(Saturday)
Thursday I stayed around Stornoway and actually saw the place during the day. The mueseam was small, but explained some of Lewis' history. Laundry was what stopped me from going on to Harris, but I can't complain as I found a book of Scottish folk tales in the hostel and a book about why men marry. Friday was the journey to Harris. It was a fun bike, I stopped a couple of times to see the scenery. One of these stops was at a momument to a riot. While I was leaving the monument a hitchhiker was dropped up the road a bit. It turns out this hitchhiker was a girl from Montreal, called Izzy, who is on a working vacation visa checking out the hebides between working in a youth hostel in Fort William and working in a shortbeard factory near Inverness or Elgin. We met in the hostel in Tarbert.

Also arriving to Tarbert yesterday were Jonas, A Belgian on a 6 month cycling trip of the northern European countries. James, a bike courier from Edinburough biking the outer hebides the proper way, south to north. Roger, an englishman working in Paris bussing and hiking around the Hebides. So, Izzy, Jonas, James and I went to the bar at the Macleod Motel for a pint. It turned into a night of many drinks and loads of fun. The bar filled up with people from the fish processing plant in Scalpay that had closed that day, so they needed a party. We gladly helped and the drunkest of them even brought us a few rounds.

Apparently I didn't come back to the hostel with the rest of the group. However, somehow I woke up before Jonas, Izzy and James, alone in the correct bed in the hostel. Izzy mentioned at one point I should write detailed descriptions of any images I didn't actually have pictures of to help me remember them. Perhaps that is an activity that is appropriate for the sabbath here. Playing in the playgrounds isn't. The descriptions should be useful as the batteries in my camera have run down.

Finally to today. I biked around South Harris. The plan was to bike along the west coast first then take the east coast road back to Tarbert. I took the wrong turn so I ended up seeing Rodal before Northton. It didn't really matter though. The views on both roads were awesome and the church at Rodal is a stunning example of Medival construction and art. There are lots of Angus and Mary Morrison's buried around the church. Around Harris it seems to be the custom for a woman to keep her maiden name but for the children to have the father's surname. The centre in Northton, Seallam, was nice to see and the guy there was able to give me lots of information on Pabbay. He was able to find teh John Morrison who left Harris for me, but I didn't know what useful information I could gain from the chart.

The fish and chips at AD's take-away in Tarbert are good, but the vinegar is the best I have ever had. I left my towel in Stornoway, oops, 4 things now to buy: lock, helmet, odometer, towel.