Saturday 06/05/06

Today, we're off to the races - a duck race to be precise, at Borve, 17 miles north of Stornoway. Head into town just before 11, where mrs B attends a craft fair in the Town Hall. The bus for Borve leaves at 11.45, but mrs B can't find her buspass. The driver lets her on. The bus, heading for Ness and the Butt of Lewis, carries a few tourists who want to visit the Butt. Alight at Borve at 12.22, outside the minimart, which supplies us with a drink. We then amble down to the bridge, where the fun is due to start at 1pm. It's fairly bright with a lot of high-level cloud. This puts a halo round the sun, which persists for quite some time. Towards 1pm, a lady comes down to the bridge where we're sitting, to sell us some ducks. It would appear that out of the 260 ducks only 9 are available for sale. Or their numbers are. I take up position on the riverbank, where a barrier has been erected to catch the ducks as they come downstream. Kids are playing in and around the water while a sizeable group of adults assemble on the two bridges. Then the sack of ducks is emptied into the river, about 150 yards upstream. A number of volunteers shove the things downriver freeing them from rocks and shallows. They are only 5 - 7 cm big. After the first one reaches the barrier, the rest is scooped up with nets &c. There is a second race, but a straggler comes downstream. Once the second race is over, the barrier is dismantled and all and sundry troop into the home next to the Borve Pottery place. Bottles have been incorporated into a fence. Tea and cakes, quiches and a lot more are available for £3 pp. hear that the race went well, but last year it was nearly impossible because the river was too low. The proceeds go towards the cost of a new community centre, the Clan MacQuarrie centre, to be built on the southern side of Borve. The name is taken from a ship which foundered on the rocks here during the hurricane of 31st January 1953. This same storm sank a ferry in the Irish Sea, caused widespread flooding in East Anglia and drowned 1,850 people in southwestern Holland when the sea defences were swamped by a tide, 5 m above normal. After lunch, watched over by an old pussycat and an old dog, we head off for an amble down the river towards the sea. The path is muddy, and mrs B, not very nimble at the best of times, nearly ends up in the river. We pass the remains of a few watermills, and see sheep with their lambs on some verystoney crofts. The wind is cool, but otherwise it's a very nice day. After a lazy hour or so, we return to the Pottery. It's been there for quite a while, but is professionally laid out. The bus back is a few minutes late, but manages to return to Stornoway 5 minutes early. The driver puts his foot down, and races from Barvas to Newmarket in 9 minutes. Very summery in Stornoway, lots of folks out and about. We have the lunchtime rolls for dinner, as they were not required at lunchtime.