Van Life Day 7 - It’s bleak

We headed back off the Uig peninsula and then up the adjacent one to Bernera. Right at the end at Bosta a late Iron Age village had been found in 1992 when a storm moved a lot of sand to expose the houses. In 1996 excavations took place to reveal a complex of houses. Due to the exposed nature of the site position and the mobility of the sand it was decided to backfill the structures. The houses were typical for that period in the north and west. They were semi-subterranean with a central room with small chambers going off it. They would have had timber and turf roofs - coming later than brochs but before black houses. One house has been preserved. Luckily the rain stopped for long enough for us to get a walk down to the beach to visit the site.

We stopped at a cairn commemorating the participants of the riots of 1874. This protest was successful as it helped result in the passing of the Crofters Act which gave security of tenure to all crofters The cairn was erected using stones from all the crofts in the area.

The rain has continued and now we are parked up overlooking the sea at Mealasta, beyond Breinis (Breanais), the place recommended by Amanda from the replica Uig chessmen Workshop.

If it stops raining we’ll have a walk down to the beautiful white beach where another van is parked up. We are at the end of the road so we’ll have no passing traffic tonight. The blip was taken somewhere on the road today and is typical of most of Lewis - peat bog and lochans and bleak dampness with a charm of its own.