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Breasclete

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    • Day 107

      Isle of Harris & Isle of Lewis

      August 23, 2022 in Scotland ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

      The largest island in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland is Harris and Lewis which share the same landmass. It’s actually the third largest island in the British Isles after Great Britain and Ireland and covers an area of over 810 sq miles (2,100 sq km). We spent three days here relaxing on the beach, seeing some of the numerous broch's, an ancient henge, as well as the largest town which was tiny Stornoway. This was the furthest north we've been swimming in the ocean.

      Isle of Harris and Lewis were much more rocky then Isle of Skye and also had many more sheep. We has to drive very carefully as they were often beside and in the road. These sheep had to be marked with multiple colors instead of just one ... there were thousands. The only way to get to these islands is by ferry which runs from two towns, also grocery stores are not open on Sundays which caught us by surprise. It's that quiet. That being said the island was charming and scenery beautiful. Scotland also is home to some of the world's best beaches on these 2 islands, but you have to tolerate the cold water as well!

      Speaking of the Broch, this one caught us surprise. Our BnB was titled the Broch View Apartment. We did not know what that meant when we booked it. After we checked in, we noticed there was a Broch visitor center and Broch parking across the street. It wasn't until we were checking out that we finally went across the street to see the local landmark. It was amazing! All we could see from our BnB was a stone wall, but (as you can see from the pictures) it was a an ancient fortified dwelling and local heritage sight. The Broch was basically a big stone egg with an elaborate interior. To enter the Broch, it seems you had to walk a spiral staircase between the inner and outer shell. That would have made it highly defensible! Very impressive.

      For those of you not familiar with the island we circled it on a map picture.
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    • Day 78

      Callanish stones

      July 18, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

      Die Callanish-Steine ​​wurden vor etwa 5.000 Jahren von neolithischen Menschen errichtet. Obwohl die Steine ​​mindestens ein Jahrtausend lang als Drehscheibe für rituelle Aktivitäten dienten, ist ihr genauer Zweck bis heute nicht genau bekannt. Die am weitesten verbreitete Theorie, die auf jüngsten archäologischen Ausgrabungen basiert, besagt, dass die Megalithen als eine Art astronomisches Observatorium oder als Himmelskalender fungierten.
      Sie sind älter als Stonehenge, und im Gegensatz zum weltberühmten Megalithbau sind die Callanish Stones für die Öffentlichkeit frei zugänglich.
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    • Day 24

      Calanais Standing Stones

      September 20, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

      Wir fahren auf schönen Strassen durch die Berge, keine Bäume, keine Sträucher, nur Gras, Felsen und Moos. Und ganz viele Seen, nicht ein einziger Blick gelingt, ohne irgendwo einen See zu sehen, erst recht nicht, auf einem Aussichtspunkt. Die Landschaft mutet sich wunderschön an und wir geniessen die Fahrt. Es gibt wenige Ortschaften, wenige Leute und noch weniger Verkehr. Wir sind schon jetzt verliebt.

      So fahren wir gemächlich ohne Stress immer weiter, so lange, bis wir in Calanais Standing Stones & Visitor Centre ankommen. Hier ist so etwas wie das Zentrum der Inselsehenswürdigkeiten. Es gibt nämlich zwölf Steinkreise nur schon in dieser näheren Umgebung. Und beim Visitor Center steht der grösste, Caldragh Idols. Es ist nicht wirklich ein Kreis, sondern ein Kreuz, das vor 5’000 Jahren errichtet wurde. Das Kreuz stammt aus der Zeit vor dem Stonehenge Denkmal und war mindestens 2000 Jahre lang ein wichtiger Ort für rituelle Aktivitäten. Es gibt insgesamt fast 50 stehende Steine (die genaue Anzahl konnten wir nicht herausfinden) die bis zu 3m hoch sind. Es sieht toll aus, ja wenn nicht der Reisecar hier wäre und dessen Reiseführerin in französisch genau im Zentrum den Carinsassen den Steinkreis erklären würde.
      Wir bleiben danach noch eine weitere halbe Stunde und lassen die Steine auf uns wirken.
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    • Day 11

      Standing Stones

      August 17, 2022 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

      Die Fahrt zum Leuchtturm zeigt eher eine karge und unspektakuläre Landschaft, während die Fahrt in südlichere Gefilde wieder die typisch hügelige Wiesen- und Graslandschaft unterbrochen durch Flüsse und Seen bereit hält - natürlichjede Menge Schafe 🐑 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑.
      Nach ca 1 Stunde Fahrt erreichten wir die Standing Stones (Stonehenge von Schottland)
      Es war sehr beeindruckend hier - hatte fast etwas mystisches.
      Lewis und Harris wurde schon zur Steinzeit von Menschen besiedelt - über 5000 Jahre alt sind wohl die gut 4m hohen Standing Stones.
      Es wird ein religiöser Hintergrund vermutet, sie könnten aber auch für astronomische Beobachtungen genutzt worden sein.
      ….
      18:30 Uhr fuhren wir wieder ab - wir mussten uns ja noch eine Unterkunft suchen…..
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    • Day 78

      Stonehenge older brother

      July 18, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

      The Callanish Stones are one of Scotland’s most magnificent and best-preserved Neolithic monuments. The cross-shaped setting of stones were erected 5,000 years ago and are therefore older than Stonehenge.
      The atmosphere is just amazing in the evening. You can still walk around freely, no fences, and you can feel the power and the vibes .
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    • Day 6

      Calanais Standing Stones

      April 21, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

      Der Calanais gehört zu den schönsten Steinkreisen die wir je besuchten. Abendessen gab`s dann vom Campingkocher bei bestem Wetter in wunderschöner Umgebung. 🍽😎🌞

    • Day 9

      Callanish Stones

      July 24, 2022 in Scotland ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

      If you journey to the Isle of Lewis this is probably going to be on your list of places to visit, but why? It's because this group of Neolithic stones (4000-2500bc) is one of the best preserved examples of this genre in the UK. It's a bit like the Stonehenge of the north and locally they are know as the Calanais stones. They comprise a circle of thirteen stones which are at the centre of an overall shape of a cross, but one thing that is very different here than at Stonehenge: you are allowed to walk amongst them and touch them if you feel the need.

      It wasn't all that crowded while I was there but I still needed to be patient to get a photo with no people in it. Photo 2 shows what you get if you don't wait and photo 3 is perhaps a classic black & white shot. They are harder to photograph than you would think because after all and to put it bluntly, they are simply a bunch of standing stones. Make sure you point your camera in the right direction though otherwise, as I have also shown in photo 2, you get the nearby houses as a backdrop.

      It would have been nice to grab a coffee and cake at the café, but then you already know why I couldn't. But hey, only wimps need coffee and cake.
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    • Day 11

      Calanish

      July 13, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

      Callenish on Lewis is an ancient site of standing stones, and a broch.
      The stones are out on a limb, on a bare hillside.
      They probably date from the fifth century BC.
      Although busy, there is an atmosphere here. Partly it is the loom of history and the human endeavour which created it, but also the sense of community that must have existed for such a huge project to be posed, planned and executed before it could be put to the purpose it was designed for. We, all these years later, can only imagine and conjecture it's reason for being and being there.
      I think the grey weather helped to set a tone of seriousness and a recognition of the huge erosion the stones must have been subjected to over the many centuries.
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