Thursday 29/06/06

Another bright start to the day, which gradually turns cloudier. Temperatures reach 18C by mid-afternoon. Forecast temperatures for southern England are 34C by Sunday. We'll have a more palatable 18C. Mrs B takes unwell around midday, with a suspected TIA. I sit with her until it wears off; her nephew happens to call round too, and he joins me. By about 2pm, things start to improve, and she's happy to go out for a drive. First of all we go round to Arnish. Although 1 mile in a direct line, it is in fact a 6 mile drive by car. We are unable to see the barge sitting alongside the quayside from our position. We carry on a little way up the very rough track that leads to the Lighthouse. Then it's retracing our steps to the main road, and a 7 mile drive to Cameron Terrace (Leurbost). We can see rain moving over the hills from South Lochs. We continue west towards Achamor, then northeast, back to town. For the first 4 miles, the road rises steeply from the 108m above sealevel at Achamor to 149 m at Beinnabhuineadh, half way to the Pentland Road junction. This road is lined with small shieling huts. People used to go there "in the old days" in summer with family and a few animals, or to cut and collect peats. Only a few huts remain in a serviceable state. Peats are still cut, by a few, in May, and left out to dry. You'd be surprised to find how dry they become over a 4 month period. The Pentland Road is busy with drivers in a crashing hurry. We're taken round to a second-hand shop up Rigs Road, where mrs B wants to buy a grassrake and a bucket. I get the papers in, and we have a quiet evening. The rain starts early, at 4pm, and gets heavy. A guest comes off the 8pm ferry, and gets soaked on the 10 minute walk up from the terminal. It is very dark, and we put the lights on by 9 o'clock. The Swiss man missed his bus connection at Barvas. The bus from Ness to town is supposed to wait for the bus from the West Side, but didn't. I think he must have got a lift.