Well, the ferry was running 20 minutes late so we pulled out of Uig at 6:20 pm Monday.  I have to say, he man at the ticket window gave us a hard time (joking) about how we pronounce MacIver (here McIvor is pronounced that way, but MacIver is pronounced MacEEver). And every time a Canadian came to pick up their tickets, he would point to us and say 'More Canadians!' It was gray but not raining and the sea (The Little Minch) was a bit rolly.  It wasn't very crowded, so we had our choice of comfy reclining seats.  Sighted dolphins off the port side!  We had a late dinner of ferry food, and arrived in Tarbert at 8:00.  We drove north from Harris to Lewis, and after getting a bit lost driving through Stornoway in the dark, we arrived at Ravenstone B&B in Back at about 9:15.  I was pleasantly surprised that the entire drive was on a two lane road, not a single track in sight!  And I should explain that Harris and Lewis is one island, but they are called the Isle of Harris and the Isle of Lewis separately.  I don't know why.  Because we couldn't stay at this B&B Tuesday night, the owners found us another one that had a vacancy in Balallan.

This morning we had breakfast in the farmhouse kitchen with the other guests, a young couple from Ottawa with their baby, and the mans' parents from Toronto.  We had a pleasant visit with them, then headed in to Stornoway.  We found the house Brad's grandfather MacIver was born in.  A workman was replacing the upstairs window, so Brad asked him if he owned the house.  He said no, but he got the owner, and she invited us in.  George and Nan Smith bought the house in the 1950's and have lived in it ever since.  They think it was built around 1850. She gave us tea and homemade shortbread and we visited for quite a while.  They both speak Gaelic so I got to practise a bit! We were just going to leave when a friend from Harris popped in for a visit.  It turns out that Chris and her husband run the genealogy centre that a few people have told us we should visit! So we stayed and visited a bit more, and will see her at the centre tomorrow!

We then moved on to the library.  Brad found a bit of information about his family, and I found the history of the crofts in Barvas which included my family.  We went for dinner at the Royal Hotel.  Stornoway is bigger than Rothesay or Portree, so we have been pleasantly surprised.  Trees are more rare on Harris and Lewis than on Skye.  The land is rolling hills, but very rock strewn, not smooth like Skye.  There is lots of heather, and the sheep have free run.  On Skye you had to watch for sheep on the back roads, but here they are right on the highway.  We drove down to Balallan to stay at Tigh na Braich B&B. We have a large bedroom and a private sitting room.

Driving south from Stornoway to Balallan:

Lewis has hundreds of tiny lakes:

Tomorrow we drive to the south end of Harris, to the genealogy centre in Northon.