Time Travel Through Scotland’s Remote Isle of Lewis

“Outlander” has nothing on the Outer Hebrides

The Butt of Lewis lies past the beach. You can see some of the houses of Ness on the far right horizon. All photos by Tim Ward

It’s a short walk to the end of the world from the cottage that Teresa (my beloved spouse) and I are renting this week. We are staying in the town of Ness, the furthest north-and-west community in Scotland — and all of Europe. The town is perched on the Butt of Lewis (the largest island of the Outer Hebrides), and is surrounded on three sides by ragged cliffs, and endless bog on the fourth.

I hiked along the Butt’s crumbling edge one blustery-sunny-rainy summer’s day. Looking west, but for the curvature of the earth, I could have seen the southern tip of Greenland. Due north: the Faroe Islands. To the east I actually spied the mountains of the Scottish Highlands — odd shaped blue lumps on the horizon. Due south: there’s nothing but sheep, grass, and peat bog, as far as the eye can see.

The lighthouse at the end of the world (a.k.a. the Butt of Lewis). Next stop, Greenland.

The island is impossibly remote: a 53-mile ferry ride from the nearest port on the mainland, and the people who live here have endured incredible hardship over the millennia. Endured — that’s too hard a word. When left to their own devices, they have thrived in this cold climate…