Plockton and Sir David Attenborough

James and I travelled from Ullapool to Plockton on Thursday, so that James could climb a Corbett in the south of Skye. Before we set off, we made sure that both cats were safely in the cottage, and loaded up their food bowls with plenty of wet and dry food for two days. The journey was only two hours, and when we arrived in Plockton, it was breezy but sunny. We checked into the Plockton Hotel, then went for a walk through the little village and up to a viewpoint where we could see across to Skye and Raasay in the distance. We had a nice dinner in the hotel, and our room overlooked the water which was lovely. The next morning we had an early breakfast and set off to Skye where I dropped James off to climb his mountain. I went onto Portree where the weather was sunny, then rainy, then sunny, then rainy, changing every 15 minutes! I had coffee in a small café where I was chatting to an American couple from Oregon. I set off back along the road and stopped at the ferry terminal for Raasay, a place which holds good memories for the Anderson family. I went across on the ferry and back as a foot passenger, although I didn’t have time to disembark on the island. James had made tremendously good time on his Corbett and in fact was already waiting for me when I arrived to pick him up at 3 pm. We then drove all the way back to Ullapool, where the cats were very enthusiastic to see us; to have fresh food and to go outside to play. In the evening we watched a tribute to David Attenborough on BBC One because today, 8th May, is his 100th birthday. What an amazing person he is. He has done so much good in the world advocating for our planet and its wildlife. The celebration was at the Royal Albert Hall and Sir David attended, standing up without assistance when the audience sang Happy Birthday to him. 
His parents were pretty amazing too - his Mum was an activist during the 1930s and organised relief for Basque children from the bombing of Guernica; his Dad was the son of a grocer who worked hard to become a historian and academic, and the family took in two Kindertransport refugee children in 1939 who lived with them for seven years and kept in close touch for the rest of their lives. David and his brothers needed to get scholarships to be able to go to university (or drama school in his brother Richard’s case!) What an impact David Attenborough has had on the world! 

Pies and Music

During the days at the weekend we went with Ian and Iris on a couple of outings. They already know the area well, but hadn’t been to the new visitor centre at Corrieshalloch Gorge so we went there and walked down to the bridge along the new path. We also visited Lochinver and walked along to the harbour and had lunch at An Cala before each choosing a pie from the pie shop for our dinner, which we ate later with mash and broccoli. We even had a wee lunch sitting outside at the Seafood Shack, which has a shiny new building this season, although the seating is still outdoors. It was only just warm enough but worth it for the fresh seafood. On their last evening Ian attended a concert at the Macphail Centre which was for musicians only, so Iris, James and I went for drinks at the Argyle Hotel before wandering along to the Ceilidh Place. Our timing was perfect because we arrived there just before the crowd arrived from the Macphail Centre for that night’s session, and we nabbed a really good table at the side, from where we had a great view of all the action. I was speaking to a man called Pete McCallum because the night before he had sung an excellent song called “The Bothy Jazz Song” and I wanted to ask him who wrote it. It turned out that he had written it himself and when I told him that I had loved it he said “That deserves a hug!” and indeed gave me a big hug! We got to know quite a lot of the musicians by sight over the three evenings and chatted to some of them, they are a friendly group. We said our farewells to Ian and Iris on Monday as they set off to visit friends in Beauly. 

Fèis

We spent a lot of this weekend at the Fèis in Ullapool, which is pronounced “faysh.” Its full name in Gaelic is the Fèis Rois nan Inbheach which means Ross-shire Adult Festival, and it is held annually during the first holiday weekend in May. It’s all about traditional Scottish music, with workshops for the musicians during the day and sessions in various pubs at night, as well as a few concerts. We were aware that it happens, but this is the first year that we have attended any of it. This was thanks to Ian and Iris; they mentioned it to us earlier this year so we invited them to spend the weekend with us in Ullapool. Ian hadn’t signed up for the workshops this time, but he took part in all of the sessions and we went along with Iris as his official fans! We weren’t the only spectators but most people at the sessions were participants, and very talented. Someone would start a tune and everyone else joined in. There were lots of fiddlers, also guitarists, Celtic bagpipers, a cellist, a harpist, flautists, and a few drummers who were playing bodhráns. I really loved it but what I hadn’t bargained on was the extremely late nights that were involved. The musicians love to play and they carried on until the Ceilidh Place finally asked them to leave after 1 a.m. Then we would walk back to the cottage where James dispensed whisky and eventually Iris and I went off to bed at about two, leaving James and Ian to party on. Except for Sunday that is. I had expected that to be an earlier night because it was the end of the festival, but oh no. It was the latest night of all and we didn’t get to bed until 3:30 in the morning! 

