Somewhere between my first getting up (3.30 a.m. - took a few pictures, coffee, back to bed) and my second getting up (5.00 a.m. - chatted to GB on Skype and took a few more pictures) it rained. How dare it. I'm really concerned that it should be sunny and warm while Jo is up here next week. Partly because I want us to have some time out in the sunshine and partly because I feel so proprietorial about the Island now. I feel more at home here than I do in Pensby - partly because it is my sort of environment and life-style and partly because of the people. (The spillchucker rejected 'proprietorial'. I thought it sounded a reasonable enough word - meaning, in my mind, 'having a sense of ownership'. Putting it into Google got me one dictionary that accepted it - Wikipedia. Good old Wikipedia.)
Upper Bayble in the morning light.
This was the weather when I set out for a walk at lunchtime. Would you believe that 20 minutes later I was soaked to the skin through all my waterproofs.
This was five minutes before I got caught in a most torrential downpour.
Turn round 90 degrees and this is where the weather was coming from.
Great Black-backed Gulls are huge and vicious creatures. Jo and I even saw two of them harrying an Eagle on Harris once. But whatever crimes this one had committed in the past it was a real shame to see it lying newly dead on the cliff top. There was no sign of what had happened to it. There was a trap (which I take to be a mink or hedgehog trap) nearby but this Gull hadn't been got by a Mink because there was no sign of blood or injury.
On the way back if I hadn't been sure of where the line of fence posts was I would have had to come to a stop because it closed in so badly and my glasses were running with rain. I got back to GB's cold, wet through and happy. Why happy - because my camera had remained dry. What else matters?
Back home and the brief storm is over.
Very dramatic photos. It looks the most amazing place...I think I might prefer it to Pensby too; nice as Pensby can be!!
ReplyDeleteWow. Sounds more fearsome than our usual Island rain. Wot! No plastic ziplock bag in your pocket for the camera!
ReplyDeleteLovely! I completely understand the happiness of getting back with the camera dry... I kayaked from where we were fixing the boat to the beach in front of the cabin with a backpack containing my camera, cell phone, etc - I obviously overturned the boat when I beached it but very ungracefully managed to clamber over it to safety!! Needless to say I was happy too!
ReplyDeleteThe photos are beautiful. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThere you are GB - that's a birthday present idea for you. (Along with the pickle extractor!)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you joined the Friday Shoot Out and allowed me to discover your blog! Something lurched in my throat when I saw your photos. Weird feeling. Maybe it is the raw, stark beauty of your landscape?!
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