(Not so) Frugal Friday

 

We needed diesel yesterday- the first time we have fuelled up on-island this trip, and we knew it was going to be painful. My car doesn’t have the biggest fuel tank, but the final bill here ended up at an eye watering £84 - by far the most a fill-up has ever cost me! 

The islands benefit from a reduced rate of duty - the per litre price here would be even higher without that in place, and before the current conflict that the giant orange toddler in charge of the USA decided to pick with Iran, prices have since that was introduced been not so much higher than at home. Last year the difference was just pennies. This year though it’s a chunky 20p difference, and a full 60p a litre above last years pricing. 

We fuel up as far as possible before coming across - this time round getting as full as we could at Fort William although we have been known to top up a final time as we drive through Skye too. In usual times with prices not so dissimilar from the mainland we would fill up before leaving too, but I’m afraid this time the opposite will be true and we will be leaving enough in the tank to get safely back to Fort William again. I imagine most islanders will be doing the same at the minute! 

Robyn

A new boat, and lots of Eagles!

I mentioned Lady Anne Wildlife Cruises in the post about walking round Grimsay - the brilliant boat trips out from Kallin Harbour. At the time of writing we had in fact already booked this year’s trip - but weren’t wishing to tempt fate as the weather forecast did look a little uncertain. Thankfully though the wind dropped and the rain stopped right on cue, and we rocked up to Kallin at the prescribed time to be greeted by Rosie - the boat’s wildlife expert (and also superb photographer) and skipper Nye. A shout out here to Nick too - without whom there would be no Lady Anne - it was Nick who first took us out a good few years ago now! This trip was our first on their new boat Amarisa - and very smart and comfortable she is too! 

Nye & Rosie carrying out the pre trip briefing

The route for the trips varies depending on tides and weather - although the hope is always to get out onto the open waters of the Minch at some point, that isn’t always possible and Nye’s concern on this occasion was a fresh westerly wind that he suspected might make things too choppy (he and the boat would be fine with it, some of the passengers perhaps less so though!) on this occasion we began by heading out around the uninhabited island of Ronay and exploring some of the sheltered inlets between there and North Uist in search of eagles - and it didn’t take long to find those! 

I don’t think we have ever had quite so many Eagle sightings in one trip - from a White Tail (Sea Eagle) which followed us for much of the time we were out, to several other White Tails and Golden Eagles too. Not only were they in sight but the White Tails in particular were swooping around over the boat as well giving great views and photo opportunities. 

Deer too were all over the place - it is the time of year where as Nye put it the stags are all still friends, but they are starting to work towards the rut which will take place next month- and then all friendships will be off as the males battle for territory and females. It’s always lovely to see them gathered together though. 

Other bird sightings included a Great Skua, a probable (from a distance) female Hen Harrier, herons and Shags aplenty, a lovely group of Curlews which took off as we got closer, Black Guillemots, a diver which we weren’t able to work out whether it was a Red or BlackThroated, and once on the Minch Manx Shearwaters and Gannets galore!

All in all a huge amount packed into 2 hours. Nye and Rosie know the very best spots to give their passengers the best chances of seeing interesting wildlife, and out here “interesting” comes in many forms! The Eagles are always a highlight of course, but for me this time I think seeing the Shearwaters far closer than we usually would from the ferries just felt like a real treat - although they are an absolute nightmare to photograph - small and very fast! The boat trip is one thing that we absolutely can’t imagine not doing when we’re over here - such a brilliant way of getting a different look at the wildlife.  We do have another rather different sort of boat trip planned too - weather permitting, but that is for another post! 

Robyn. 

August Reading…

 

Right - where we were - ahh yes, Mark Billingham and Good as Dead. Needless to say it didn’t take me long to rattle through this one. I LOVE Billingham’s writing - in spite of the fact that the first book of his I read was “Sleepyhead” which should be the the stuff of nightmares for a claustrophobic- I was hooked. Thorne, Hendricks et al are great characters - not permanently likeable, and I think that is key - they become more real because there are times you find yourself thinking they’re behaving badly and wanting to call them out for it!  Overall though the characters are so well written you truly crave a good outcome for them. Good as Dead doesn’t let the side down, and has already slotted into it’s appropriate place on the shelf. 

