The autumn is probably the season when I spend most time away from the office touring Scotland, visiting the hotels and other business partners to discuss the past year and plans for the future, checking out some new options and formulating plans for the next year.

My first main trip this year was to Lewis, and a literally flying visit covering Stornoway and the west coast, plus a quick nip down to Harris. We will be increasing our accommodation options here for 2009, but not using any hotels. Every island is different in how it approaches tourism, and Lewis for me is remarkable as it is the guesthouse sector here which is leading the way - many of the hotels are very much focussed on corporate and groups business. There are now two 5 star guesthouses in the Stornoway area and we will be offering both of them. There are also several very good 4 star options too, which will be good reserves for us. I also enjoyed an excellent dinner in a restaurant in the centre of Stornoway - to a standard no other island town can manage. Although it was a Tuesday it was pretty busy, with some visitors, some business people and a marked number of younger locals, clearly home for a visit from the mainland - taking mum and/or dad out for a special meal. For me personally it was great to see that when someone with some talent puts their mind to it they can run a successful (this place as been going for several years) high quality restaurant in a small Scottish town - and this is not the only example in Stornoway apparently. Quite why other towns of a similar size can’t manage it is pretty frustrating  - there are a few in the west coast which are almost deserts when it come to good food.

While on Lewis I made sure to pop in to the Callanish (or Calanais) standing stones - one of my favourite spots in Scotland. Just like the Ring of Brodgar on Orkney the site is free to access - a perfect spot to catch sunset, or sunrise if you prefer and somewhere to visit more than once while you are on Lewis. I know there is a visitor centre/cafe (unlike at Brodgar), but is hidden from view from the circle itself and does some great home made soup.

Next morning before my appointments restarted I made sure to add another beach to my “collection” - I am ashamed to say I used to think Lewis did not “do” beaches, but am pleased to have changed my mind now. The beach at Tolsta was a fabulous place, approached over sand dunes so its full extent is only gradually  revealled to you -a wide sweep of sand, a couple of great headlands and views across to the Summer Isles and the mainland. Oh, of course my other favourite feature of a great Scottish beach - I had it all to myself.

By that afternoon I was in Harris, enjoying Donnie’s perfect Cullen skink at the hotel we have worked with for several years, and catching up with Dena. Just before returning to the airport Dena took me to an amazing place- the Seallam heritage centre, an absolute must visit in the islands, especially if you have an interest in family history. They have records of every family who lived in the Outer Hebrides, and rather than you tracing your ancestors, it’s about finding where you fit in with the records they have. These are built not just from the written official records but augmented by local records, even oral history. Even if you don’t have an islander in your past, the exhibition areas were excellent, with a particularly comprehensive section on St Kilda. Now there’s somewhere I must go.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 7:46 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.