Monday 21 July

Yesterday, I returned to Stornoway by plane at 5.50pm. I left my father's at 7.50 am (local time) to go on the train to Schiphol Airport. It was pouring with rain in Holland. Schiphol was heaving, and it took a while to go through check-in. The plane left a smidgen late at 12.30, and very quickly rose above the rainclouds. These extended halfway across the North Sea, but on reaching the North Kent coastline at Birchington the sun was out, and remained out all the way to Gatwick. It was a scenic end to the first leg of the journey.

At Gatwick, I had to transfer from the North to the South Terminal by rail shuttle. At the South Terminal, there was some time to spare before the 2.35 flight departed for Inverness. This proved to be a lesson in geography, as the aircraft flew the length of the country, with good views out over the western coastline. The northern coast of Wales was laid out beautifully, with Anglesey, Great Ormes Head and the Wirral. Further north, Blackpool, Lancaster and southern Cumbria moved into view, until high cloud obscured the outlook. On descending over the Highlands, the plane left the clouds over Loch Ericht and Dalwhinnie, following the line of the A9 north to Aviemore, thence over Culloden Moor to Nairn and Inverness airport.

It was sunny and mild at Inverness, with a pleasant smell of heather and wild flowers. The staff were most helpful, pleasant and polite, and made sure that my bag had followed me all the way from Amsterdam. The wee plane to Stornoway departed on time at 5.10. The pilot promised us a delight of views, but the only good view was had over the city of Inverness with Loch Ness and the Kessock Bridge. A little further west, we sat in clouds all the way to Stornoway.

It was cold and very windy in Lewis, and I was freezing by the time the wee service bus turned up to return me to Mrs B. in the town.