Monday 08/05/06

Brilliant day today, but still a bit hazy. The Russians disappear to the West Side; I declined their offer to join them. I am advised that the first cruiseliner of the season, the Black Prince, has docked. After snapping some pictures of flowers in the garden, I go into town, and decide I can go without a coat. Pity about that cool wind. Other residents in Newton are sitting out in the sun and out of the wind. The Black Prince is moored alongside pier no 1, where the Muirneag is normally docked through the day. Muirneag herself has relocated to the far side of the ferry terminal. I return to the town centre to buy papers, including a copy of “Back in the Day”, which is a look back at events earlier in the 20th century here. Back in Newton, Mrs B receives two lady guests. The Black Prince sails at 5.30, heading for Norway. A few local people joined her this afternoon. Another ship hovers off Arnish Point, but then disappears after half an hour. A glance through the binoculars shows it’s the Dutch fishing vessel SCH 302. One of the Russian guests briefly reappears to drop off the hire car. By 7pm, the third guest turns up. He is an elderly gentleman, whose wife is in hospital here. Prospects are not good unfortunately.

Sunday 07/05/06

Grey start to the day, sun tries to poke through the clouds but doesn’t make it. Three young Russians come to stay. They want to go to a beach. Nearest one is at the Braighe, 6 miles away behind the airport. They’ll need a taxi to go there. It’s Sunday, so no buses. They are going to walk back from Melbost along the main road. How nice. Mrs B tries to organise a car for them, as they want to tour the West Side tomorrow, prior to travelling down to Tarbert. They regret stopping in Inverness for 3 days (a waste of time by anyone’s standards), as they now only have limited time before flying back to Moscow on Friday. The haze persists through the afternoon, and by 5pm mrs B starts to worry about her Russian guests. She sends her son and myself out to look for them along the Braighe road, but just as we pass the airport, she rings in to say the wanderers have returned. Yuri, Yakov and Anastasia ask me if I’ll join them on a spin up to Tolsta Beach. I say yes – something I’m going to regret. They first of all go to HS1 for a meal, but end up eating at the Balti House because HS1 was full. Jacov drives the 4 of us to Tolsta, but appears to be remarkably oblivious to the rules of the road. He doesn’t pull up at the stop stripes at traffic lights and commits a frightening mistake on the roundabout by the Coop. He has to turn right there, which in the UK means you go ¾ round the roundabout. Not our driver. He cut straight through against the flow of traffic, ending up facing a jeep head-on which stops well short of the roundabout, to allow us to disentangle us from this mess. I tell him in no uncertain terms never to do that again. He is extremely lucky that there is hardly anybody on the road, let alone police. No further mishaps as we crawl up the road to Tong at 30 mph, in an area where the limit is 60. OK, on to Garry beach, which is very quiet. Just one camper and a field of rams. They are very placid. I’ve heard stories of a car being attacked by a ram, leaving the bodywork well dented. The mist lifts as we walk onto Traigh Mhor. Return to Stornoway at 10pm, with another hairy moment on Sandwick Road, as our driver forgets to turn right.

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.

Friday 05/05/06

Nice sunny start to the day after the overnight downpour. In Arisaig, south of Mallaig, lightning hit a telephone pole. This fried computers and any electronic equipment linked to the phoneline. After lunch, I accompany mrs B to Sandwick Cemetery, where she wants to visit the grave of her husband, who died 13 years to the day. He suffered a heart attack at the age of 60. She planted some ivy shoots round the headstone. It's a brilliantly sunny afternoon, with great views over the Minch. The houses in Lower Sandwick are basking in the afternoon sunshine, and the sea rolls over the pebbles on the nearby beach. Mrs B tells me of some of the families whose ancestors lie buried here. It shows that in the early 20th century, merchants ruled the roost in Stornoway. Nowadays, it's hauliers. We leave at 3.30. As on the way in, we are greeted by friendly cats along the way. Return to Newton on time to show a video of Wednesday's gale on the webcam - with nobody watching. Go to Somerfields to do the weekend shop. No guests expected in the days to come. Sunset at 9.25, preceded by some very strange cloud formations. It's still light in the north at 11.15, and even at midnight the light still lingers. Maximum temperatures today at 15C.