Next up then - and another one I tore through - L J Ross - The Cove. Holy Island from the same author was one of my very occasional kindle fiction reads and I thoroughly enjoyed that, so I was expecting good things, and I wasn’t disappointed. Murder mystery cross standard chick-lit girl meets boy tale, but set down on the Lizard in Cornwall - a part of the country I’m very fond of as you know. Nice characters, a great storyline that takes us from London all the way down to Cornwall, and it rattles along picking up pace towards a pretty unexpected ending. This one will be heading on to my Mum - it’s right up her street I reckon - and I will be keeping an eye for more from the same author. 

An Ian Rankin Rebus series novel followed - The Falls. I love that Rankin tends to write an introduction to his books giving an outline of his inspiration for the story - it adds context before you even turn to the first chapter. This book involves Siobhan Clarke as a main rather than supporting character which adds another dimension, and we know I like a strong leading female character in a book. Classic Rankin, and a great read as ever. 

JD Kirk’s City of Scars  was up next - the second of Kirk’s Jack Logan series I’ve read in the last few months. Once again I enjoyed the humorous way the characters are written, and it being set in and around Inverness added some interest. The storyline itself was basic murder mystery stuff, but well enough written that it made an enjoyable read. Probably not one to keep long term, but I will certainly keep an eye out for more from the series. 

At this stage the question of "books to take on holiday" came up - we've adopted a principle of taking just a few with us - usually one for MrEH and two for me - with at least one of those being interchangeable between us. This then keeps us both in reading material for the first few days even if a wet ferry crossing keeps us inside and reading, and we can then make use of the handful of book exchanges we know of on the islands to top up the levels from that. We never take anything with us that we want to bring home either - same with jigsaws, they go across, get completed, then get left behind, a policy which has worked really well for us for a good few years now. A bit like camping trips, holidays are a time when I tend to make my way through a lot of books, so you'll be seeing what I chose this time pretty soon! 

An author I enjoy but hadn't read much from for a good while now - Marion Keyes, very much a favourite of the Chick-lit genre. The Other Side of the Story features her usual slightly far fetched but down to earth enough to make them believable characters - and a clever storyline that intertwines their lives via the world of publishing. The usual mix of love, hate, high drama and sufficient happy-ever-after to let you end the book with a satisfied sigh! 

The first of the holiday books was Elly Griffiths with A Room Full of Bones -  from her Dr Ruth Galloway series, and so of course set in Norfolk once again ticking the box for a book being all the more enjoyable when it is set somewhere you know. This one carries across into September.

Robyn.

A walk round an island.

 

The Island of Grimsay is a useful one hereabouts - it makes the inter island causeway from Benbecula to North Uist rather more practical because it’s positioning means that a chunk of the road can run as a normal road rather than needing to be a bridge of some description. It is a nice island in its own right too though - and for a good many years now we’ve enjoyed a walk right round it when we’ve been over - it’s a walk that works for either summer or winter trips too as with the circular road all the way round, it’s not constrained by being wet underfoot. 

Parking at the harbour at Kallin works well - it means we are roughly at the half way point, so it doesn’t matter hugely which way we decide to go from there, this time we turned left though, which meant that one of the first views we got was the one above across towards another island - Ronay. If I blog about our planned boat trip then you might hear more about Ronay. 

Nice views really aren’t in short supply on this walk - or indeed anywhere up here to be honest. At this time of year the purple of the heather makes everything even more scenic as well - Doesn’t it look wonderful? 

Grimsay has a “boat trail” - the Grimsay boats are rather famous here, a quite specific style of boat perfect for fishing in the waters around the islands. The Stewart family were boatbuilders here and their boatshed is now part of the trail - a fascinating place although sadly seeming to now fall into a state of disrepair - you can see from the picture above I think that once the visitors have stopped arriving it’s evidently used as a roost almost certainly for some of the local Rock Dove population - a shame as this is such a key part of the island’s history and heritage.

