Clearing Weather

The wind having been in the southeast for several days it made a change to wake up this morning to find that it had swung round into its more customary southwesterly direction.  By 9.30 it had picked up to force 6, obliging CalMac's Clansman to butt into a heavy sea when she came up the Sound.

With the change in wind direction came the rain.  Overnight we had about 15mm, which set all the burns running with water the colour of whisky.

The hills being saturated, this afternoon we walked along the coast below the house.  By this time the rain had stopped and there were signs that the weather might clear.  This view looks across from Ormsaigbeg to the coast of Mull....

 ....while this one looks back across Kilchoan Bay to Ben Hiant, with a moderate sea coming in.

One of the joys of this rocky coast, with its occasional bays backed by shingle beaches, is that there's always something happening along it.  This afternoon we had a passing visit from three otters who were spotted playing in the surf, before....

....they set about some serious crab fishing.  This one not only had to grapple with a very large crab but also had to get it ashore through the surf.  Many thanks to Ben McKeown for the otter pictures.

In one bay we made a discovery which took us back to the earliest days of our time on Ardnamurchan, when our favourite film was Local Hero.  In it, Fulton Mackay portrays Ben, an old man who lives on a remote Scottish beach which provides him with a living.  Unfortunately, an American oil company wants to buy it to build a refinery.  In one scene, Burt Lancaster comes to the beach to negotiate with Ben and is offered an orange which has washed up along the shore.  At last, we've found an orange.  Perhaps it was brought all the way across from the Caribbean by the North Atlantic Drift.

By three this afternoon the weather had cleared enough for the sun to come out behind Maol Buidhe and, although it was still early, paint the western sky in sunset colours.

There are more of Ben McKeown's photos here.