A Ramble over the headland

With no longer being able to schedule on this blog I don't know whether I'm doing Tuesday's second blog or an early Wednesday blog.... Very confusing.

I booked the ferry yesterday for Partner-who-loves-tea to come and join me on the Island on 20th July. She will then drive me home after we get the ferry back to the mainland on 27th July. I cannot believe I've been away from home since 1st May and yet 27th July seems awfully near when I realise it will mean returning to the real world of day-to-day worries. If only we could treat the whole of life in the stress-free way we treat holidays (if we are lucky as I have been).

I had a lovely walk this morning, stating at 7 a.m.. I went down the croft and onto the headland. From there I went over to the next headland - where I cannot recall ever having been before. Then it was up to the cairn and down to the loch. I stayed at the loch for while taking photos (and swatting horseflies as a secondary pastime). Then I walked into Lower Bayble and down the road to Eagleton and 'home' to GB's. GB is on the mainland and he seemed a bit concerned about me wandering off the beaten track where there may be no mobile signal. The ground is rather treacherous because there are old peat workings which get filled in by bog and plant life and a thigh length ducking or a broken ankle is always possible. So this morning I put a 'latest news' on my blog with a photo. That way - if anything did happen to me folk would know which direction to search in. The latest news could be done as a Twitter if I could remember how to tweet - must check it out. I know Heather was using it at one stage so if I get stuck it may be back to the fount of blogging knowledge. On the other hand I may just keep on doing it the way I have started. Oh Heavens, I'm rambling again - it's bad enough when you talk to yourself but when you do it publicly there's a danger they'll lock you away...

Any way here are a few photos from today's ramble.


The weather was warm and muggy with the sun breaking through the misty clouds on occasions. By the time the walk was over the sun had become a fixture for the day.


A Skylark.



A Meadow Brown butterfly.


The second headland.


"I know a bank whereon the wild thyme grows..."


The pretty little English Stonecrop.


The track to the cairn.


Looking at the loch and Bayble from the cairn.


The Iron Age dun in the loch.


A Small Heath butterfly.



A Pair of Great Skuas at the loch.

 

Just Rambling Anywhere

I couldn't decide how to sort out a blog of photos for you today so I settled for picking a few from last week at random. No doubt they will appear in a more organised form on my Hebridean Blog at some stage.









When I'm not out walking I've been playing with photos. I am preparing to join Heather's Soaring Through the World in Pictures and the Friday My Town Shoot Out. This latter had me stumped for a while since I don't really have a town at home - it's just an uninspiring suburb with little more than my precious library and a row of shops. So what I shall do eventually is show off Merseyside in general. But for the time being I shall join with my Hebridean identity and aim to show off Stornoway and the Isle of Lewis even after I've gone back to Merseyside. I'm hoping I'll have enough photos to fit most categories that people come up with for the foreseeable future.

In the meantime, unless it rains I cannot see me getting a great deal of blogging done. It's too nice out there. Though today, for the first time, I was defeated in my attempts to walk. Not by the midges but by the horse flies. Vicious little creatures. Why can't they stick to horses and leave me alone?

It's half past eight in the evening and not a child in the house washed. (OK so there are no children in the house but you get my drift...)

I notice I have a new follower - welcome to Synflame (and good luck with your exams!). And while on the good luck theme - the same to Bryony and Mark who will be moving into their new home over the next few weeks.

 

Saturday's happenings

We began the day by exploring Dunkeld - not that Dunkeld had woken up by the time we left . We drove North and called in at the House of Bruar, a shopping centre on the A9. GB bought a couple of wooden spoons which he 'played' as we wandered around the shop. You can't take him anywhere! (Except, of course, that he's the one who takes me...).


In the Gallery at the House of Bruar there were some fantastic wooden sculptures of bird families by Jack Falconer. This family of Long-tailed Tits made in London Plane and Rhododendron was my favourite.

We had coffee at a cafe in Newtonmore where I couldn't resist having a piece of the toffee banofi pie. I'm glad I didn't resist - it was first class. We then moved on to Inverness where GB did some shopping. I took a few photos but dodging people seemed to be the main occupation on the busy streets.


According to this drain on one of the pedestrian streets "There is no such thing as bad weather - only different types of good weather". I remain to be convinced of that. Especially as it began to rain when we left Inverness.


GB drove over the Moray Firth and we headed North, stopping at the Inchbae Lodge Hotel for another coffee (and a Tunnocks Tea Cake). We had seen signs that the road between here and the ferry was blocked and there is no alternative route. The next ferry is not until Monday! It turned out that there had been a fatal accident. As it happened, the road was cleared in time for us to make it to the ferry at Ullapool well before it sailed. It seemed strange that our lives would just be carrying on as normal whilst somewhere a family was getting news that someone had died. You just never know what is around the next corner in life.


Is GB deep in thought? No - he's watching the TV in the Inchbae Lodge to see who got pole position for tomorrow's Monaco Grand Prix.


There was still snow in the gullies on these tops as we headed Westwards to Ullapool.


Down where we were it was raining heavily and the weather looked even worse ahead.


We left Ullapool in the mist and rain. But once the boat sailed the rain eased off. Two hours and forty mnutes later we arrived at Stornoway and I managed to maintain my reputation for bringing good weather to the Isles.




It had been raining there all day but as we crossed The Minch on the boat it cleared up and the sun could be seen shining down on Lewis. Let's hope I can keep up the good work for the next few weeks!


And so the sun set behind the Stornoway War Memorial as we arrived. And I headed for bed - for at least twelve hours, I think. That GB chap is so generous - he's given me his cold!

(Me and my big mouth - it's now Sunday, it's Force 4 and it's raining!)
 

CUTTING the Peats

I have done another of my longer blogs - on peat cutting. So, as with other long blog postings it has gone on Redactori.

The verified carbon footprint…

At the end of an episode of Lewis recently I was surprised to see the words - "The verified carbon footprint of Lewis is 830 tonnes." I asked Ian what it meant. He said “the carbon footprint is the weight of carbon you are responsible for releasing into the atmosphere. so you have to add up every journey you take, heating and lighting you use, miles that the food you have bought has travelled. carbon released during the rearing of cattle for meat...... etc.” He pointed me to the relevant website about Lewis… In summary this reads -

The words global warming would probably have made Inspector Morse choke on his pint. But his trusted number two, Lewis, now promoted to Inspector and with a series of his own, is taking the matter very seriously. Programme maker ITV said it was so concerned about the future of the planet, that it had calculated the carbon footprint of the new drama series.

Following the first of four new Lewis episodes last week, viewers saw the following flash up on their screens after the credits: "The verified carbon footprint of Lewis is 830 tonnes."

In a bid to reduce greenhouses gases, those taking part in the shoot shared vehicles and read scripts on recycled paper. It's the first occasion that ITV has calculated the carbon footprint of a drama series and the 830-tonne total is for the whole series.

The carbon footprint of Lewis was measured using the World Business Council for Sustainable Development's Greenhouse Gas Protocol methodology which covers Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions (direct energy use, indirect energy use and travel/supply chain). Lewis, in consultation with ITV, established the scope of the footprint as measuring the following: Scope 1 emissions (use of diesel generators on location) Scope 2 emissions (electricity use in production offices) Scope 3 emissions (transport to and from production office to location, transport use for other purposes (couriers, taxis, flights).

I wonder how much Morse turning in his grave contributed to the carbon footprint?