Another view - across to Eaval on the neighbouring island of North Uist this time.

To the junction with the main road then and an old red telephone box has been rather brilliantly repurposed, needless to say my eyes lit up when I saw “books” - and yes, we found a Lee Child that as far as we can think we’ve not read before - a pound into the honesty box (no idea whether the books are there on a “take them” basis or whether the donation was required, there was nothing to tell us so we played safe!) and that got stashed into MrEH’s backpack. Then a right turn along the short stretch of the walk on the main island spinal road - the A865 - the only place we expected to encounter more than the occasional car. A quick stop for a photograph of this sign…

Lady Anne Wildlife Cruises run the boat trips we have often been on from Kallin harbour as mentioned above, and a few years ago when they revamped their website they asked if they could use some of my photos - of course, I said, and imagine my delight when they told me that one they wanted to use was an Eagle photograph which they used as a silhouette to turn into their new logo. Very exciting - and yes, I always smile when I pass  their signs! 

The direction we had chosen to do the walk in meant that most of the main habitations and indeed the only real township on the island - Baymore - were in the second half. The shot above is looking back down the road in the direction we had come from just before we reached…

You can see the houses further on. Baymore pretty much merges into Kallin so we’re close to finished by this stage. There is still more to see though, and for us yesterday one thing in particular was spotting the original Lady Anne boat - she who gave her name to the boat trips - moored in the little inlet just below the township…

…there she is, presumably enjoying her retirement! New boat “Amarisa” can be seen in the picture at the top, and we will hopefully be experiencing what she has to offer very soon! 

A last view across heather and hillside then- the umbelliferous plants in the foreground there are Angelica we believe - and as you can see by this stage the weather had decided to be properly bright and cheerful - indeed that sun was HOT and we both ended up carrying our jackets.

Round the final corner…

Back at the harbour and my little car waiting for us. A fraction under 6 miles on my watch and a really nice walk. This one could be broken up with lunch or just tea and cake at the community centre cafe at Ceannaraigh - there is also a post office and toilets there, plus some locally made/local interest items available to purchase. There is also a cafe at the harbour at Kallin too which features a lot of locally caught seafood.

That is the track of the walk from the Strava app, you can see it does quite satisfyingly  form a loop right round the island, and you could lengthen it a little by exploring along the road up to Gearadu with views across the eastern tip of the north ford. There are more bits of the boat trail to explore too - a small museum next to the community centre, and the Fisherman’s hut not far from Baymore.

Robyn.

August in the garden…

First up - newsflash - these Tromboncino Squashes are looking every bit as rude as we hoped. The plants are now clambering over the top of the arches and there are fruit literally dangling down as you can see - we are basically running a sweepstake on how long before the neighbours start enquiring precisely what it is we’re growing… 😆 

As usual I’m finding significant joy in a lush and flourishing crop of Basil - with batches of home made pesto being made, frozen and transferred to the ice cream box in the freezer on a regular basis. There is something truly excellent about thinking “I might throw some pesto in there” and just being able to take a couple of dollops of it straight  from the freezer - the jar in the cupboard will remain unopened until at least midwinter at this rate! Even better, the basil seeds I’m currently sowing  were free with our garden magazine - it is something they all seem to give away on a regular basis which is most useful! I just sow a new batch every few weeks - with the first sowing being left to go to flower after a single harvest as the bees adore it. 

Talking of bees, the sunflowers remained deeply cheerful through the first part of the month - and trying to capture a photo of them without at least one of the little furry striped pollinators in view was impossible! The giant one outside the front door has been a highlight for half the street I think, we have had SO many comments about it - and a similar number all over again when we had to cut it down mid-month to allow for some work to be done to the front of the house.

First aubergine and cucumber to be harvested this year!

We are finally getting cucumbers (indeed, several turned out to be hiding, stealth fashion, in amongst the leaves) from one plant, the other sadly still seems to be reluctant to produce anything much apart from flowers. Courgettes are appearing at a steady pace which makes a nice change for courgettes - we all know that they are so often prime candidates for gluts don't we! Taking their place though are those squashes at the top of the page - we've had two which have grown to well over 3' in length, and that is a LOT of squash, trust me! 

