Tuesday - Day 26 - Invergordon, Scotland - part 1

On Tuesday, we arrived at Invergordon, the gateway to access Inverness, the capital of the Highlands, as well as nearby Loch Ness.

It was cloudy when we arrived.

Looking west up the Firth -- there are facilities here for supporting oil platforms as well as sea-based wind turbines

Looking east out the Firth

Looking in toward the city

After we got off the ship, we stopped by the pier side tourist information office to get a map and took a picture of their sign... bummer! Off by just one day for seeing Nessie!!!

There was a pier side souvenir store too -- Carl tried on a "Driving Cap" made of official Harris Tweed, but decided it was a bit more expensive than he wanted to spend (about $50), and, since it was made of wool, it would have been hot, which we rarely need.

We found teeshirts that we liked and might get as we returned to the ship later in the day -- if we hadn't found something else that we liked better.

In front of the pier side souvenir store

As we got off the pier, we could look up the street and see a church at the end.

We got up to the High Street...

There were a number of murals in town -- I told Carl that if he had gotten the Driver's Cap, we wouldn't be able to distinguish him from the figures on the mural!

On the High Street, we went into a grocery store...

Carl remembers the Ovaltine factory being in Villa Park, less than a mile from where he grew up.

Tempting! (Biscuits = cookies)

Hot dogs in jars!

"Richmond" are a popular brand of sausages in the UK

Canned hot dogs

Cereal offerings -- this store was interesting in that it had the refrigerated/frozen items on every aisle, at below waist level, and the shelf stable items on shelves above the refrigerated storage.

Chips

Some people go to museums and learn things... other go to grocery stores and take pictures!!!

We saw a "Nickel & Dime" store across the street and went to check it out.

Next to the Nickel and Dime was a mural honoring the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

It turned out that the Nickel & Dime was almost like a Walmart in a much smaller space!

Carl found a Scotland teeshirt that he liked, and a driver's cap made out of cotton instead of wool, *and* it matches the plaid of his flannel!

We managed to resist buying these lamps with light-up messages...

If we ever come back to the UK and rent a car, we should get these "Learner" magnetic signs to put on our rental car to warn people to give us a wide berth!

Maybe we have these in the US too, but I don't remember seeing "Wheelie Bin Numbers" before!

More from Tuesday in another post!

Monday - Day 25 - Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland - part 2 - Harris Tweed Authority

Continuing blogging about our day in Stornoway -- part 1 can be found here: https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/08/monday-day-25-stornoway-isle-of-lewis.html

We had tickets to join the noon guided talk at Harris Tweed Authority, so we headed there a few minutes before noon...

The Harris Tweed Orb Stamp and some examples of Harris Tweed

We first watched and listened to a video about Harris Tweed (that's why we're all looking the same way and have headsets on!). In the middle of the room is oldest of the looms on display at the Harris Tweed Authority.

Then our very informative guide talked with us about the process of creating Harris Tweed - this area showed the different stages of processing the wool. One of the distinctives of Harris Tweed is that it is dyed in the wool (not after it is made into yarn/threads) and the colors are not uniform, so there may be multiple shades of blue in the wool that has been dyed blue. Those multiple shades can be seen in the finished yarn (and finished cloth) as well.

Our guide told us about this, the second oldest of the looms we would see.

I wish I could relate to you all that we heard...

... it was a LOT of information...

... and I don't remember it all!

There were some example products made with Harris Tweed -- athletic shoes by Adidas and Nike. This introduction of Harris Tweed into "regular" clothing is credited with reigniting interest in Harris Tweed.

Some examples of official Harris Tweed -- with the brand marks.

When our guide moved to the newest of the looms, which does the double width fabric, she showed how the weaver would tie the warp threads of the next bolt onto the warp threads of the just completed bolt -- I think she said that there 1400+ threads that must be tied in.

Video of the loom in use: https://youtu.be/t-nqVJXI_oQ

The blue arrow is pointing toward the shuttle on this loom.