Pleasant interlude in Ullapool

We set off to Ullapool on Tuesday after my morning Pickleball club which was outdoors at the tennis club in the good weather. We had a good run north and had a celebratory fish / veggie burger supper on our arrival. The cats jumped out of the car and ran off to reacquaint themselves with their northern territory. We carried the benches out of the garage in the morning and sat outside in the sunshine. The weather continued warm and sunny for the rest of the week and we had a great time going for walks and having cake and coffee outside Tea by the Sea. James worked in the garden and I got the cottage spruced up for our visitors, Ian and Iris. I also did some batch cooking, we watched the second season of the irritating but compelling The White Lotus on television, and read our books. A peaceful and pleasant week. 

The Sir Walter Scott

Today we went to Loch Katrine to go for a boat tour on the steamship Sir Walter Scott. This trip was gifted to James for his birthday by Heather and Ewan, and they decided that they would join us. The day got off to a shaky start when the road was closed at Loch Venachar which added forty minutes to our journey and unfortunately kept Heather and Ewan waiting for us at the Brig o’Turk tearoom. However it was great to see them and they put us at our ease and we even had time to go for a short walk at Brig o’Turk before our cruise. The Trossachs are so pretty in springtime, although we were too early to see many bluebells; only a few were beginning to appear. We drove the short distance to Loch Katrine and boarded the boat, welcomed by a man who was wearing a captain’s hat and a natty tartan waistcoat. Built in 1899, the Sir Walter Scott has been sailing on Loch Katrine since 1900, although the fine Scottish tradition of sailing on the loch dates back to the mid 19th century. Loch Katrine has also been the reservoir which supplies most of Glasgow with its water since the mid 19th century; although not Cambuslang, our water comes from Camps Reservoir near Crawford. The boat wasn’t too busy on this sunny Monday morning, and we really enjoyed the views of the loch with Beinn Narnain, Beinn Ime and Ben Vane visible beyond the far end. As we sailed westwards, snow capped Ben Lomond appeared from behind the hills to the south. Some members of our party found the breeze to be slightly chilly, but not me; there are some advantages to my intolerance of heat and near immunity to cold! The trip was an hour in total and then we had another fine tradition of Scottish high tea in the restaurant overlooking the loch; a tasty and generous amount of sandwiches, scones and cakes. 

Craig Ferguson

We were at the O2 Academy this evening with Gordon and Morag, to see Craig Ferguson. The show had been postponed from last year so we were excited to see him. We arrived early enough to have a very enjoyable drink and chat with Gordon and Morag before it started. I have never seen the O2 with seats installed downstairs before, it’s usually a standing area during concerts. James was wondering where they store such a substantial amount of seats when they are not in use. Craig Ferguson was very funny, he’s a clever man. I have seen him before in The Accidental Death of an Anarchist at the Citz many years ago and he was brilliant. If anything I thought that he was slightly nervous about being back in front of a Glasgow audience after so many successful years in America, but he got a warm reception. He said that his agent had told him not to worry because if people didn’t like him they simply wouldn’t buy tickets for his show, but he said “You don’t know Glasgow people!” implying that they would buy tickets just to prove to themselves that they were right about him, which I thought was very funny. His humour was anecdotal about his childhood, family, and experiences and we all enjoyed it very much.  

Lots of wild garlic

My cheese and wild garlic scones turned out to be excellent if I do say so myself. The weather has turned very warm and sunny and we have been enjoying sitting in the background room with the French windows open. To our surprise who appeared on the patio this afternoon but my old chum Vinnie! James and I greeted him warmly and were about to give him some dog treats that I still have in the cupboard, but then I heard Suzy calling him; she is dog-sitting while Rachel and John are on holiday. Vinnie and I went up to the top of the garden to see her, her garden is securely dog-proof so clever Vinnie must have made a Houdini-like escape through the hedge! I wonder if he heard and recognised our voices? 
On Friday evening, after a very pleasant and sunny day walking along Troon Beach, we met Gordon and Morag to see the Bon Jovi Experience (the only “official” tribute band as they proudly announced!) Gordon had kindly invited us along, and I accepted with alacrity because I assumed that James had been a fan of them in the 90s. It turns out that he wasn’t actually a fan but the band and music were very good and we both enjoyed ourselves, as well as Gordon and Morag’s friendly company. 
Today was a cooking and garden day. I made potato and wild garlic soup with more wild garlic from the Clyde Walkway. It was fine but the delicate taste was perhaps just a little too delicate. Cornel and Heather came for dinner and in addition to the soup we made roast lamb with juniper berries and asparagus, followed by James’ excellent crème brûlée. It was a happy evening.