Sunset in June
August 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
While browsing through my digital photo library today I came across two remarkable pictures of a sunset. Both pictures were taken the same day (the 14th of June) from the loch side of the house, looking towards the outer isles. The first picture was taken at about 22:00.
The second picture was taken at about midnight. What’s remarkable is that the first picture looks like it was taken before the first one. This effect is caused by the overcast and the golden haze produced by a setting sun. During the summer months the nights don’t get much darker than the image below.
By the way: Unless for a bit of cropping, both pictures have not been edited or enhanced digitally.
Big ship
August 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Today the shores of Loch Dunvegan were visited by a massive cruise ship. The ship was so big that it could not hide itself behind the islands in the middle of the loch. I agree, it looks a bit like I pulled out the old Photoshop Bag of Tricks, but no, this is the real thing… that big white monster was really there!
Guests
August 27, 2007 | 2 Comments |
Last weekend we had Joost (a former colleague) and his girlfriend Esther over from Holland. They both love Scotland and decided to pay us a short visit just before they went off on their one year trip around the world.
We had a great time and luckily enough, we had great weather as well. They arrived Friday in the early evening flying with EasyJet on Edinburgh. We started off on Saturday with a walk at the Coral Beaches. We had lunch in the restaurant of Dunvegan Castle and spent the afternoon at Orbost beach.
Sunday was - opposite to the forecast - a bright and lovely day. After a full cooked breakfast, our first stop was at Neist Point. Neist Point is never boring and again this time it was lovely to be there. Joost took some impressive shots of the cliffs with his camcorder and we lingered a bit at the area past the lighthouse enjoying the sunshine and the mild breeze.
Next we went for a quick lunch at An Strupag, a small restaurant in Glendale. During our walk at Neist Point we had decided to climb Waterstein Head, one of the largest (if not the largest) cliffs on Skye. So, after lunch at An Strupag we drove the single track road down to Ramasaig and parked it almost in from of the cliff. The walk took us about 2 hours, there and back with half an hour of lingering on the top to enjoy the spectacular scenery there.
Tired but contented we drove back home and enjoyed a sturdy meal: neeps & tatties with Haggis and some bottles of red wine. Lovely!!
Monday morning, after breakfast Joost and Esther took off to catch their plane back home to Holland and make the final preparations for their big adventure. You can read about their adventures on their website.
Donald the Hen
August 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
We’ve been thinking of keeping a couple of hens for a while now - nothing beats the taste of your own free range eggs - and today we decided to put things in motion. In a village called “Struan”, which is about a 15 minute drive from our house, there lives a guy who sells hens. His name is Donald MacDonald.
We weren’t exactly sure of the address, so once we arrived in Struan we asked at the local garage. A friendly man told that Mr. MacDonalds house was just across the road, up the hill. He also told us that Mr. MacDonald - due to his business - is locally known as “Donald the Hen”…
Well Donald was not in, but we spoke with his friendly wife. She told us there was a quite a demand for hens and the next batch would be available by mid or end October. We decided to order 6 hens: three black ones and three brown ones. So, now it’s waiting for the hens to arrive. In the mean time, I can work on a hen hutch…
Weird weather
August 22, 2007 | 1 Comment |
Today was a strange day weather-wise… When I looked out the window this morning it was all foggy and grim. We decided to go out anyway, and once we got out of the village, the sun was shining and everything was bright as can be. It appeared that the direct environment of MacLeod’s Tables was caught in a massive fog cloud while the rest of the world was nice and sunny…
The most impressive thing was that in our backyard I measured a temperature of 14.5 C, while outside the fogged up area it was 19 C…
Orbost Beach
August 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Today we decided to go to Orbost, a 5 minute drive from our house. Officially it’s called “Orbost Estate” and it’s currently owned by Highland and Island Enterprises who bought it from the MacDonald Family. The estate covers over 1850 hectares and like many locations on Skye, it’s a place with impressive natural beauty. Today we decided to walk along the beach towards a point called “Meall Greepa”.
Orbost beach is a rocky beach which makes a bit hard for swimming, although you can find spots where you can take a dip but rubber beach shoes are required to make it in and out the water. The water is crisp clear and there are lots of little bays where you can sit on the rocks and let your feet hang in the water.
During our walk we found that the rocks in some of the bays had large numbers of mussels on them. As they looked quite eatable, I decided to suffer some wet shoes and catch us some for an afternoon snack. So I got in the water - up to the knees - and got us a reasonable portion of mussels. We drove back home and enjoyed the mussels with some home made whisky sauce (mayonnaise, ketchup, salt, pepper and a little splash of Jura single malt). It was delicious!!
