I recently came accross a notebook of my Granny's, written perhaps around the 1950s about some of her childhood. I have transcribed it here:

My first trip to the Island of Lewis.

Now, in the first place I must tell you that my father was a Lighthouse keeper and I was born on a lighthouse in the Isle of Man and am therefore what you would call a Manxman.

When my father got his shift to the Butt of Lewis he had had 8 years on the Bell Rock so he deserved a shore station. His orders were to proceed to Glasgow thence by boat to Stornoway but owing to illness in the family decided to go to Glasgow then by train to Mallaig & boat to Stornoway, as it took a half the time on the water.

This we did and arrived at Mallaig about 12 o'clock noon. The boat was at the pier & we embarked on what was to be my first thrillnig adventure on the sea. I was 10 years old then. This was in the month of February and the weather was very bad then. Once the boat was out into the Minch it began to toll & toss & by early evening we were all pretty seedy. My mother was a very bad sailor & had to lie down but I liked to stand on deck & watch the waves lashing over the bow of the boat. Once I was nearly washed overboard - an extra big wave washed over the deck & had not one of the crew been near me I would have been into the sea. I was sent down below after that as it got very cold & was snowing hard. I would rather have been up on deck all the time. Eventually we got into Stornoway at 12 o'clocl & to see the crowds you would have thought it was 12 noon instead. Evidently it was the one bright spot of the day when the mail boat came in & all we could hear was people greeting one another in th Gaelic tongue. We were strangers & had to find our way about by ourselves, however we found the hotel all right & next day we thought we would continue our journey. Unfortunately we had arrived at the time of the Fast & could not get a conveyance of any kind. During the time of the Fast no one works. After 5 days in Stornoway we managed to get a small horse drawn cab & set out on our last stage of the journey (30 miles) There were no motor cars in Lewis at that time. It was a cold bleak morning with heavy showers of hail & to make matters worse a pane of glass fell out of one of the windows. There was not much of interest on the road - the countryside is very flat nothing but bogs & peat not even a tree to be seen.

We passed an occasional cart on the way in to Stornoway for supplies. (All our furniture came in these carts and we had to wait for days for some things - our piano lay out in the snow for a week as the cart had toppled over the built up roads.)

I may say these small carts were the only means of conveyance for bringing provisions or anything that was required. After we had gone 15 miles we stopped at a place called Barvas where we had a meal & the horse charged. We proceeded on our way again & had not gone far when we heard the barking of dogs but could see no houses. My father laughed at us & asked if we didn't see the smoke coming out of the tops of the houses but we said these were baltic pits not houses. However we discovered they were houses but the people all kept inside till we passed. (They are very shy with strangers & have to know you well before you get i nto their houses). The houses were all patched with straw & the peat fire being in the middle of the floor the smoke came out all over the thatch. We passed numerous villages in the way & could see the Lighthouse in the distance standing white against the sea though we were miles from it. We called in at the last village called Eoropie& after another 3 miles drive we arrived at what was to be our home for the next six years. I can tell you we were glad to get out & stretch our legs & for the warm cups of tea our neighbours had ready for us, but we thought we had really come to the ends of the earth.

I may say I shall never forget our stay at the Butt as my sister & I had many a happy evening with the boys and girls of the village of Eoropie. They are all more modernised now with motor cars & stone houses to live in.