Wednesday 27/07/05

Fairly cloudy morning with bright intervals and the odd shower. That reduces visibility dramatically. We have two men staying who work for a Glasgow firm. They have to return earlier than anticipated as one man's wee one is in hospital. I decide on an afternoon's excursion to Ness, as the weather is fairly bright. So, off I go on the 1pm bus. The sun promptly packs it in as we cross the Barvas Moor, and it's raining at Barvas. Fortunately, the rain is very localised, although other lines of showers can be seen moving across the island. One line runs unmovingly from a few miles west of Ness across Barvas to the Barvas hills, another goes down the spine of the island. I alight at Suainebost, just before the shope. From there, a road runs in a dead-straight line to Traigh Chumail. Here I sit in the the sun for a wee while, having a cup of soup, and a tea. At 2.30, I cross the machair to Traigh Shanndaigh. The machair is ablaze with flowers of all colours, including a host of orchids. The rabbits have re-excavated the holes I had plugged back in May, and it's a small miracle that the ground does not collapse under my feet. Walk up the beach and over to the children's playpark. This is well used. On the road a group of German tourists are walking towards Lionel. Finally, I go to the Eoropie crossroads, to wait for the bus. I thought it went at 3.30, but the Galson Motors coach appears 20 minutes later. On return to town at 4.30, I notice a large number of foreign cars, Dutch, German, Norwegian and Belgian. The latter belong to a couple who are staying at Mrs B's.