Our guide behind the loom -- she had invited us to get behind the loom with her, but only Pat and I did so. Our guide was sitting on a seat with bicycle type pedals to run the loom.

A book with more Harris Tweed examples

The last area we visited in the Story Room was the "corner of shame" -- knock-offs of Harris Tweed that the Harris Tweed Authority has identified and shut down.

From https://www.harristweed.org/our-role/ :

Guardians of the Orb - Harris Tweed Authority
The Act of Parliament in 1993 brought into being the Harris Tweed Authority, a new statutory body, replacing the Harris Tweed Association originally set up in 1909.

In accordance with the Act, Harris Tweed cloth must be: “Handwoven by the islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides, finished in the Outer Hebrides, and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides.”

The Act ensures that all cloth certified with the Harris Tweed Orb symbol complies with this definition.

This legislation – alongside the work of the Harris Tweed Authority – allows the safeguarding of the Harris Tweed name, quality and reputation. 

For more information, visit https://www.harristweed.org/our-history/.

After leaving the Harris Tweed Authority, we returned to the shopping street. Pat wanted to get some Harris Tweed to make a jacket and she got a beautiful piece of red wool. 

Welcome sign in Stornoway.

We stopped for lunch and Joe got a "Luxury Hot Chocolate". 

After lunch, we headed back to the shuttle bus and went back to the ship.

Later in the afternoon when we were sailing away, a few pictures of the houses and land that we were passing...

... even though it was cloudy, it was still lovely...

Some old type windmills still being used on this headland

What a nice day in Stornoway!

Monday - Day 25 - Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland - part 1

On Monday, we stopped at the Stornoway New Cruise Port on the Isle of Lewis and Harris in Scotland.

I forgot to post some information from travel director Gage's port talk about Scotland... 

General information about Scotland

Scottish word for the day -- I think we can use this one in our daily life, "Excuse me while I tartle...".

Stornoway has recently opened a new port, that is about an hour's walk from town, so they provide free shuttle buses for the cruise ship passengers.

When we got into town on the bus, we could see our ship just a short distance away at the cruise ship pier. If only we could walk on water!

Carl would still like to see puffins, though we probably won't have a chance again on this trip -- but he did see "Dancing Puffin Vodka" in the window of the liquor store!

Looking up one of the streets in Stornoway

Town hall where the Harris Tweed Authority is located -- we were wanting to visit it, and had heard that there were tours each hour starting at 10am. I checked my phone when we got onto the bus and found that there were tickets for the tours and that the tours at 10am and 11am were already sold out, and only 4 tickets remained for noon -- so I got them for the 4 of us (Pat and Joe, Carl and me). We still thought we might be able to go in and look around, but the access was only through the tour, so we decided to walk around the town until our tour time at noon.

We had passed one church and it seemed to have the gates out front closed. When we got to this church, Joe said that the previous one must have cost to enter, as this was the "Free" church of Scotland.

We stopped at some shops -- this was a replica of a Black House or Block House displayed on the sidewalk in front of a yarn shop.

Information from the web:

A blackhouse (taigh-dubh) is a traditional dry-stone dwelling with a thatched roof, once common across the Scottish Highlands and Western Isles. They featured a central hearth without a chimney, dirt floors, and an end shared with livestock. Two major preserved sites are on the Isle of Lewis: the Blackhouse, Arnol and Gearrannan Blackhouse Village. 

Key Features of Blackhouses 

Double walls: Thick dry-stone walls packed with earth for insulation. 

No chimney: Smoke drifted out through the straw or reed thatch, blackening the interior walls. 

Shared roof space: Humans lived at one end and farm animals at the other under one roof

One of the shore excursions offered by the cruise line would visit the Gearrannan Blackhouse Village. (We didn't take it.)

Shops along the High Street

Selfie in front of an interesting art piece on main street

Interesting bag of coffee beans in the window of the Hebridean Tea Store in Stornoway.

Lews Castle

Joe sharing his hat with a new friend

Beautiful hydrangea 

Pretty garden in front of one of the houses in town

More in another post!