The day started very brightly from both the weather and birding perspective. Aimlessly looking over the Loch as we were getting up for breakfast and a Sea Eagle glides past about 30 feet from the window. Absolutely amazing.
We have a heavy rain shower and then it brightens again and gives us a rainbow.
As it’s so pleasant we decide that we shall venture out for a quick stroll to the other side of the Loch (hoping to spy the Eagle again), but being the sensible people we are and having referred to the weather app. it makes sense to put on the waterproofs. The OS map calls it Loch Mharabhig but on Google maps it calls it ‘The Atlantic Ocean’.
Our first stop is at this spot
Eric asks who Rob is, and is ‘fell here’ an euphemism for ‘died her’?
The story here is that Rob was a local whisky connoisseur (though more derogatory terms are also used to describe him) who made a habit of visiting all his local neighbours to sample their whisky. On one particular night he didn’t arrive home, and was found in the ditch at this spot the following day, with a large gash on his head. Happily it all turned out well, just a bit of a sore head but otherwise feeling very relaxed and relatively unharmed. The memorial was created some time later and is regularly renovated. So the ‘fell here’ was literal, and perhaps rather a strange thing to memorialise!
We wander on along the road towards the harbour/jetty area gaining a slightly different perspective on the Loch.
Perhaps we didn’t need those waterproofs after all.
Eric is very impressed with the view from his rock.
There are some interesting shrubs by the wayside - Rhododendron????
We sit on the wall overlooking the harbour for a while, hoping to spot those elusive Otter, or even the Eagle, but no luck. Sitting on one of the small islands there are what we think we called Cormorant earlier in the blog, but now, with a closer view, think that they are Shag.
As we head back to the cottage for a spot of lunch the rain starts again, so our waterproofs were not wasted. Part way back we spot some interesting looking Coprophilic fungi popping out of some squashed sheep poo in the middle of the road. Very opportunistic lifestyle they must have.
Close to the cottage there is a small flock of birds twittering away. Manage to catch a pic of one as it lands on the wires. Meadow Pipit.
Lunch is followed by a drive in the car interspersed with short walks to view interesting tourist attractions.
First stop is Lews Castle and Grounds in Stornoway itself. The rain is still in short sharp showers.
We walk within the Castle Grounds that includes the harbour wall as the first part of the stroll, passing a Heron hoping for some fish.
What a lot of boats for a town centre.
Lews Castle, currently both the Grounds and the Castle are being renovated.
Our next foray is the to the Tiumpan Lighthouse on the tip of the Eye Peninsula to the East of Stornoway.
Always a sucker for a good lighthouse.
There are rather a lot of workmen here too.
Adjacent to the lighthouse is an information board from the Marine Conservation Society on where to watch for Cetaceans around the Western Isles. We’d really like to see (some more) of those! Perhaps this is a story of what we don’t see, as no fins or spouting whales appear in the sea before us - damn it.
Onwards and Northwards to Tolastadh Beach. Walking to the sands there is a rather lovely pool, with Water Lilies and Bog Bean growing in it.
Quick, come and look at this lovely beach, with turquoise waters.
In such a relaxed mood that we wandered back towards the car park and then - we realised to our horror that we had lost the dog - until we spotted a lonely Eric still contemplating the beach.
Retrieving the pooch we return along the same single track road, oohing and aahing at the beach views like we’d never seen a beach before in our lives! Daft so and so’s.
The photo above and below are looking across to where we were at the lighthouse earlier. You may just be able to make it out in the haze! In real life the sun was shining on the lighthouse, illuminating it in an artistic way we thought worth capturing but that turns out is no way represented by these photographs.
Returning back through the outskirts of Stornoway we spot a petrol station that has diesel for 112.9p a litre. At that price we stopped to top the tank up (is that like hoarding?)
As we approach the left hand turn off to The South Lochs area, or The Pairc as it is also known, where our accommodation is, some more photo opportunities arise. These give an idea of what the Cnoc (or hills) and lochs landscape of The Pairc is like.
On the way back along the single track road to Marbhig we thought it a good idea to do a time lapse video of the journey- we shall have to wait and see how that turns out.
Cold tonight, but luckily our host has pre-laid the wood burning stove so that all it requires is a match to light it. Aaaah 😔
