Harris - Scalpay - Harris

Only two islands today. After a pleasant night with the roof up, hoorah, we had a shower and guess what ... the room heater didn't work. Honestly, this place. On the plus side, check out the perfect rainbow.

First stop was back down the road through Leverburgh (ah you blinked and missed it) to St Clement's church, a 15th century marvel with tombs in the walls and a 19th C roof.

The drive of the trip followed, up the east coast of S Harris, in and out of 'The Bays' and up and down a lot too. Cracking views and a very narrow road with few barriers and many steep drops. Loved it! Harris is much more hilly/mountainous than the previous islands, and the east side with many sea lochs is very different to the west side with its long, flat beaches.

We drove through Tarbert, eyeballing where our ferry will be in three days, and on down a narrowing road to the island of Scalpay which is reached over a splendid,  modern, single-track bridge. It seemed as though every third house is an art/craft gallery, though of course everything is closed on Sunday. We kept going until we ran out of road then stuffed the van onto the last free bit of tarmac. Shanks's pony then the 2km to the excellent Eilean Glas Lighthouse. The weather was kind and the track easy. The cafe really was open, run by a characterful elderly couple who served sublime cake - the best lemon drizzle and coffee walnut we ever tasted. I imagined them baking locally but no, they come from Inverness. The couple who must be touching 80 can only get their car to about 1km from the lighthouse and then they have to carry everything ... including the cakes! Respect is due.

We sat outside for half an hour in sunshine and sheltering from the cold northerly wind, with binos at the ready. Not sure we were allowed there, under the massive old foghorn and the original 1789 tower (first lighthouse in Scotland), but forgiveness rather than permission.

We saw three dolphins a number of times, just off the headland. Cafe man confirmed the shallow rocks and the tide drive fish up and the dolphins are feeding. N also spotted a sea eagle gliding across the waves in the distance. All too far away for pics.

The walk back was interrupted by a rain shower and a sandwich stop and took a leisurely hour.

Another exciting drive got us back to Tarbert and the main road heading north, into even more mountainous N Harris. We don't have a campsite booked for tonight, because they don't exist in this area - instead the Harris Trust provides Designated Parking Spots with no services and no reservation. Stress! We identified an area suitable for tomorrow's busy day with five such Spots and headed for the first one just before 5pm. Found it easily, one campervan in it and room for us, and a fabulous view down the valley to Maraig at the waterside. We are asked to donate £5 to the Harris Trust, and that seems fair. They seem to be doing the right things to manage campervan impact. We had a lovely, gentle evening enjoying the view and cooking up one of our standard meals. We said hello to our neighbours who went off for a long walk and got a good soaking.