisitive seals. Great sea cliff climbing on the oldest exposed rock in the world. Some interesting old stuff to look at: Carlaway Broch, Gueranin Blackhouse village, Callanish standing stones. Stunningly beautiful place when the sun’s out.

Not so good: Bleak as **** when the sun’s not out. A quote about Lewis from some literary travel wag ran through my head a few times: “… a bog-spattered, midge-infested wasteland.”

Huddling in a tent in the rain, divvying up leftovers on a Sunday because you forgot to do your shopping in advance.

Our 4 friends starting a 2 month stay with 2 days of big, clean, hollow, empty waves, getting massively excited about the 2 months ahead, then it going flat for 5 weeks before picking up in the last 2 weeks when the rest of us came out. They’d gone slightly crazy!

And the midges. The midges are amazing. For an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, you’d better be out in the surf, up on a cliff, inside, or wearing a midge hat and wearing well sealed clothing with no gaps, otherwise you’ll be dancing!

Gruinard would be cheap as well
well it would be wouldn’t it? I remember it from a lesson we had at college about biological warfare.
Still, there’ll be no sheep either I suppose.
I didn’t mean THAT bloody deserted! 🙄 😉

Gruinard Island was cleaned up years ago…

I can confirm the presence of sheep on Gruinard.

If you really want isolation grab a copy of Hamish Haswell Smiths book on Scottish Islands and hire a Sea Kayak 😉

Gruinard Island was cleaned up years ago…
Didn’t realise that Druid (thought Anthrax lasted for ever!)

If you really want isolation grab a copy of Hamish Haswell Smiths book on Scottish Islands and hire a Sea Kayak
Sea kayak!! I have enough trouble getting my Mrs on the ferry!

**** it, we just want somewhere quiet, peaceful & where I’ll be happy with a load of sea fishing gear & a moontin bike. 😐

Just for a holiday??

The islands are definitely quieter once you get past the summer months. I’d go with your suggestion of Harris. There are a couple of decent MTB routes, loads of fishing and a couple of days worth of sightseeing if you’re into that. Avoid Tarbert and Leverburgh and you should be able to find somewhere with no neighbours.

stevie750 – Member

Gruinard would be cheap as well lol 🙂

Heres the Visit Scotland add 😉

Lewis is the most populous of the western isles by quite a margin. However… if hell is other people don’t move to somewhere sparsely populated. The more isolated you are the more you become involved with the people around you. Go to England if you don’t want to talk to people. 🙂

We got a cottage on Muck for cheap, right on the beach, only about thirty people on the island. wouldnt bother with the bike tho.

Remember Molly Campbell? She lived on Lewis but she walked off one day to live with her Pakistani father’s family in Lahore. I got flamed on the old ST forum at the time for suggesting she was better off away from Lewis and living in the warm sunshine with her extended family and since then I’ve met someone who knows her mother and confirms that the mother was rather upset because the child benefit was paying for her copious consumption of, er, “liquid sustenance”.

We went years ago on a 3 week OTC camp, based at RAF Stornaway. We had locals driving round the perimeter on a Sunday looking at us through binoculors to make sure we werent doing anything that could be regarded as work.

Nice enough folk and I’m glad I’ve been…..each to their own but I can think of (literally) hundreds of places I’d rather go on holiday. Midgie infested bog and far too much religion.

No-one has mentioned the abandoned cars! They just dump them, whats that all about?