We landed safely at Tarbert on the Isle of Harris after a relatively uneventful voyage. Many years ago I did a similar crossing from Lochmaddy to Uig and was incredibly sea sick. Thankfully all the ships nowadays are fitted with stabilisers making for much smoother crossings. This was to be our first visit to this part of the Outer Hebrides so we were like excited children.
Our first day was spent driving round South Harris to places like Rodel and Leverburgh. If Pat was hoping that we had left hair raising roads behind on Raasay she was to be disappointed. Nearly all the roads here are single track and they wind up and down and round about in dizzying fashion. However, if like us you are in no rush it can make for very pleasant driving. You just pull in and let any traffic past. We hardly had any traffic though in the warmer months it might be a different story. By way of compensation for Pat there were golden eagles everywhere. “It’s just a golden eagle” was often the reposte to my “what’s that?”
There are lots of galleries and craft places here and some were actually open. This one, the Mission House Studio at Finsbay was fabulous. It’s run by Beka (fine art photographer) and Nickolai Globe (ceramic artist). Their stuff was so good we actually parted with some cash! Yes, that good!!
Ruling classes
When we got back to Tarbert where we were staying, the Harris Hotel was just a couple of hunderd yards down the road. Would they have scones? It’s a very pleasant place built in 1865 by the Earl of Dunmore. We thought it was interesting to look at past owners. Obviously there was the original Earl followed by Sir Edward Scott, followed by Lord Leverhulme, followed by Sir Tom Sopworth and then Lord Brockett. Do you notice a theme running through these names? All from the tax avoiding ruling classes. 
We are grateful to our Ballachulish correspondent who sent us pictures of some creative placards from the recent anti-Brexit march in London. One million people attended. They certainly sum up how we feel and emphasis the point that toffs really are terribly terribly unsuited to government … golly gosh, yes!
Today the headlines read “MPs seize control!” which makes us think “the lunatics have taken over the asylum!“. Every time we think it can’t get any worse, it does. Let’s hope those one million marchers have some effect.
Doubts creep in
Nowadays they are not at all fussy who they let into the hotel … our presence being proof of exactly that. Warmly welcomed, we were still recovering from the worst of the effects of the fresh air when a couple of warm scones were plac
ed in front of us. Just sitting there looking out over the gardens was pleasant enough in itself and our lovely scones did nothing to detract from the cosy illusion that all was well with the world. Not topscones but we thoroughly enjoyed them nevertheless. Some time back, when we were on the Orkneys, after a run of topscones, we developed a theory that the further north you went the better the scones got. We are starting to have doubts. None so far on this trip.
Vandals
In one of the corridors they have a display case containing an old window from the hotel’s dining room. It’s there because in 1912, J M Barrie of Peter Pan fame scratched his initials in the glass. Must have been a fashionable thing to do at one time. He joins a list of illustrious artistes like Robert Burns who vandalised windows all over the place.
Honesty
We are letting you see this picture of Croft 36 because, for us, it see
med to sum up life on the Isle of Harris. It’s a café shack at the side of a little road on South Harris near Northton. Inside there’s a cauldron of scotch broth, hot pies and quiches, patisserie style baking including scones … and a price list. You just help yourself to whatever takes your fancy. There’s no one there, just an honesty box .. fantastic. In hindsight we should have bought some scones but they only came in packets of four so we didn’t. Stupid, they might have been topscones!
HS3 3DL tel: 01859 502154 Harris
ps: Telephone boxes in this part of the world seem to be located either in people’s gardens or other places difficult to get to. Perhaps it’s testament to the strength of the winds they get up here that this one at Finsbay had lost its door. It wasn’t operational but it had been manufactured at the Saracen foundry in Glasgow.
The Harris Hotel was very nice and we managed to have a couple of nice meals there besides the scone. When we were in having our scone a lady came in who had missed her connecting bus to Strond which is south of Leverburgh in South Harris. She said she had been to a hospital appointment in Stornaway and having missed her connecting bus she would have to wait until 6.30 for another, this was about 4.30. Anyway she would get a bus to Leverburgh and then have to walk about a mile to get home. She wasn’t a young thing either. We found out the next day that a local had given her a lift home. Thanks to that person.