Reminder: All of the images here are clickable to the original uploaded size.
The ceremony was scheduled for 10AM so we got up early and grabbed breakfast. Stornoway black pudding lived up to its reputation as being one of the best, if not the best, black puddings around. After breakfast, we all went to change. Dressing myself in a kilt went much easier than I thought it would and the only snagging point was tying my ghillie brougues so the laces wouldn't fall off. I noticed with disappointment that the sgian dubh (which J insisted on calling a shiv or shank) was just a one piece molded plastic bit and not even a pot metal knife with a half-assed no edge blade. Oh well, that's how it goes with rentals I suppose.
Anyhoo, we grabbed our stuff, left the B&B, and headed to Callanish. The weather was sunny with a few clouds, a bit on the chilly side (low to mid 40's, that's 4-5 for the rest of the world). After a quick 20 minute ride, we arrived at the Calanais Stones. The weather was the same as it was on Stornoway but with one important difference - random high winds! This would make things interesting.
Our photographer Mike arrived about the same time we did and aside from the visitor's center staff, we were the only people there. We walked up the path to the stones and noticed sheep wandering around the area but the actual stone circle has a fence and livestock-proof gate on it. Thanks to some wet weather the previous days, the actual circle grounds were fairly boggy and the center of the circle, which housed a burial cairn was flooded with water making a well.
Kitty officiated the ceremony and J assisted. As we began, visitors to the site started to come in. Historic Scotland had informed us that we would have to share the grounds with other people. They kept a respectful distance so it wasn't an issue and we didn't mind. I noticed several of them taking pics.
The ceremony went off without a hitch. I managed to not mess up my lines. Whew!
It's a handfasting!
The high winds made lighting the unity candle a bit of a challenge.
After the ceremony, we took some special shots that Mike had suggested doing the night before. This was the part where the wind became more noticeable and colder. I began to think that I should have worn an actual sword instead of the kilt pin since apparently kilt pins were not designed for 40mph gusts.
J and Kitty.
J looking studly. He doesn't have a drop of Scottish blood in him yet he manages to pull the kilt look off nicely.
It was so windy that we just had to fly a kite!
We decided to get a kite pic with Kitty in J in it and while they were positioning themselves, I lost control of the kite (go ahead, make your jokes) and it came crashing down on poor J.
After we finished with the pics, we went to the visitor's center to buy stuff. The staff saw us and said "Oh! You must be Rob & Janet", asked us how it went, and gave us a book as a wedding gift - how nice of them! After buying some items, we headed back to Stornoway to change back into our street clothes. Back in the planning stages of our trip, Kitty and I found out about a teahouse on the Isle of Lewis called Eoropie. Their claim to fame is that they are the most Northwesterly teahouse in the UK - how can we say no to that? So that's where we went. Eoropie is located near Port of Ness (no relation to the loch and river of the same name) and is a few minutes walk to the beach.
We ordered lunch and pastries which were tasty then we walked down to the beach to gaze upon the North Atlantic. I should probably mention at this point that the Isle of Lewis is very religious and has a Sabbath observance (woe to the unprepared tourist who stays through Sunday). I saw this sign outside the park.
We reached the beach and I tried to spot Iceland on the other side but it was just too far away :(
Kitty didn't have much luck locating Iceland either.
Janet rock hounding.
After a while of unfruitful beachcombing, we headed back to the car. We were headed back to the Calanais stones so we could take our own pics. When we arrived, it began to become overcast and would soon start drizzling. It stopped after a while and cleared up nicely. I was able to get a few decent shots.
You can clearly see the well in the burial cairn in this pic.
I turned around and caught this image.
We headed back to Stornoway and for dinner we ate at a fish & chip joint. Mmmmm...fish & chips. We called it an early night because we had to be at the ferry parking lot at 6:30. Ugh.
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