Thursday 04/05/06

Our American friends depart on the 10 a.m. bus for Tarbert. It's a brilliantly sunny and fairly mild morning. Temperatures rise to about 15C by early afternoon. Medium level cloud increases rapidly after lunch. I head into town for a haircut. The first shop says the gents' hairdresser has just gone home for the afternoon, so I proceed to the next shop. The meaning of the word 'smile' should be looked up there. Nonetheless, the haircut is good, so no real complaints there. When I go back out into the street, the sky has grown quite dark and it comes on to rain. Mrs B's nephew pays us another visit, as he waits for a repair on his car. It gets muggy and misty, and also quite dark. We need the lights on by 5 pm. At 9.30 a thunderstorm passes, and at 10.05 the electricity trips out for a minute. Glasgow is having a hellish night with a ferocious thunderstorm. One man was apparently left waistdeep in floodwater at a busstop. The rain continues into the night. Although the drains were supposed to have been fixed, there is a sizeable puddle at the corner of the street.

Wednesday 03/05/06

Very windy day today, gusting to force 9 all day. The seas crash over the causeway and at 11 o'clock I go to the Coastguard Station for pictures and a video. The Americans leave at 9.30 for an all Lewis day, in the pouring rain. They don't mind. At home, they only get blue skies and sunny days, and they're here for a bit of weather. Rick has to go back to work on Tuesday, but Catherine has another week in Scotland. Employers, don't you love them. Mrs B's nephew calls in again to collect the shopping he forgot to take home yesterday. After lunch I go to the library to scan in some pics that the SHS Secretary left there for me. At 5.40 pm, I notice our good old freight ferry coming back from refit in Liverpool. The weather is unkind to the poor old tub. It's so windy that she can't dock, so the skipper takes her out into the Minches, where she's going round in circles for a few hours. The tanker, the Border Heather, also hovers outside port until the wind dies down by about 8.30 pm. The wind also gets the better of a wee sparrow. A strong draft carries the poor creature nearly into a pedestrian and slaps it onto the roadsurface. It sits there, stunned, for a few moments, then bravely flies off again. My pictures reappear on the Island Blog. Another Island Blogger, Mad Lamb, was apparently interviewed on the Radio Cafe on Radio Scotland yesterday afternoon. I don't listen to that program. Once the ferry is in, the Border Heather and the Muirneag both follow. Rick and Catherine return from their trip to the West Side, Ness as well as Uig. Tomorrow they're going out to Lochboisdale on the bus, an 8 hour trip.

Tuesday 02/05/06

A cloudy start to the day, with a bit of wind. I head to the library at 10 a.m., expecting to meet the Secretary of the Stornoway Historical Society. He had promised to hand some pictures to me. Unfortunately, I didn't see him during the 50 minutes I waited, so went out again. The hairdressers has closed down, the Post Office resembles a can of sardines and the Baltic Bookshop charges me the earth for a ream of paper. When I leave Somerfields at 11.15, it starts to rain. Two American guests arrive at 12.40 after an 18 hour journey from Arizona. It's pouring with rain at that point. The Arizonans had a bumpy flight up from Glasgow. Mrs B goes out shopping with her nephew. I inform the new guests about where to eat and much more. Their jetlag catches up with them on their return from An Lanntair and they flake out until about 10pm. Rain ceases at around 8.15 and the sun comes out at 8.25. I put together a travel itinerary for our American guests. Our Skye friend of fire-extinguisher fame turns up for another week's work in SY.

Forgot to mention that the ferry came into port at 7.45. As it approached the beacon, a wee fishing boat was in the channel. The Isle of Lewis imperiously blew its horn and the boat scooted off into Sandwick Bay.