Where are the Hebrides? The Hebrides: an archipelago at the ends of the Earth Fans of rugged beauty

The harsh and inaccessible Hebrides are the kingdom of wind and waves. But this is at first glance. The attentive traveler will find a special romance and beauty here.

Berneray Island, west coast

Dusk has fallen over the pale sands, scattered shells and thick dune grass that stretch for miles along Berneray's Atlantic coast. The winding line of the Harris Hills in the background disappears into the blue shadow of the distant horizon.

60 years ago, Michael Robson fell in love with a place he had never visited.

Pictures in an illustrated magazine stimulated the imagination of a Scottish boy accustomed to the comfort of home, and he began to rave about the wild islands rising in thorny ridges to the northwest of the Scottish coast.

The Hebrides beckoned Michael Robson, and, responding to their call, at the first opportunity, first during school holidays, and then during vacations, he left mainland Scotland and embarked on long journeys: by bus, steamship, small ship - and beyond on foot throughout the archipelago. He reached the mountainous Isle of Skye, to the peat bogs and sea bays of the Isles of Lewis and Harris, and then moved further, through many kilometers across the ocean to a tiny rocky shore, from where, a century earlier, all the inhabitants had abandoned their stone-built houses...

Hirta, St Kilda

Stone walls still encircle patches of fill soil on the rugged hillsides above the ruins of St Kilda's main settlement. These fences protected the oat and barley crops from salty winds and livestock. Beehive-like structures were used to store food supplies and peat, which the islanders used as fuel; Hundreds of such warehouses have survived to this day.

The Inner and Outer Hebrides are more than five hundred islands and islets. It is often foggy and rainy, the winds blow almost continuously, and the sea around is so unstable that even the most experienced captain can feel afraid. In these seas, everything is changeable: in just an hour, the measured silky swaying of waves of a piercing blue tropical color is replaced by a stormy invasion of leaden foamy waves.

For thousands of years, people have waged a fierce struggle for survival here. And yet, despite the harsh conditions, the Celts and Vikings, and after them the Scots and the English, sought to take possession of these shores. Today, only a few dozen Hebrides islands are inhabited. “This is a real challenge,” says Robson. “To some tourists these places seem empty and cold, but in my opinion they are just not paying attention.”

Mangersta, Isle of Lewis

The dangerous waters of the Hebrides with sharp sea cliffs and rocks, oddly enough, were chosen by surfers. Mangerst is popular with athletes because there is a steady north-easterly wind blowing here all year round. Moreover, these parts are not crowded.

History has known times when the islands received no attention at all. And why? Samuel Johnson, the famous 18th-century London intellectual and madman, said that the people of southern Britain knew no more about them than they did “about Borneo or Sumatra.” If these islands were mentioned at all, it was always in connection with the question of their development: what kind of grain should be grown there? What minerals to mine? How many people can individual lands support and what rent could they bring to landlords? Samuel Johnson himself largely filled his diary of his journey to the Hebrides with complaints about the difficulties and harsh conditions in which he had to live. Despite Johnson's grumblings, a new attitude towards these less-than-heavenly places soon took root. Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, especially the philosopher David Hume and the geologist James Hutton, in an attempt to free their contemporaries from bowing to authority, insisted that the world must be studied through personal experience, rather than relying on the testimony of ancient geographers and saints. The Enlighteners did not look at nature as a wild element; it was for them a textbook of life on Earth. And some of the most mysterious pages of this textbook were read in the Hebrides.

Calanish, Isle of Lewis

These stone pillars were probably there before the pyramids were built. People settled on the island 5,000 years ago, farming, fishing, hunting - and building. The outer stones rise 3.5 meters, the central pillar - 4.5 meters. Like the famous Stonehenge, the 13-meter circle at Kalanisha was an important ritual center.

In 1800, naturalist Robert Jameson (who later studied with Charles Darwin at the University of Edinburgh) published a two-volume Mineralogy of the Scottish Islands. On the island of Islay, Jameson discovered deposits of shells that were located above the high tide line: “this proves,” he wrote, “that the sea has retreated from the land.”

