Have just read the essay by Hugh Raffles - beautifully written with very much a personal story within. I didn't know that Lewis and the Hebrides had been badly affected by famine at more or less the same time as Ireland.
A couple of small coincidences - I too visited Lewis in 2013 and also met with Margaret Curtis, a remarkable woman. In fact 2013 is a year I won't forget for a variety of reasons. The other small coincidence is that Neil Oliver writes about the gneiss of Lewis in the opening chapter of his new book 'Wisdom of the Ancients'.
