A Hebridean Holiday Day Two: In Which We Climb Toddun and Visit Yet Another Gorgeous Beach. . .

Our second day of walking started with a quick visit to the Callanish Stones which are older than Stonehenge.  Some archaeologists believe that the setting of these is organised around the lunar, not solar cycle, and that some of the stones are placed to line up with the trajectory of the moon;   a "re-gleaming" can take place at certain times of the year as the moon rises, goes behind a mountain and reappears in a gap on the horizon.

The stones are beautifully weathered and very impressive within the surrounding landscape.

We then drove further south to Harris where we parked and then started to climb Toddun. It seemed a rather plain, boring hill from the road.

But when we got to the top it we all gasped!  The views were just incredible. Over to the left, you can just see the hazy outlines of the Shiant Isles (the islands that Adam Nicholson talks about in his book The Sea Room), and if it were a bit clearer, you could also see Skye.

Sea, sky, incredible clouds and magical light were fast becoming the themes of our Hebridean walks.

And the view behinds us towards the mountains wasn't too bad either.

We came down off Toddun and climbed two neighbouring hills.

I just love this grellow landscape.

Here we are on the third hill, looking back at Toddun in the cloud.  We also saw a stag and several deer in the distance but I was too far to get a decent photo.

Again, after the walk, we ended up at another stunning beach.  This is Luskentyre Beach and it goes on for miles. Lots of white sand and deep teal water with  mountains in the background.  It was extremely windy though and the sand was getting in our eyes.  No wading today, but completely awed by the wild beauty.