This week our sand comes from the delightfully-named Butt of Lewis, the northernmost point of the Isle of Lewis. Lewis is part of the Outer Hebrides, an archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. My parents visited there this summer as part of a trip to Barra, a neighbouring island and the ancestral home of my mom’s family. My dad brought back a little bag of sand from the beach at Ness:
The most important question here is obviously not about the sand though, but rather, why they called this place the “Butt of Lewis”. After half an hour of creative and persistent googling, I couldn’t find anything, though. My guess is just that it’s because it’s at the very back end of the island. But also quite windy?
Coastally Curious 