Maol Buidhe

We were up on Maol Buidhe, the hill to the west of Ormsaigbeg, yesterday morning for a short walk. This one took an hour and a half, though one can keep walking in this direction to the lighthouse and beyond.

This was the view at our furthest point. The peak to the upper right is Dubh Creag, the black crag, the point is Rubha a' Chall, chall meaning calamity or defeat, while the hill in the distance at left is Beinn nan Codhan. Codhan doesn't appear in my dictionary, so it may be someone's name.

The moorland vegetation looks as dead as it did a month ago but, if one searches, there are the first signs of spring. This is one of the ground-hugging willows that survive amongst the heather, with its first catkins just appearing.

The view south from Maol Buidhe is across the Sound of Mull to Bloody Bay. The ship is CalMac's Isle of Lewis on the Castlebay-Oban run, while the ben to upper left is Beinn Tallaidh. Just visible at the far end of Bloody Bay is one of Scottish Sea Farms' salmon farms from which some 20,000 salmon escaped on 25th March this year, one of the biggest escapes of recent years - details here.

By the time we recrossed the burn above our house it was raining, heavy drops that smacked the water and sent us hurrying down to the house.