A grumpy Lewis chessman.

This king is one of a hoard of 80-odd Norse chessmen found in 1831, buried in a sandbank near Uig, Lewis. Originating in the 11th century, they were carved from walrus tusks, and are thought to have been very valuable items. They were probably buried by a merchant, possibly on his trade route to Ireland from the Norse regions of Scandinavia. Seemingly, he never came back to collect them, and they were discovered centuries later in uncertain circumstances.

I went to Uig on 14 June, almost mid-summer. It rained. There was a force-six gale. It was bollock-freezing.

The facial expressions of the Lewis chesspieces is uniformly glum. It seems that 800 years on a beach in the Outer Hebrides is enough to dent the optimism of the most inanimate of objects.

Incidentally, the game of chess is thought to have been invented in India in about 600 CE. Strangely, I never knew that until I went to Lewis, which is prufe, shud it be kneaded, that travel can be very edukational.