A Fine November Day

The string of spectacular sunrises we've been enjoying just keep coming.  This was the view over the Sound of Mull shortly after eight this morning....

....with Calmac's Clansman coming up the Sound opposite Tobermory.

An hour later the scene had completely changed as the sun climbed into high but broken cloud.  With the weather set fair for most of the day, though forecast to deteriorate by evening, this was perfect for a few hours walking in the hills.

Loch Mudle is the largest loch on West Ardnamurchan, its valley formed by ice gouging out rocks shattered by the movement of a fault that runs NNW-SSE right across the peninsula.  In the distance is the Isle of Eigg and, beyond it and capped with snow, the Isle of Rum.

The area where we walked lies to the southeast of Loch Mudle.  It's rolling plateau-land, bare of trees, windswept and bleak.  This hasn't prevented man from exploiting it both in the past and present.  The flat land in the centre of this picture shows every sign of having been drained and used for growing crops while, today, a nearby ridge is the site for a wind turbine.

In the shadows of the occasional rocky ridges that run across the landscape, there were patches of hailstones left over from the sharp hailshower we had about five yesterday afternoon, but only where the hailstones had fallen on cushions of sphagnum moss, which obviously acts as an exceptionally good insulator.

Wherever we walked we were observed by red deer.  They were more than usually wary as, although the stag stalking season finished on 20th October, the hind season runs from 21st October until mid-February. This is part of the largest group we saw, mostly hinds with a few young stags in attendance....

....while this group of five was much older males, one of them paler than usual.

As forecast, as the day progressed the wind moved steadily round into the south, and we're due to have rain throughout the night and tomorrow - so readers will probably be spared yet another sunrise in tomorrow's post.