Saturday was a bit of a “pottering about” day – we started
off southwards – down through Benbecula, and were quickly reminded that it was
the day of the Benbecula Half-Marathon – the reminder came quickly when we
realised that we were sharing the single-track road with the runners. No
barriers, barricades, or flag waving crowds here! As a good pal of mine
recently ran a marathon (mad girl that she is!) I felt quite sorry for the
runners battling along with no cheering or encouragement, so we stopped for a
while at the war memorial where two others were showing their support and
cheered and shouted “well dones” and “keep goings!” for a while. And I took
some photos…
We drove on, before stopping again a little further South to
watch this beautiful swan family for a while. They seem to be looking after
their 8 cygnets extremely well – up here most young are lost to birds of prey
or simply the conditions, but so far these proud parents seem to be keeping
their brood safe.
On again – a quick stop to grab some bread and cheese for
lunch, and then to one of our favourite spots in South Uist to eat – Loch
Eynort.
This is an amazing place for a walk – there used to be one main
path running along the line of the Loch down to a little creek, but the
crofter/landowner has been working like mad over these last few years on
putting in plenty more – so you can roam all over the place now! We stuck to
the old path on the way out, crossing the creek at the little bridge and making
our way from there on sheep/deer-tracks about as far as we could.
After a bit of a poke around looking at all the different
plants, flowers and lichens about the place, we wandered back – taking a
different path this time and disturbing a poor Heron who was nesting in the
trees above us. I should think her first surprise came when she actually found
a tree that she could nest in – Herons have to improvise a bit out here as
there aren’t many trees – Loch Eynort however has a small plantation of pines,
and also – and this is REALLY unusual – a little wooded area of deciduous trees
– we spotted Ash, Sycamore and Rowan.
The wooded areas were absolutely full of Bluebells too – just look at
this gorgeous little clump of them…
…and little clumps like that are irresistible when it comes to
photographic japes like this….
…zoom-bursts are easy, and fun!
Robyn
2 comments:
I've just been catching up on your posts. *Sigh* - it is all so beautiful, and just what J and I would love - and we wouldn't need travel insurance costing £315 for a week to be able to visit!
Ouch - that's pricey! :-( Nope, insurance isn't a requirement for this one really - and even the EHIC card can be left at home!
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