And more Storms

If anything, the weather today has been wilder than yesterday. A gale hammered us all night and by morning had settled into the west. Occasional heavy showers have been accompanied by gusts so fierce they are almost impossible to walk against, whipping the foam off the breaking waves and laying a grey pall across the sea. Evidence of the strength of the wind comes from watching the burns that form waterfalls on Mull opposite us, which only run after heavy rain: the water tumbling down the cliffs doesn't reach the sea, being picked up and thrown upwards in a great spray, back onto the land.

The Sound of Mull has been empty. The only birds that seem to enjoy this sort of weather are the seagulls. One lone cormorant was trying to make his way back to their nesting site in the cliffs to the west of Kilchoan but he struggled to make progress against the onslaught. And we haven't seen a ship out there, other than the morning ferry which, amazingly, managed to get across from Tobermory before battling its way back again. CalMac's website reports that many other west coast ferries have been cancelled.

The village itself tends not to be too badly affected by a westerly as we're relatively sheltered by the hills to the north and west, but conditions will be ferocious out at the lighthouse tonight.