July musings

Our lovely holiday is over. We said goodbye to Heather and Ewan on Sunday morning and then set off back to Glasgow ourselves on Monday; the garage in Ullapool finally admitted (after five weeks!) that they just can't fix our car, so the AA have transported it to Glasgow Audi. This will no doubt be costly, but the good news is that they are talking about fixing it in days rather than weeks! Thank goodness that Heather offered her car to transport the bikes to the Western Isles and that Ewan offered to do the driving, because our wee courtesy car wasn't big enough to take the bike rack. 

Since our return to Cambuslang, the weather has been very warm which I suppose shouldn't surprise me 

since we are well into July. The gooseberries and redcurrants are ripe and I have been picking some of them today; I will freeze the gooseberries and make redcurrant jelly. On Tuesday morning James and I walked along to Burnside to pick up a picture that we had put in to get framed at Brian MacDougall's, and we also had a coffee sitting outside at Cafe Gelato. As we walked home I was absolutely sweltering. 

I am blogging while half watching the Euros semi-final between England and Denmark*, with Ally, Cat, James and Iain. I'm supporting England, because Scotland has already been knocked out. In this I think that I am in the minority in Scotland, where very many people would support "A.B.E." (anybody but England, which I think is racist.) But if Scotland are no longer in a competition I like to support the other home nations. 

A propos of nothing, I remembered earlier that today would have been my Mum and Dad's 60th wedding anniversary. 

* England won 2 - 1.

Competent Ankles

We arrived back on Thursday from our fantastic trip to the Western Isles. The weather has continued to be beautiful and the views of the islands and mountains from the ferry as we approached Ullapool were spectacular. I do enjoy a ferry trip, and as a bonus we happened to sit right beside a tv screen which was playing Wimbledon; Heather and I enjoyed watching Coco Gauff winning her second round match against Elena Vesnina. 

On Friday we all set off to climb Canisp. I mentioned at breakfast that my feet would feel cooler in trail shoes, which Heather would also be wearing. James replied that I should wear my boots to support my ankles (I do have a track record of turning my ankles and in fact breaking them in occasion!) - he went on to say that Heather would be fine in trainers because “Heather has competent ankles” This was such an odd turn of phrase that Heather and I burst out laughing; it’s probably the strangest compliment that she has received! 

The blue skies promised wonderful views, but also a very warm day. I really did give it a go, but after a couple of kilometres I realised that it was too hot for me and turned back. I will try Canisp again but it will have to be on a much cooler and no doubt cloudier day, which will mean that the views will not be as stunning as they were on Friday. And I know that they were stunning because I later saw the photos taken by James, Heather and Ewan when they reached the summit. Such amazing views of all the other mountains. They arrived back down the hill a few hours later, hot and tired but very happy. 

Meanwhile I decided that the best way to cool off would be to have a dip in the little river that ran into a nearby lochan. The banks were rather muddy but the water was delightfully cool. Tiny little fish investigated my toes and the air was full of birdsong. I then read my book while waiting for the others. I felt very cool and relaxed in the sunshine. 

Later we had dinner at Peet’s in Lochinver and in addition to having a lovely meal, we spotted comedian Rob Brydon drinking champagne with actress Ruth Jones, whose husband owns the restaurant. Apparently they are filming a new comedy series nearby. Excellent celebrity sighting! 

Lewis and Harris

It has been interesting to spend time in Stornoway during our holiday in the Western Isles. In the past, Stornoway has been a place that we have passed through on our way to South Harris, sometimes stopping to stock up on groceries in its supermarket; we have never spent much time there. It’s not as pretty as, for example, Tarbert in Harris, and mostly just looks like an ordinary little Scottish town. However as we have strolled around Stornoway on our way to its very decent selection of restaurants, I have got to know it a bit better. The harbour area is quite attractive in the practical way of a fishing town, and the verdant woods and paths of Lews Park overlook the town and provide walking and cycling very close to its centre. From the windows of our delightful accommodation in Lews Castle we have been able to watch the ferry to Ullapool arrive and depart at a stately pace, until it is clear of the harbour and picks up speed to head back to the mainland. I am glad that I have had the chance to become better acquainted with Stornoway. 

The same goes for the rest of Lewis. I have visited several of Lewis’s highlights on previous trips; I have been awed by the ancient stones of Calanais and the rocky splendour of the Butt of Lewis. However I have long regarded its landscape as fairly flat and bleak, especially when I have driven across it in poor weather. I have always felt that its neighbour, Harris, wins hands down in terms of dramatic hills and stunning beaches. This all changed during our cycle across the island on Monday; at a slower pace I was able to appreciate the lush green countryside of Lewis under big skies, the wildflowers and the many glittering blue lochans, all the while accompanied by the insistent song of skylarks. And today a friendly lady in the tourist information office was waxing lyrical about various Lewis beaches which she assured us could rival any in Harris. I will always love Harris, but thanks to this holiday I have found a place in my heart for Lewis too. 

Lews Castle

Heather and Ewan have excelled themselves; we are currently on a trip to the Western Isles and they have booked us into the amazing Lews Castle in Stornoway. The castle was most recently owned by Lord Leverburgh but in the 1920s he gifted it with its extensive estate to the people of Stornoway. The Stornoway Trust manages it. It has been used as a school among other things, but had been unused for about twenty years before being converted into apartments with a café and function rooms. Our apartment is huge, with two beautiful en-suite bedrooms and a living-room / kitchen, with views over grassy lawns to the harbour and the sea beyond.