Modern scientists know that these prehistoric beaches, raised 35 meters above sea level, are witnesses of the last ice age. As the glaciers that covered the island melted 15,000 years ago, freeing it of its gigantic glacier cover, the land began to become exposed, and eventually the old coastline rose high and confidently above the sea.

Grimersta, Isle of Lewis

Fresh waters from the upper lakes, bubbling, rush down to the sea along wide rocky terraces. “It’s easy to find a place on an island where you don’t hear the sounds of man,” says Alice Starmore, a native of Lewes, “but the land and water are never silent.”

Of the Isle of Skye, Jameson said that it was possible that "at some distant period it was subject to monstrous fluctuations." The spiky arc of the Black Cullin mountain range, rising 100 meters above sea level, is actually the remains of a volcano. Its outer features have long since disappeared, revealing a deep crater of magma that bubbled here 60 million years ago.

Perhaps the most impressive site in the Hebrides is the giant circle of stone pillars at Calanish on the shores of Lough Rogue on the Isle of Lewis. Erected 4500-4900 years ago, the Kalanish complex is probably much older than the central circle at the famous Stonehenge. There is very little reliable information about the builders of these structures; only their engineering skill is beyond doubt. The island is dotted with other standing stones, as well as burial mounds, ramparts and strong Iron Age defences, most of them Lewis Gneiss. The weathered ruins of stone houses bear witness to fierce battles on land and pirate attacks from the sea. Peasants, shepherds and fishermen built them from thick blocks of gneiss, but time has not been kind to the stones.

Boreray, St Kilda

Armadas of seabirds circle the sky, narrow rocky ledges dotted with their nests. Often hidden behind clouds, the northern tip of the island juts out 400 meters above the ocean; The offspring of 60 thousand pairs of cormorants are raised here - the largest colony in the world. The people of St Kilda climbed these rocks barefoot, caught birds and collected eggs for food.

The romance of these gloomy ruins found a lively response in the heart of the Scotsman Michael Robson, who was discussed at the beginning of the story. Ancient legends, he says, “often fanciful or simply ridiculous, still contain a grain of truth.” “Every valley remembers its battle, and every stream its song,” Sir Walter Scott used to say, who glorified the wild nature of Scotland in his novels and poems. Even the purely rational Scottish naturalist Robert Jameson assured his readers that he, too, “succumbed to the feelings that naturally arose in ... the soul at the sight of the magnificent solitary landscapes that unexpectedly appeared before the eyes.”

Back then, British ingenuity fueled the nascent Industrial Revolution - and with it came noise, dirt and overcrowding. The world became more and more mechanical and urbanized, and nature became a refuge, a place for reflection and a source of high inspiration, capable of transforming feelings and thoughts.

Boreray, St Kilda

Rising fog reveals a distant island in the Atlantic Ocean. People have survived on the St Kilda archipelago for thousands of years, but its last inhabitants left their secluded homes about eighty years ago.

The Hebrides were amazing. Their most remarkable landscape, by all accounts, was discovered in 1772 by the English naturalist Joseph Banks. Heading to Iceland past the Hebrides, Banks stopped at the small island of Staffa and discovered “absolutely extraordinary stone pillars” in its southwestern part. They are now known to be the remnants of colossal volcanic eruptions that began to tear apart the bottom of the North Atlantic about 60 million years ago. The research team, which was moving along the coast, was simply breathtaking from this spectacle. The most magnificent was a huge sea cave, which Banks called Fingal's Cave.

Cape Trotternish, Isle of Skye

At Trotternish Point on the Isle of Skye, basalt pillars overhang the Razeay Channel. They indicate powerful geological displacements that formed this piece of land.

Fingal was the subject of an epic poem purportedly written by the ancient Gaelic bard Ossian - the British Homer - and translated by the Scotsman James Macpherson. Reviving a mythical past, this epic work (which, alas, turned out to be largely the work of Macpherson himself) ignited readers' romantic desire for the misty and mystical shores of the British north.

