Hello and welcome to Stories of Scotland, a jolly podcast where we explore Scotland and its many nooks and crannies.

I'm Annie and I'm Jenny. And this week we are going to be heading way up north to the remote nook and

mysterious cranny called the Minch. This is the strip of sea between the mainland northwest coast

and the northern outer Hebride Islands. The water is around 50 miles across and 70 miles long

and hold some wonderful history and intriguing mythology.

It also holds the remains of many erect ships.

Huge storms sweep off the Atlantic and batter the islands with torrential rain and powerful winds.

If you add in the long, dark nights of winter, plus the fact that

surrounded by lacerated coastline on three sides, then sailing through these conditions would

make even the most weathered seaman very nervous. Ah, but luckily, these seamen had the guiding

help of 12 lighthouses to assist them navigate the deadly area,

including Annie, my favourite lighthouse in all of Scotland, the butt of Lewis Lighthouse.

It sits upon the oldest rock in Europe and some of the oldest rock in the world,

Lewisian Nice. This beautiful pink and grey rock is over 3.4 billion years old.

Considering that the world itself is 4.5 billion years old, this rock has been on the planet for

three quarters of the planet's entire life, which to me is just mind-boggling. When you touch it,

you're connected to the entire history of the planet and every living organism. Because this rock

is older than life itself. Man, I don't know. It's my favourite rock in the entire world.

I can just hear a lot of the other rocks we've spoken about

crying that they're not your favorite rock. No, this is the granddaddy of all rocks. It definitely

deserves the favorite stamp. But also, back to the lighthouse and why it's my favorite lighthouse.

Not too far along the coast, there's a stone sea arch called the eye of the butt.

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