Great Bernera

The name is because it's the 8th site associated with the Callanish standing stone complex. It's four stones in a semi-circle on a cliff edge overlooking the sea channel. This is believed to be the original layout, it's not that a complete circle was eroded. The Callanish complex was erected circa 2900-2600 BC, and remained in use for 1500 years.

Local history, from the Iron Age village, lobster pots and land riots to the building of the bridge.

Loch Breacleit drains out through two smaller freshwater lochs, and water-powered mills have long been set in the stream where it reaches the sea here at Loch Riosaigh. Traditional Norse mills set the wheel horizontally in the flow. This example was rebuilt in the 1880s, functioned until after the First World War then fell into disuse, but was again restored in 1995 and 2018. It's a two-storey beehive stone building covered in turf. The remains of much older dams and millstones can also be seen. The site's other advantage was that farmers could bring their grain by boat to the mill. Park at the museum and follow the lane east onto a footpath, which may be boggy.

In 1992 a storm eroded the coastline and exposed five buildings, with traces of a larger village here from approx 500 BC to 800 AD (Late Iron Age or Pictish Age). Only limited stabilisation and preservation were possible so one house was removed piece by piece and rebuilt on firmer ground, while the rest was reburied. You wriggle in by the passage into the main circular room, which surrounds a stone hearth with a peat fire. There are recesses for beds and storage. The layout and circumstances of discovery resemble Skara Brae in Orkney, but that structure is twice as old.

Boat trips from two to six hours.