The wide entrance to Fingal's Cave, as tall as a six-story building, leads into a column-framed cavity that extends 70 meters into the sea, where the echoes are echoed by the roar of the waves. “Compared to this,” Banks argued, “the temples and palaces built by man are insignificant!”

Fingal's Cave, Staffa

Row after row of basalt pillars fill the sea cave; its eternal darkness is illuminated only by a camera. The natural purity of the lines of these columns and the echo of the crashing waves have attracted travelers here since the 18th century.

Of course, the Englishman made no discovery: the Gaelic-speaking islanders had long heard the echo of roaring waves in this cave and called it Uam Binn, or the Melodious Cave. However, the fame of Banks himself meant that his report, in which the miracle of geology was associated with the fashionable poems of Ossian, was noticed by the general public, and they started talking about the cave in London salons.

Red Cullin Mountains, Isle of Skye

The calm surface of the water and the veil of fog give the wrong impression of the indestructible force that sculpted the granite hills. Born as the bases of huge volcanoes, they were subjected to the powerful destructive action of wind and water for millions of years, and the pressure of glacial ice gradually gave them a soft, round shape.

The moment was right. Illustrated travel books have fallen in price. By replacing steel printing plates with softer copper ones, it became possible to print larger illustrations. And new roads and steamship connections made travel to the islands easier. During the Napoleonic Wars, travel to the continent was virtually impossible for the British, and the Hebrides seemed exotic and - if you weren't afraid of the risks - accessible.

When the British thoroughly studied the mysterious, gloomy Hebrides, it became clear: even the hardiest people would not be able to survive here. However, people have lived on the small islands and sea cliffs of St Kilda, which rise in the North Atlantic 64 kilometers from North Uist, for more than 4,000 years. Once upon a time, a small community huddled near the winding shore of Village Bay on Hirta, the largest island of the archipelago. Sheep grazed everywhere on the steep slopes. On the fill soil, the islanders grew modest crops of barley, oats and potatoes. They carefully mixed the thin local soil with mineral-rich seaweed.

But by 1930, the 36 residents who remained here were fed up with this life. They petitioned the British government to urgently evacuate them from the island before the onset of winter.

In a mechanized world, nature has become a refuge where man finds peace and inspiration.

On August 29, the residents of St Kilda and the bulk of their domestic animals were sent by sea to mainland Scotland. And the islands themselves were declared World Heritage Sites by the UNESCO Commission in 1968 and taken under protection. Now they have become the property of a host of birds that circle in flocks along the steep banks. People, on the contrary, have become rare visiting guests here.

As a young man, the hero of our story, Michael Robson, had to cross about 60 kilometers of open sea in the North Atlantic to get from Lewis to the lonely island of Rhone - another abandoned outpost of the archipelago. Lying outdoors on bright summer nights, Robson listens to the calls of the seabirds that nest in the thousands on the Rhône every year. He comes here to find traces of the people who once lived here: ruined stone shelters that sheltered 8th-century Christian hermits, the tombstones of chiefs and warriors, or worn-out stone millstones that later inhabitants of the island used to grind their meager grain harvest. None of the isolated Rhone communities lasted long here: the harsh conditions broke each of them in turn.

In love with the Hebrides, Michael Robson made his choice 16 years ago: he settled on the Isle of Lewis, opening there to the public his collection of books, manuscripts and maps dedicated to Scottish history and folklore. This self-sufficient, youthful man with direct blue eyes retains the excellent form of one who spends a lot of time in the fresh air, and he still has an unusually tenacious memory.

But he is no longer young. Sometimes, when Robeson gestures while telling an old Hebridean tale, his hands shake a little. Now Michael no longer undertakes very difficult and long journeys, but still continues to look for places that would otherwise seem empty and cold, but for him are full of special hidden meaning.

“The essence of these islands can only be understood over a long period of time,” says Michael. “It’s a pity that I won’t have enough time to find out everything I would like to know about them.”

