Day 10 Saturday April 20th Stornoway, Lewis, Outer Hebrides

 We had a calm entrance to Stornoway harbour and the temperature was much warmer than when we were at Kirkwall which was a real bonus.  We breakfasted and had decided on a self-guided walk around Lews Castle which we could see 

heron feeding by river

from the port.   We had to walk through one side of the town past a heron feeding next to the river, over a bridge and enter the grounds.

Lews castle

  The castle was a 19th century creation by a businessman who had bought the island from the now bankrupt original Scottish chieftain.  It was certainly bought with tainted money because it seems this man Matheson made his money from dealing with opium from China.  Anyhow the castle now belongs to the community and can be used for various functions including weddings.  

town from castle grounds

The grounds are extensive and we walked through some woods before we found the castle.   We were able to see some rooms but parts of the castle are let as holiday homes which probably helps with the upkeep.  There was a coffee shop and we enjoyed a very good coffee before exploring more of the grounds which provided excellent views of the town and the harbour.  We followed the 

a marauding viking

path round, I met a marauding viking and arrived back at the entrance.  We did do some shopping on the road from the castle.  It was now heading towards lunchtime and our stomachs called us back to the boat!

We ate a light lunch and went out again to explore the town.  From the map we had been provided with we could see there were twelve churches shown in a fairly small area and we decided 

seal sculpture

to try and visit a couple of them.  We wandered along roads we hadn't been before but although we found several churches disappointedly not one of them was open to the public.  We made our way back to the boat observing by the road a local sculpture of seals.  Stornaway had been an interesting town to visit with plenty to find within walking distance of the boat.  Once on board we went up to the observation lounge watching the port activity and I did some blogging until dinner time.