Another fine day…
August 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
… with great weather and a good opportunity to do some of the garden work. We started out with planting a rose and putting down an impressive piece of driftwood. The driftwood is from a river close to Glen Affric. It gets its white color by lying in the river, which drains all the juices from the wood. We think it looks good in contrast with the bright green and the color of the rose we planted right in front of it. Also its quirky shape looks very nice.
Just after lunch we noticed some activity on the loch. it appeared that a windsurfer had found its way to the loch. There was quite a bit of wind today, so he (she?) had a great time. On below photo, you can see the coral beaches in the distance, just right above the surfer…
The Lawnmower Man
August 20, 2007 | 3 Comments |
A reference to a cult film from 1992, but that’s how I felt today. As part of our shopping spree we bought a strimmer in Inverness to cut back the grass and the weeds. They had grown considerably now the sheep can’t get on the garden part of the plot anymore.
A strimmer is basically like a mechanical scythe: a two stroke engine connected to a disc with nylon wires through a long shaft. The engine makes the disc spin which in turn makes the nylon threads go around. The threads then basically act as cutting knives…
After some testing and figuring out how the thing works, I decided today to go out and have a “day on the field” so to say. First I had to mix up the two stroke fuel, so we went down to Dunvegan and bought a jerry can of unleaded fuel. I mixed this with two stroke engine oil and filled up the little gas tank, pulled the starter cord and… brooommmm… the engine was happily humming away. A smooth start, so to say…
I attached the machine to the supplied harness (otherwise it’s to heavy to operate) and started strimming away. The result was astonishing. What once was a field of almost knee high grass suddenly looked like a really nice lawn. There’s some work to be done: quite a bit of rocks need to be removed and some of the big bumps in the lawn need to be flattened, but the start is there. Also, some areas need additional grass seed.
On the above photo I’m wearing ear muffs to protect my ears from the constant engine sound which is quite bad for your ears. I also wear protective glasses. The nylon threads rotate very fast and every now and then a stone is launched. If that hits an unprotected eye, I’m sure the results will be very bad!
After one day of hard work, the “rough cutting” is done. Tomorrow I’ll be doing the last bits and pieces…
Back home…
August 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
We’re back from Inverness… and a memorable weekend it was!! We did a bit of shopping of Friday afternoon, then went to “Beat the Drum” on Saturday and did some more shopping on Sunday. We stayed at friends of ours in their house in Culbokie, a little village close to Inverness.
Visiting “Beat the Drum” was without doubt a very special experience and the highlight of the weekend. The bands performed on a field of a farm near the village of Drumnadrochit, the home town of the Loch Ness monster about a 40 minute drive from Inverness. There were about 17.000 people attending, which is like a complete invasion for a small town like Drumnadrochit.
The music was great, the organization of the event spotless and smooth but the weather was absolutely horrendous and totally gruesome. It rained all day, without stopping… And not just a drizzle but an all-day solid and steady shower. So by seven in the evening the whole field was covered in a thick layer of mud. It was our estimate that after the show, the field would have to be ploughed and seeded again to restore its original state. It was that bad…
Luckily we were well prepped and wore our rain suits so we stayed relatively dry. However, after so many hours in the rain you start to get cold and by 8pm there were people with signs of hypothermia. Obviously those received immediate medical attention.
Although all eyes were geared towards Runrig - a very famous Scottish band - I was personally very much impressed by the performances of The Great Big Sea - a Canadian band from Newfoundland - and Wolfstone, another Scottish band. Wolfstone had a front man who played the fiddle and I thought he played absolutely amazing. Their music was a good blend of Scottish folk and rock… and if you’re into that sort of music, both bands are really worth your attention! You will find them on the iTunes store…
Well, looking back it was a great experience. It’s really amazing to see the different kind of people attending: basically young and old having a party and their spirits high as can be… not at all lowered by the appalling weather. The crowd danced and jumped on the beats of some of the fast paced songs.
It turned out to be a real happening…
Beat the Drum
August 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Today we’re off to Inverness for a couple of days to do some shopping and go to the open air music happening “Beat the Drum”. This event starts Saturday afternoon and goes on until about midnight with a gig of the famous Scottish band Runrig as the finale. Click here to check out the event on the web.
Although the weather looks a bit ominous we’re in good spirits and will let you know about our adventures in the big city!
-
Latest music...
Hair (1968, Original Broadway recording). Some naughty lyrics for that time!!
An Rathad a Bhatarsaigh, by the Vatersay Boys