Sunday on Lewis

While the worst of the wind and rain had eased by Sunday morning it remained very blustery. I got up at 6.30 and had breakfast, reverting to what I normally eat at home, three weetabix (with boiling water and a tiny drop of milk - we were poor when I was growing up, and I still like my weetabix as I had it then), a glass of orange juice and a cup of tea.

Flickr, my normal means for storing photos, is not working at our present site. Something about the upload size seems to upset BT Internet, so I will have to wait until later in the holiday to upload all my photos. In the meantime I can add a number to the blog quite easily - Blogger not getting blocked like Flickr!

After showering, shaving and dressing I updated the previous days blog and started to read about the Churches here in Scotland and why, in the Western Isles at least Sabbatarianism remains so prevalent. 

The wind was still high, and the car got buffeted as we travelled on the one track roads to Stornoway. At one point we opened the door to get a photo and the door creaked as the wind tried to remove it from the car. Careful door opening became the rule from then on.

There is only one Catholic Church on the Isle of Lewis dedicated to the Holy Redeemer. Masses take place on Saturday Evening and at 11.00am on Sunday. We left the house at 10.15 and travelled the 9 miles (20 minutes) to Stornoway. If I hadn't realised about the Sabbath traditions here I would have been amazed, the town looked like a ghost town with every shop closed including the large supermarkets (Co-op and Tesco) and even every small store, which have been open elsewhere in the UK for as long as I can remember.

Indeed the only people moving about where some perplexed looking tourists and large numbers of bible carrying Church attendees heading to the Church of Scotland or the Free Church of Scotland (which is the biggest Church here in Stornoway) or Prayer Book carrying people going to the smaller Anglican Scottish Episcopal Church.  

The Catholic Church was situated in grounds just off Kenneth Street within the town around a corner from two of the larger churches. The modern church had a look of a hobbit house about it, but inside it was modern yet tastefully laid out. There were 50 of us there for Sunday Mass and we sang the Mass setting and three hymns the final one making me feel at home was Guide Me O you Great Redeemer, sung, of course, to Cwm Rhondda.

Inside of the Catholic Church in Stornoway

Drew meanwhile walked the empty streets of Stornoway taking photos of the surrounds including quite a number of the boats in the bay.

After Mass we headed back to Seaview and battened down the hatches. This gave us plenty of opportunity to wash and dry all our clothes. We had cheese rolls for lunch, sat and read most of the afternoon.

For dinner I cooked some lovely fresh Scottish pork steaks (that we had bought from the butcher yesterday) with local new potatoes, carrots and cauliflower - today the dinner fitted on one plate - you may notice that the photo is a bit fuzzy due to the steam from the boiling veg. 


The next picture is of Drew's plate after dinner, no wastage here. We finished with a bit of fruit and were in bed by 10pm with the wind and rain still hitting the window pane, but with a promise of better weather tomorrow.