Edible crabs in Loch Ewe

Yesterday while the others in the hill-walking club were climbing many mountains around Kinlochewe including Beinn Eighe and Beinn Alligan, Christine, Miriam and I headed for Inverewe Gardens. We were counting on the forecast sunshine to see them at their best; however when we arrived it was raining so we went for coffee and cake in the pleasant tea room. A long time ago in the tea room at Inverewe Gardens when I was sitting having lunch with my three beautiful little boys, Davie in a highchair, an old lady once wished me luck to “see my boys up” so it has good memories for me. And I count myself very lucky that I have lived to see them grow up. By the time we had finished our coffee the rain had gone off and blue sky was peeping through the clouds.
Christine knew most about horticulture and was kind enough to give us a tour of the different kinds of flowers. Osgood Mackenzie‘s house is now open to the public so we had a look round it. Designed in 1929, it is beautifully light and airy. We also spontaneously booked ourselves onto an hour long boat trip from the jetty at the end of the gardens. This has only been running for the last couple of seasons and it turned out to be great fun. The skipper is called Jamie and he is very knowledgeable about the wildlife of the area so he pointed out birds such as grey herons and cormorants as we chugged along Loch Ewe. He also stopped a couple of times to lift fishing creels to show us what was in them. He produced green crabs, velvet crabs, big brown crabs and tiny starfish. The brown crab is also known as the "edible crab," which ill-omened name I doubted that the crab would have chosen for itself! We returned to the jetty along the Inverewe peninsula with great views of the gardens. Soon we were wandering through the walled garden enjoying the huge variety of flowers and vegetables which are grown in adjacent rows. I wonder if potatoes grow particularly well in the vicinity of dahlias because they were planted in alternating rows. Or perhaps the flowers are there simply to add colour to the rows of vegetables. Back in Kinlochewe we joined the rest of the group, who were in varying states of exhaustion after their strenuous hill-walks, for a hearty dinner.