While I was awake at sunrise – which was around 5 AM – I didn’t get out to photograph as I had hoped.  I think the time change and the fact I had been up travelling made me just want to relax.   My cottage is in Bhaltos (Valtos) and has a most magnificent view of beautiful beaches including Cliff Beach.  I explored the immediate area for about an hour and a half and then made my way back to Achmore to meet up with Alasdair Caplin, a local musician whose band has toured all around the United States.  Ali, as do many locals, cuts his own peat to heat his house and I met him at his peat bank.  Everyone is allocated a peat bank and Ali’s is also on communal grazing land in Achmore. I was curious to see how peat was cut so got a quick overview and then tried my hand at it! Not easy!   Ali is an accomplished folk musician and I wanted to photograph him with his fiddle.  We went to his house in Stornoway and I learned that he is also a gifted pianist.  He played his relatively new violin for me – made by hand in Switzerland.  He is excited to be going on a life-long journey with his new violin as it ages and becomes even richer in tone.

After leaving Ali I drove back to Bhaltos with a stop on the island of Great Benera and a visit to Bosta beach, truly one pf the most beautiful beaches I have seen.  There is a modern war cemetery right by the beach and an easy path down the rocky hill to the sand and sea.  The land here is another common grazing area and there were several sheep and two Highland coos sharing the space with the humans who were making their way down to the beach.  So, another day in the Hebrides has come and gone and I am ready for more exploring tomorrow. I will try to find the Uig Sands where the Lewis Chessmen were discovered and take a drive north of Stornoway.