Back on shore and again with internet so blogging and apologies for the delay in writing.
We stopped at Stornoway today. Stornoway is a town on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. We went for a tour and interestingly also went to the Isle of Harris which actually isn’t an island at all but is the southern end of the same island. The scenery was absolutely spectacular but I couldn’t help but think of the hardships of trying to feed your families here.
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| Rosemary Kopittke and me |
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| Tarbert, Isle of Harris |
The coach went down to Isle of Harris and saw Harris Tweed being made. Harris Tweed is a protected brand now and has to be made on a non-mechanised loom in a cottage. You definitely would not need to go to a gym for exercise if you had been a weaver! The weaver used here legs to power the loom.
The weather was again beautiful and warm around the mid to high 20s (Celsius) while we were there and it was a bit amusing to hear the locals complaining about the weather and the heat!
And because of the weather the flowers were beautiful.
Then touring over it was back to the Marco Polo for the evening presentations and as I was first up on Document Analysis, it was just as well I got back! As it was on at the same time as my talk I missed Jackie Depelle talking on Digital Photography: basic ideas , hints and tips for family historians.
Then I listened to Marie Dougan talking on Records and Resources at the National Archives of Scotland. I found the talk very interesting and there are a number of things I need to look at for the Quested’s in my One Name Study that ended up in Scotland. I missed Lesley Sylvester talking on Lesser Known London records but had heard this one before, thankfully, so felt that Scotland won out over England.