Calanais

Calanais is on the isle of Lewis and is famous for its standing stones.  Stones have been standing there for over 5000 years and the site is older than Stonehenge.  The stones are smaller and finer than the huge pillars of Stonehenge and are very beautiful.  We visited Calanais this summer on a wonderful bike ride where we visited most of the inner and outer Hebrides.

There are over ten Neolithic sites that have discovered at and near Calanais but first I needed to take a moment - the views around Calanais are breathtaking. 

This is the main stone circle which has the largest number of stones.

Purely by chance we had turned up on the Summer Solstice!  Unforunately this meant we had chosen to arrive at the same time as a didgeridoo player!

The stones are exquisite and very tactile.

The second stone circle is only a short walk away from the first and contains only a small number of stones. 

As well as the circles there are lots of solitary standing stones all over Lewis.  Ancient, majestic and absolutely beautiful.