Goodbye Mull

Friday May 12

We couldn't have breakfast until 7.30 - because the Aga takes 25 minutes to heat up. !!! ??? That was the reason for scrambled eggs only on the menu. Eggs are not my favourite food and I struggled to eat mine this morning, despite resorting to brown sauce. We could have left much later really but, Pam wanted away.
A little fine drizzle saw us off, it didn't last long. A short wait for the ferry at Fishnish. Despite a long queue with a huge timber lorry in front of us, we were on the first ferry to Corran. We were waved on ahead of the lorry, he was fitted in diagonally, allowing another car to be shoe-horned in beside his rear end. We were motioned forward until all three of our front sensors were screaming red at us. Those men know what they're doing.
The most convenient supermarket in Fort William is Morrisons just off the roundabout into town from the south. Although the islands have shops, they're not always well stocked, nor do they have all the goods one wants. Stocking up is advisable.
The road to Skye follows the shore of Loch Linnhe before turning west and then along the edge of Loch Cluanie. Reseaside at Broadfordaching Kyle of Lochalsh, an area famous for Gavin Maxwell and his book 'tarka the Otter',  we now cross a free from toll bridge onto the Isle of Skye. It's a fairly long haul up to our B and B at Portree, we stopped on Broadford's waterside parking area to have a late lunch and a needed rest. 
Amazing.  About an hour after we'd stopped, a black minibus pulled up beside me. It was Ian, leader at Heatherlea again. He was newly off the Uist ferry with a vanful of customers. You wouldn't bet on it. We had a chat about what was about on the islands and they left. 
Time to settle in to our B and B for the evening, our third consecutive visit. Comfortable, well equipped and with good WiFi . I've taken advantage of the latter to order my beefsteak tomato plants from DT Brown and to change my failing Fantasy Footie teams which I haven't looked at for many weeks. Only a couple of weeks left and we had no WiFi for a week on Uist last year.
We're both very tired after over two weeks of travelling and not a lot of sleep last night. It will be good to get to our cottage in North Uist with no bird pressure (apart from Corncrake) and no  need to set the alarm clock.
. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Early Concern, Later Euphoria

Image
Sunday May 14 Last year, my case moth trap was new, so I heeded the advice not to put it out in the rain. It has a rain guard, why should I be so limited? We only used it twice on this island last year. It wasn't raining when we went to bed, there had obviously been a heavy shower during the night. The actinic tube was still hooked up but not alight. No moths either. We emptied the trap, left the egg boxes to dry out and left for Balranald. A lovely sunny morning with a stiff breeze, Skylarks singing, Lapwings Peeweeing, Redshanks whistling and at least two Corncrakes craking. None in our garden so far. Straight out to Ard an Runair beach, the area around the Reserve centre ( a small stone shed) and the loos was full of people, a coachload had arrived. The metal road soon descends to a very rough stone and sand track through the machair. Very few vehicles at the beach, half a dozen at the most. Parking where we could see the bay, scanning brought a host of Sanderling wit...
Read more

Not Uist But Lewis. Puzzling.

Image
Thursday May 18 Our latest start yet, for no apparent reason. Weather was good, as was our humour, we (I in particular) loafed about. My snail pace was because the WiFi worked for a while and I made use of it. The moth trap was sodden again. When does it rain?  At night obviously, about which we should be pleased. I’d really like a few moths before leaving and, to-night is the last night possible. We met BB a few days ago.he’d trapped very few but, at least he’d had something in his two weeks here. I wonder if he’ll be in Norfolk again this year. To-day’s aim was the island of Berneray The Isle lies at the northern end of the Uists, but historically was part of South Harris. It was joined to North Uist by a causeway in 1999. It’s only 2 miles by 3 in area and well worth a visit. Last year we had non stop heavy rain and determined to visit it again. In the very north of Uist shortly before the causeway, there is a ruin on an island in a loch. Luckily, there is a good information ...
Read more

Tiree Experience

Image
Monday May 15 Not much to write about to-day - except to express the British obsession with the weather. Hebrideans say that when the wind stops blowing on Tiree, all the inhabitants fall over. We had to struggle to stay upright IN the wind.  It's been blowing a real gale here to-day with intermittent rain. Not cold, peculiarly, due to the southerly wind. I had to hold the car door  open so that Pam could get in. It was lunchtime before  we left the cottage with several chores in mind. Stamps for the postcards and a battery for my watch. I must be able to get one somewhere. A shop assistant at Bayhead, down the road, said that their post office was shut as it only opened on Monday and Friday mornings until noon. The main Post Office was in Lochmaddy. I should be able to get a battery in Benbecula. And..... having driven the 20 miles there especially, the Lochmaddy Post Office also closed at noon every day and it was now 1 p.m. How helpful !!! There's a large RAF...
Read more