The harsh and inaccessible Hebrides are the kingdom of wind and waves. But this is at first glance. The attentive traveler will find a special romance and beauty here. Photos by Jim Richardson

The Inner and Outer Hebrides are more than five hundred islands and islets. It is often foggy and rainy, the winds blow almost continuously, and the sea around is so unstable that even the most experienced captain can feel afraid. In these seas, everything is changeable: in just an hour, the measured silky swaying of waves of a piercing blue tropical color is replaced by a stormy invasion of leaden foamy waves.

Berneray Island, west coast

Dusk has fallen over the pale sands, scattered shells and thick dune grass that stretch for miles along Berneray's Atlantic coast. The winding line of the Harris Hills in the background disappears into the blue shadow of the distant horizon.

Hirta, St Kilda

Stone walls still encircle patches of fill soil on the rugged hillsides above the ruins of St Kilda's main settlement. These fences protected the oat and barley crops from salty winds and livestock. Beehive-like structures were used to store food supplies and peat, which the islanders used as fuel; Hundreds of such warehouses have survived to this day.

Boreray, St Kilda

Armadas of seabirds circle the sky, narrow rocky ledges dotted with their nests. Often hidden behind clouds, the northern tip of the island juts out 400 meters above the ocean; The offspring of 60 thousand pairs of cormorants are raised here - the largest colony in the world. The people of St Kilda climbed these rocks barefoot, caught birds and collected eggs for food.

Mangersta, Isle of Lewis

The dangerous waters of the Hebrides with sharp sea cliffs and rocks, oddly enough, were chosen by surfers. Mangerst is popular with athletes because there is a steady north-easterly wind blowing here all year round. Moreover, these parts are not crowded.

Calanish, Isle of Lewis

These stone pillars were probably there before the pyramids were built. People settled on the island 5,000 years ago, farming, fishing, hunting - and building. The outer stones rise 3.5 meters, the central pillar - 4.5 meters. Like the famous Stonehenge, the 13-meter circle at Kalanisha was an important ritual center.

Grimersta, Isle of Lewis

Fresh waters from the upper lakes, bubbling, rush down to the sea along wide rocky terraces. “It’s easy to find a place on an island where you don’t hear the sounds of man,” says Alice Starmore, a native of Lewes, “but the land and water are never silent.”

Boreray, St Kilda

Rising fog reveals a distant island in the Atlantic Ocean. People have survived on the St Kilda archipelago for thousands of years, but its last inhabitants left their secluded homes about eighty years ago.

Cape Trotternish, Isle of Skye

At Trotternish Point on the Isle of Skye, basalt pillars overhang the Razeay Channel. They indicate powerful geological displacements that formed this piece of land.

The harsh and inaccessible Hebrides are the kingdom of wind and waves. But this is at first glance. The attentive traveler will find a special romance and beauty here. Photos by Jim Richardson

The Inner and Outer Hebrides are more than five hundred islands and islets. It is often foggy and rainy, the winds blow almost continuously, and the sea around is so unstable that even the most experienced captain can feel afraid. In these seas, everything is changeable: in just an hour, the measured silky swaying of waves of a piercing blue tropical color is replaced by a stormy invasion of leaden foamy waves.

Berneray Island, west coast

Dusk has fallen over the pale sands, scattered shells and thick dune grass that stretch for miles along Berneray's Atlantic coast. The winding line of the Harris Hills in the background disappears into the blue shadow of the distant horizon.

Hirta, St Kilda

Stone walls still encircle patches of fill soil on the rugged hillsides above the ruins of St Kilda's main settlement. These fences protected the oat and barley crops from salty winds and livestock. Beehive-like structures were used to store food supplies and peat, which the islanders used as fuel; Hundreds of such warehouses have survived to this day.

Boreray, St Kilda

Armadas of seabirds circle the sky, narrow rocky ledges dotted with their nests. Often hidden behind clouds, the northern tip of the island juts out 400 meters above the ocean; The offspring of 60 thousand pairs of cormorants are raised here - the largest colony in the world. The people of St Kilda climbed these rocks barefoot, caught birds and collected eggs for food.