I think we would both agree that the Aubergines have been a bit of a highlight this year - We tried growing them last year but didn't manage to get a single plant to grow on, this year we have four plants which turns out to be several more than required. Peppers are a little slower off the mark but we still have several fruit forming on our one reasonably substantial plant as you saw in my recent early morning plod around the garden. We know from experience that they take a decent time to ripen to red. Chillies are best not even discussed - we really have had very little luck with them this year, and even the lovely Bishop's Crown variety we grew last year have only netted a single plant from a number of seedlings.  

We - or rather MrEH - have made one notable garden purchase this month in the shape of an irrigation system. We have been having so many problems with the long spells of very hot weather simply keeping things even vaguely damp, and that has lead to a lot of lost fruit particularly on the tomatoes. An online pal recommended the one they use to us, and having taken a good look at the details the decision was taken to go ahead and order. It runs via solar power and using the water from a water butt, which is helpful, and with the addition of an extension kit we're able to keep quite an area moist, indeed, it's been almost too efficient for the tomatoes although they aren't complaining about sitting with their "feet" in water! It is definitely a game changer when it comes to the time spent watering too, although at this stage that is rather offset by the time taken setting it up of course. Not cheap, but so far it seems it will prove its worth. 

We're thoroughly enjoying the fact that the garden is now feeding us rather well as mentioned - as usual we've been mildly rubbish about eating the salad we've grown, but tomatoes are being consumed with almost every meal, and squash several times a week. The cucumbers we are trying to eat as close to when they are picked as possible, as they are at their best that way. The first of the Aubergines was turned into a delicious dip with some roasted tomatoes, and a later harvest has made a batch of pasta sauce based on the same idea - with the addition of plenty of black pepper, sage and some sour cream we had going spare. It was delicious! The freezer is loaded up with tubs of roasted tomatoes, roasted squash, and more of that tomato & aubergine sauce as well. 

We’ve also continued noting the various more unusual insects we come across in the garden too- the little chap above is a Southern Green Stink Bug - although I can assure you that I didn’t notice any lack of hygiene from him! Eye catching through, isn’t he! 

Robyn

The headland…

 

Inevitably we’re never at our regular holiday cottage for long before the lure of a walk round the headland draws us out. It’s one of the best things about the location - plenty of walking options straight from the door meaning we can opt to leave the car behind and just head out on foot. The short walk round the headland is just a mile starting off dropping down to this tiny secluded beach, then heading back uphill round the cliffs until we reach the natural rock arch which took us so long to find when we first stayed here. Once you know where it is it’s so obvious! 

On a clear day there is a view all the way out to St Kilda - stunning! From there we usually head back up the hill and complete the loop back to the cottage for a short stroll - there is a peninsula to be explored at low tide, and a longer return option dropping down to Hoglan Bay and then back via the road, then up the track to the cottage too it all depends how far we want to go - and sometimes how fierce the midges are!

Robyn.

Hunting for treasure…

Spot the Cowrie! 

Cowrie shells, being the particular treasure in question here! They can be found on a few of the beaches up here, with the notable one that most folk know about being the big bay by the Balranald Campsite - the information on that one used to get shared by the warden who took the RSPB guided walk of the Balranald reserve, hence the widespread knowledge among even visitors to the islands! 

Also known as Groatie Buckies, the little shells are said to bring good fortune and safe travels to the finder - maybe being at the mercy of CalMac is why hunting for them is such a popular pastime here? That said, it is fair to say that both MrEH and I have barely a coat without a small collection of them in the pocket, and we’ve had our fair share of ferry issues, so perhaps even they don’t have that much power! 

Spotted Cowrie (right) 

Invariably at the beginning of the holiday I find them easier to find than MrEH - by the end his eyes have  caught up but for the first few days I get to enjoy a bit of one-upmanship on these very specific little treasure hunts. Sweeping my eye over a stretch of beach just filled with shells of all shapes and colours and pouncing on the tiny ridged spotty beauties. Small victories! 

Robyn.