Today we cycled from Stornoway to Dun Carloway, a distance of 32 km, which is about as far as I have ever cycled. I was very nervous before we set off because I was worried about getting too hot, road traffic, and how far we were going. Well, I was very lucky. I didn’t overheat because there was a cool breeze coming in from the west the whole time, and I also took 1.5 litres of water in my platypus which I drank to keep cool. Road traffic was not a problem either. There was a little traffic as we left Stornoway, but then we got onto a track which had no traffic at all. When we eventually rejoined the undulating road towards Dun Carloway there was still hardly any traffic, which was great for me. And as for distance … by the time we got to the friendly Pit Stop café between Dun Carloway and Calanais I was pretty convinced that 30 km was enough for me today. I was getting tired and slowing down, so while the others returned by bike, making a total journey of 60 km, I returned to Stornoway by taxi. The others were very understanding and although they were too tactful to say so, I know that they made much better speed on the return journey without me. 

I was absolutely delighted with my cycle. The weather was perfect, the Lewis countryside was green and beautiful, studded with lochans. We could see the hills of Harris, blue in the distance. There were skylarks and plovers singing loudly as we cycled along. James, Heather and Ewan each spent time cycling beside me, which was very encouraging. Dun Carloway was impressive although currently covered in scaffolding. The highlight for me was Calanais. We had it to ourselves and the ancient stones were lit up by the sun and warm to the touch. It was a brilliant day and I feel inspired to keep cycling and build up my stamina. 

The Secret of our Successful Marriage

Our holiday with Heather and Ewan has continued with more walking, relaxing, dining and music.

As forecast, Wednesday was a rainy day, so as well as a walk around the village we spent an afternoon of reading and chatting in front of the fire in the living room. Except James, who had to go for rather a long drive to pick up a part for our broken car - I will save the details of this for a future blog post when hopefully our ongoing car saga will have had a happy ending. James was back in time for a slap up dinner of Lochinver pies with chips, gravy and baked beans, followed by a convivial evening. 

Thursday was grey but dry and we drove south, past Dundonnell, to go for a 10 km walk to and from Slaggan Bay. It was a lovely walk past a couple of lochans, through a lush green valley and down to an attractive sandy beach. As we enjoyed our coffee and shortbread, we could see the Shiant islands in the distance with the very faint outline of Harris beyond them. In the evening we had a tasty dinner at the Arch Inn where the service was extremely speedy after the slow service last week - seems like someone has had a word with the staff! It meant that we had time for dessert which was delicious but of course made me very full! 

And today we went for a boat ride on the Shearwater out to the Summer Isles. We were lucky enough to see a pod of dolphins again, dozens of them leaping about in the water. There was a friendly and talkative tourist sitting near us who got chatting to James about the different seabirds, which led James to tell him, “I have difficulty telling the difference between a shag and a cormorant!” Without missing a beat, Ewan commented, “And that’s the secret of your successful marriage!” Well, that just cracked me up which set Ewan off and soon we were helpless with laughter. Heather was laughing too and said, “I can’t take you two anywhere!” which added to our mirth. 

Later James planted some heathers in the garden while Ewan made a fantastic dinner of pasta with pesto, mushrooms and artichoke hearts. It wasn’t until we went out later to watch the sun set that I realised that Heather had been gardening too; she had very kindly done some weeding down by the gate. Such excellent guests - cooking and gardening! 

Sunshine and clouds

Heather and Ewan arrived in Ullapool yesterday, and since the weather was fine and sunny, I suggested that we should climb Ullapool Hill after lunch. James was taken aback at my enthusiasm for going up a hill, albeit a small one; my reasoning was that we should make the most of such a lovely afternoon because the weather forecast for the next couple of days is dreich at best. I set off a bit before the others because I knew that my pace would be slow on the uphill, and the timing was good because I was just slogging up the short but steep final ascent when I spotted the other three not far behind me. By the time we arrived at the summit the weather was markedly greyer than when we set off, but we still had pleasant views up and down Loch Broom and over to Loch Achall. We headed back down to the village where we had drinks sitting outside the Arch Inn and we watched the ferry coming in and docking. 

Today the weather was indeed grey with low cloud as forecast. However it was dry and we all fancied a walk so we went to the Stoer Peninsula and walked along it to view the sea stack known as the Old Man of Stoer, a round trip of about 7 km. The good news is that we had a pleasant and companionable walk and saw some sea birds including a great skua and a black-backed gull, and of course the impressive sea stack, which according to legend is the thumb of a giant sticking out of the water! The bad news is that although it didn’t rain, the cloud was so low that sometimes we were enveloped in it, so we couldn’t see the undoubtably beautiful sea views that were hidden by the shifting veils of cloud. We had some coffee and shortbread, then we climbed the small hill in the centre of the peninsula and made our way back across sometimes boggy terrain until finally we could see the lighthouse at the car park through wisps of cloud.  

Off to Lochinver we drove to have more coffee and snacks in the An Cala Café before visiting both the pie shop and Highland Stoneware, where we successfully made various purchases. Back at the cottage we dined royally on James’ Sweet Potato and Spinach Curry. 

The Longest Day of 2021

And here we are at the longest day of the year. It has been warm and sunny all day. I got the cottage ready for Heather and Ewan who will be arriving tomorrow, and James worked in the garden. In the afternoon we strolled into the village and had drinks at the Ferry Boat Inn then picked up fish suppers on our way home. There was something very special about the quality of the light this afternoon; the water in the loch was so clear and the mountains at the end of the loch were shades of pastel colours. 

After tea we sat outside on the bench in the sunshine. The sun set at about half past ten and I went up to Castle Terrace to take a few photos of the pink and blue evening sky. It was still as light as day. As I type this it’s just coming up to midnight and the sky is not completely dark here in Ullapool.