Fresh Fish for Dinner

A lovely walk along Halaman Beach with Heather and Ewan in the morning looking at the waves - today they were a dark blue with white tops and aquamarine just where they rose up. Caught in a shower on the way back; there are such frequent and sudden changes of weather here! By the time we set off to the airport after lunch to collect James and Ally off the plane from Glasgow it was sunny again and the afternoon was glorious. On our way to the airport we stopped at Barratlantic, the fish processing plant and called in at their warehouse where Ewan purchased some haddock for us to have for dinner. The man who sold them to us looked a bit like the actor Robert Carlyle I thought. There were huge piles of scallop shells and boxes full of fish guts and skin, and cockles were being packed into large net bags. Our next stop was to walk up to the Great Rock of the Glens, a large stone which legend has it was hurled there from Eriskay by a giant whose wife was running away from him. It was a pleasant walk up the hill to the stone, which was indeed impressive, but not as impressive as the views over the airport beach (Traigh Mor) and beyond it to the islands of Eriskay and South Uist. It was absolutely beautiful. Onwards to the airport where we watched the plane land right on the beach - amazing! James and Ally had enjoyed the flight and had great views from their windows at the back of the plane. After a coffee in the airport terminal all eight of us set off to Eoligarry jetty for a walk. Andrew and Ally went to the beach and the rest of us walked up to Cille Bharra which is an old graveyard and paid our respects at Compton Mackenzie's grave. I have in fact only seen the film of his book "Whisky Galore" which was filmed here on Barra. We also saw the replica of the Rune stone inside the wee chapel, which was found in the graveyard although the original is in the Museum Of Scotland in Edinburgh. We then walked down towards the sea and David and Jennifer headed off to join the others on the sandy beach while us four adults went towards Dun Scurrival. James, Heather and Ewan climbed up it and I decided to head up Beinn Scurrival at a slower pace, and I was pleased to get to the top easily. Then I saw the others walking along the road and I realized that they were going straight to the beach rather than up my hill, so I scuttled down the hill to meet them. Under a barbed wire fence we all went and onto Scurrival Beach. The beach and its views were beautiful and we walked along chatting and enjoying the fine weather, joined by the children who also seemed to be enjoying the day. What a great afternoon! Back to the cottages and Ewan then cooked us a wonderful meal of haddock, new potatoes and roasted vegetables. He had cooked the fish very simply in the oven in a little butter with lemon juice and water and it tasted marvellous, it was cooked to perfection, and melted in the mouth. What a treat to eat fresh fish from the island's fishing boats and cooked so very well. I know I wax lyrical but as I have said before on this blog I love good food. That's why I need to take more exercise to work it off! More culinary treats were to come - Jennifer had made us raspberry crumble muffins for dessert and they looked and tasted delicious. A relaxing evening in Heather and Ewan's cottage then ensued.