Little Bernera

Perhaps you have been wondering just why this trip is entitled 'Hebridean Rendezvous' and now you discover why.

My daughter (Penny) and son-in-law (Tom), together with two friends, have been able to take almost two months leave from work so they can sail around Britain in Elixir, a 43ft yacht. When the itinerary was finalised, their arrival at Stornoway coincided with time I could take from work and it was decided it would be really nice to meet up here when they were (almost) half way through their voyage. My appointment in Stornoway last night was to meet up with the group for a meal out and it was a really enjoyable evening. Today, Penny had asked if I could take them to find the white sand beaches of Lewis and that is what we have done.

Before we set off we spent time in Stornoway browsing the shops - there are lots of art and craft shops - then afterwards, on the advice of the camp site owner where I'm staying, we headed to the south west of Lewis to find Bosta beach which was not only a lovely white sand beach but, shock horror, there were people on it. It was still very much empty though and it definitely met the criteria for Penny's request - the sand was white and the water a blue/turquoise even though the sky remained cloudy. The photos sum it up I think.

Penny was particularly excited to discover two Highland Coos (cows) next to the small parking area and also loved the myriad of wild flowers amongst the grasses. One thing we couldn't work out was what exactly the strange object you can see in the photos is, so I've just done some Googling to find out.

It is a piece of Art really and Penny guessed this might be the case when she first saw it. It is actually a Beach or Tidal Bell and was placed here in 2010, being one of a set of sculptures making a statement about sea level rise in the UK. They contain a bell and are placed directly above the water so at high tide the bell creates a sound unique to its location. As the tide level rises over time the sound the bell creates will change therefore demonstrating that global warming is causing sea levels to rise.

So, if global warming isn't true the whole Tidal Bell project will be a dismal failure and it would be nice if it wasn't true, but I think it is pretty certain that it is and the sounds made by those bells will change in years to come.Read more