Odds and Ends

Pat and I took Briagha for a brief walk in the Castle grounds on Friday. She (Briagha not Pat) thought it was a day for paddling. She couldn't understand why we wouldn't join her. Instead we joined GB in The Woodlands for a coffee (and, in my case, the irresistible Florentine).


On the way back from town we pass this old mill.


Even though I have taken this view many times over the last 15 years I still cannot resist getting the camera out when the sun is shining.



We went out for a meal in the evening, stopping briefly on the Briagh where I got some shots of Oystercatchers.


We also passed the pottery which GB used to own. Sad to say, it has now closed down.


It is approaching the longest day and up here in The Hebrides the nights are getting very short. At 11.30 at night it was still light enough to see for miles and four hours later the sun was rising again.


 

Down to the beach

After lunch on Wednesday I had a walk down the croft to the shore, looking out at Bayble Island all the while.



There were plenty of Marsh Marigolds alongside and in the bed of the stream which runs down the croft. But if I were to choose a flower that typifies the Island it would have to be the Thrift and I shall blog separately about that.





The views on the shore were not easy to photograph because the sun kept coming and going but it was surprisingly warm down on the beach.


This is a Green Shore Crab.


Over the years I have photographed so many Beadlet Sea Anemones but I still cannot resist taking more photos.



One of the gullies running down to the shore was full of Primroses.


And the mosses in the wetter gullies glistened in the weak sunshine.


The pebbles and boulders on the beach are mostly gneiss and granite.





Despite being down there for over two hours I only met one human - David. He was being taken for a walk by Briagha. The obedience lessons seem to have paid off. David was doing everything Briagha expected of him.
 

A Walk in the Woods

Tuesday 10th June 2008

A baby Skylark was in the garden at breakfast time. I wonder if this is the same one that crashed into the window yesterday. If so, it seems to have learned its lesson. A male House Sparrow was among the visitors sampling the bird seed.




GB left for the mainland to have his scans at Ayr Hospital and Pat took him and I to the airport. After GB had departed on the Glasgow plane we went to the Castle Grounds to take Briagha for a walk in the woods.



It threatened to rain at one stage but was kind enough to hold off and we had a most pleasant walk up Gallows Hill. Among the plants alongside the path were something that resembled Flowering Rush, Lupins, horsetails, and Bugle (Ajuga reptans).







Gallows Hill, as the name suggests, was where the town gallows once stood. Its Gaelic name - Cnoc na croich (Hill of the Hanging) also reflects the fact. It is 215 feet above sea level and the highest point of the Castle Grounds. The view of Stornoway from the summit is excellent - the whole panorama of the town is spread out below one on the other side of the harbour.






"There was prehistoric settlement in and around Stornoway, as early as 6,000 years ago. We know this because of the presence of a number of Neolithic and Bronze Age ritual monuments near the town, the largest and best known of which is the Neolithic (c. 4,000 BC) chambered burial cairn at Cnoc na Croich (Gallows Hill), in the grounds of Lews Castle. This cairn, which is about 30m in diameter, had a room inside it, which held the bodies of the dead. All that now remains of the structure is the huge stones of the chamber, with a scatter of smaller cairn stones spread around them." (From the Stornoway Historical Society Site) )



Briagha - such a clean and tidy dog.






Nothing like a little stick to keep a dog (and its owner) amused.





Briagha, five minutes later, a mucky pup!




Gallows Hill from Cuddy Point where we had left the car.