Mangersta, Isle of Lewis

The dangerous waters of the Hebrides with sharp sea cliffs and rocks, oddly enough, were chosen by surfers. Mangerst is popular with athletes because there is a steady north-easterly wind blowing here all year round. Moreover, these parts are not crowded.

Calanish, Isle of Lewis

These stone pillars were probably there before the pyramids were built. People settled on the island 5,000 years ago, farming, fishing, hunting - and building. The outer stones rise 3.5 meters, the central pillar - 4.5 meters. Like the famous Stonehenge, the 13-meter circle at Kalanisha was an important ritual center.

Grimersta, Isle of Lewis

Fresh waters from the upper lakes, bubbling, rush down to the sea along wide rocky terraces. “It’s easy to find a place on an island where you don’t hear the sounds of man,” says Alice Starmore, a native of Lewes, “but the land and water are never silent.”

Boreray, St Kilda

Rising fog reveals a distant island in the Atlantic Ocean. People have survived on the St Kilda archipelago for thousands of years, but its last inhabitants left their secluded homes about eighty years ago.

Cape Trotternish, Isle of Skye

At Trotternish Point on the Isle of Skye, basalt pillars overhang the Razeay Channel. They indicate powerful geological displacements that formed this piece of land.

Fingal's Cave, Staffa

Row after row of basalt pillars fill the sea cave; its eternal darkness is illuminated only by a camera. The natural purity of the lines of these columns and the echo of the crashing waves have attracted travelers here since the 18th century.

Red Cullin Mountains, Isle of Skye

The calm surface of the water and the veil of fog give the wrong impression of the indestructible force that sculpted the granite hills. Born as the bases of huge volcanoes, they were subjected to the powerful destructive action of wind and water for millions of years, and the pressure of glacial ice gradually gave them a soft, round shape.

Hebrides

Hebrides- an archipelago stretching along the west coast of Scotland. Conventionally, it is divided into two groups. The Inner Hebrides lie directly off the coast of Scotland in fjords and bays. The Outer Hebrides have a more compact location. They are separated by the Little Minch Channel and nestle in a close group to the north-west of Scotland.

The Hebrides are rocky, with a highly developed coastline. They are characterized by long sea bays, high shores and a uniform steppe landscape. The islands are subject to frequent precipitation coming from the west. The highest point of the Cullin Hills archipelago (1009 meters) is located on the Isle of Skye. The Hebrides are a natural extension of the Scottish Highlands.

Megaliths discovered on the archipelago provide evidence of human activity during the Neolithic period of the history of the British Isles. In ancient times, the Hebrides were mentioned in the works of Greek and Roman authors of the beginning of our era. Then the population of the islands were Picts, who later underwent assimilation with the Gaels. This union of tribes marked the beginning of the kingdom of Dal Riada - the predecessor of Scotland. From the 8th century, Vikings appeared on the Hybrids. In the 11th century, the Norwegian Kingdom of the Isles was formed. In the 13th century it was annexed to Scotland, but for a long time it maintained broad autonomy.

The role of the Hebrides in the formation and preservation of the culture and traditions of Gaelic Scotland is quite significant. In addition to traditional activities and way of life, ancient objects of tourist interest have been preserved here. Firstly, these are the monumental gloomy castles of Kimisul, Dunstaffnage, Skipness and Dunolly, the Benedictine monastery on Iona, the cathedral in Saddell and other architectural monuments of the Middle Ages. Secondly, these are the cult places of the ancient inhabitants of the Hebrides, where Callanish stands out - a megalithic group of the Neolithic era.

The natural resource of the tourism industry is represented by bird colonies, whale watching, and seal rookeries. Green tourism and sea fishing are thriving.

Hebrides Islands, Hebrides Islands map
Hebrides(English Hebrides, Gaelic Innse Gall) is an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean off the western coast of Scotland. Part of the British Isles group. The archipelago's two island chains, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, are separated by the Little Minch and North Minch straits, as well as the Inner Hebrides Sea.

