There were inhabited villages like this one when Neil was a teenager, but today this is an interesting museum.
Notice how the thatched roof is tied down against the Atlantic gales, and the thickness of the stone walls.
A couple of centuries ago, people and cattle lived in these single roomed buildings.
We found that sailing it is hard work, since the gaff has to be dropped and passed to the opposite side of the mast to tack.
The sail is very crude by modern yacht standards, but when we sailed this one in Stornoway Bay, it was almost able to keep up with a modern cruising yacht of same size.
The main halyard is hast to be moved to the windward gunwale each tack, since it is also the windward (and only) shroud supporting the mast.
If you double-click on he photo yo will see the horde fo birds circling over our anchorage
We never see service lake that in Canada.
Of course, it is becoming unnecessary as the Internet spreads.
Despite
their reputation for tough weather, the Outer Hebrides also support palm
trees, such as those in Castlebay.There is a photograph in the pub beside these trees, showing the bay filled with several hundred herring fishing boats, about 100 years ago.
The island has seen a few such booms, but currently fishing is virtually dead.