It's been blowing a hooley here for the past 24hrs and we've woken to another blustery day. The wind is keeping the rain at bay (mostly) and the midges aren't getting a look in - there is always a bright side!
Our first walk today is out to Oronsay Island, a tidal coastal island, home to sheep and nothing else. This is a short walk (3 miles) but with lovely views all around including Macleods Maidens which we had visited earlier in the week. There was another Island (Tarner Island) that didn't appear to have any livestock but no way of getting over to it and it had quite steep rocky slopes.
We walked the circuit, not getting too close to the steep edges for fear the wind might blow us off. Back down to the beach and we went looking for some rock pools but saw nothing other than the carcasses of small crabs.
Back on the road we stopped in at the Old Byre tea room and had a lovely coffee and some cake before heading on to Dunvegan and to our second walk.
We parked up at the church on the outskirts of Dunvegan. The noticeboard suggested the we could see Sea Eagles, Golden Eagles, Buzzards and Sparrowhawk but this wasn't to be. Thankfully the start of this walk was in woodland so Ivor was finally able to stretch his legs off the lead, which he made the most of before we reached the moorland and started the walk over to the standing stone with views over to Macleods Tables.
Below the stone was old St Marys Church which dates to before the reformation and there we read a tablet telling us that many of the kin who were pipers to the clan Macleod are interned here - showing a great respect for the pipers of the time. Another short walk at 2 miles.