• 1 Description
  • 1.1 Inner Hebrides
  • 1.2 Outer Hebrides
• 2 History
• 3 Economics
• 4 Notes

Description

The Hebrides are a widely scattered group of about 500 rocky, mostly high islands, of which about 100 are inhabited. The surface is about 7.2 thousand km², of which about 1.6 thousand km² are occupied by lakes. Most of the surface is rocky or marshy plains (peatlands). There are low mountains up to 1009 m high (Mount Cullin Hills on the Isle of Skye), as well as lava fields and traces of ancient glaciation (troughs, karrs).

Humid maritime climate, the average January temperature is 4-6 °C, July - 12-14 °C. There is a lot of precipitation, up to 2000 mm per year. Vegetation includes meadows on soddy-coarse-humus and soddy-peaty soils, heaths, and occasionally groves of low-growing birch.

Inner Hebrides

The Inner Hebrides include the islands of Skye, Mull, Islay, Jura, Ram and others. The northern islands are part of the Highland region, the southern ones are part of the Argyll and Bute region.

Outer Hebrides

The Outer Hebrides include the islands of Lewis and Harris (consisting of the two historical parts of Lewis and Harris, often called the “isles”), North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, Barra, etc. The Outer Hebrides administratively form the Western Isles region.

Story

The very first inhabitants of these islands were, apparently, the Picts, who from 843 were considered subjects of the Scottish kings, and by the 12th century were practically assimilated by the Scots. For many centuries the islands were in fact under the rule of Scottish elders. An Act of Parliament in 1748 deprived these latter of their rights, but even today most of the land is the property of the chiefs of the Scottish tribes (clans).

Economy

Residents are mainly engaged in fishing and livestock farming. The production of woolen fabrics (tweed) has been established; tourism. The largest town is Stornoway on Lewis.

Notes

1. 1 2 Hebrides - Dictionary of modern geographical names / Under the general. ed. acad. V. M. Kotlyakova. - Electronic edition. - Ekaterinburg: U-Factoria, 2006
2. Hebrides - article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Hebrides
Inner Hebrides Islay - Iona - Gia - Danna - Jura - Easdale - Canna - Cara - Kerrera - Coll - Colonsay - Crowlin Island Group - Langa - Lismore - Mac - Mull - Oronsay - Razey - Rum - Sale - Skye - Soey - Tyree - Egg - Escrib Islands group

Along the west coast of Scotland lie the inaccessible Hebrides, which seem cold and inhospitable. However, travelers find a special romance in them and fall in love with a distant land famous for its picturesque landscapes. Even in ancient times, the archipelago with fickle sea elements was mentioned in the works of the Romans and Greeks.

From time immemorial, people defying fate tried to survive in harsh conditions, and the Vikings and Celtic tribes, the English and the Scots dreamed of taking over the land, much of which was rocky or marshy.

Some facts about the archipelago

The archipelago, located in the Atlantic Ocean, has received the unofficial name “miniature Scotland” for its variety of unique attractions. Conventionally, it is divided into two groups - the Outer and Inner Hebrides. While the former are separated by the Little Minch Strait and compactly huddle to the north-west of the autonomous region, the latter are located off the coast of a state that is part of Great Britain.

The Hebrides, consisting of approximately 500 small islands (no more than a hundred are inhabited), are a real kingdom of chilly wind and powerful waves. Once upon a time, a gigantic piece of land broke off from the mainland, breaking into many parts. This is how the Hebridean archipelago with an area of ​​7.2 thousand km 2 appeared. More than 1.5 thousand km 2 are occupied by lakes, thanks to which a special climate has been formed with frequent rains and fogs coming from the west.

As tourists note, the weather here is extremely changeable: within an hour, the clear sky is covered with gray clouds, and the Hebrides, which are a continuation of the Scottish mountain ranges, are hidden in a milky veil. And the calming sea waves of a transparent blue hue are immediately replaced by terrifying giant lead-colored shafts.

Ancient monuments of Scotland

It is impossible not to mention the important role of the archipelago not only in the formation, but also in the preservation of Scottish culture. Here you can get acquainted with ancient monuments that are of great interest to vacationers. On those islands that are inhabited, there are majestic castles that have survived to descendants from past eras. In the mysterious gray haze they acquire a mysterious halo, and it seems as if ancient Scottish legends about valiant knights who fought dragons come to life here.

Unique island of Staffa with caves and basalt columns

The Isle of Staffa is one of the most interesting places in the Hebrides in Scotland. Tourists who have visited this unusual place admit that their hearts sank when they saw the fantastic landscapes. Stone basalt columns, giving the area a mystical charm, and numerous underground kingdoms attract guests admiring the wonder of nature.

The most famous is Fingal's Cave with excellent acoustics, for which it is nicknamed "singing". The sounds of the surf, which are reflected under its arches, spread everywhere, and experts compare it to a majestic cathedral. The miraculous sights have been under the protection of UNESCO since 1968.

Secrets and riddles

The Hebrides, formed back in the Ice Age, is a place where humans rarely set foot, and each pearl of the archipelago boasts both an interesting history and unique attractions. As scientists say, there are plenty of local mysteries here, and the unusual megalithic complex located on the island of Outer Hybrids is proof of this.

Isle of Lewis and Scottish "Stonehenge"

An analogue of the English Stonehenge, older than it, is located in the village of Callanish (Lewis Island). In 1981, an archaeological expedition excavated a stone circle covered with a thick layer of peat, which received the same name. Inside thirteen vertical blocks, just over three meters high, cleared of soil, there is a huge slab. Experts believe that the mysterious circle was erected by adherents of the cult of the Moon about five thousand years ago.

It is known that until the 19th century, local residents gathered at the stone guards on a certain day and performed mysterious rituals. It is curious that behind the cobblestones there are smaller blocks, and from above you can see the outlines of a Celtic cross, the ends of which are directed to the four cardinal directions. Unfortunately, there is no information about the builders of the most impressive place on the archipelago. Only their engineering skill is not questioned, which made it possible to create a real miracle that raises many questions among modern scientists.

In addition, on the territory there are other mystical structures made of stone, as well as burial mounds, the secrets of the appearance of which have sunk into oblivion along with those who erected them. Megaliths found by scientists indicate the activity of primitive man in the Neolithic - New Stone Age. Eight years ago, another structure was discovered, so far poorly studied by archaeologists, who suggested that it was ritual.

Isle of Harris

The Outer Hebrides, which form one of the 32 regions of the country, includes the Isle of Harris, whose sandy beaches are loved by tourists.

Harris and Lewis are the same large island, which is divided into two parts by a narrow isthmus. A wonderful corner with beautiful scenery is considered the heart of Scotland. The north of the island is made up of peat bogs, while the south with stunning beaches is chosen by vacationers.

Isle of Skye

The Quirang mountain range, located in the north of the largest Isle of Skye (the Inner Hebrides archipelago), resembles a place where fantastic landscapes transport you into a magical world far from reality. Its main attraction is the rocky Cape Trotternish, which delights with basalt blocks rising above the water surface.

Tourists who appreciate the beauty of the steep cliffs, majestic mountain peaks, and powerful cliffs feel like they are in a real fairy tale. Only Mother Nature created it, like the most famous rock, which with its protrusions resembles an old man who gazes intently into the distance.

Northern Rhone Island

The secluded spot in the North Atlantic is so isolated from everyone else that it is often forgotten to be placed on the geographical map of Great Britain. Many centuries ago, Christian hermits chose the island as their refuge; later Scandinavian peoples lived on it, capturing the Hebrides.

In the 8th century, an Irish bishop settled here, who was later recognized as Saint Ronan. Ronan built the chapel - the oldest Christian building in Scotland that has survived to this day. Curious visitors to the miniature island can crawl into a half-submerged structure made of earth and see the ascetic decoration, shedding light on how hermits lived on the Rhone a thousand years ago.