Winter Walk

We set off to drive for Sanna this morning with the intention of a brisk walk along the beach but, as so often happens, were diverted to a rather more serious ramble - for no other reason than that the sun was out and it seemed too long since we last had a sunny walk in the hills.  So we followed the track off the Sanna road that leads up to the Kilchoan water supply, and then turned east along the face of Glas Bheinn.  At that point we looked behind us....

....across the valley of the Millburn to where, a few minutes before, Beinn na Seilg had stood proud against a brilliant blue sky.  With a very brisk westerly behind it, the storm caught us within minutes, forcing us to take shelter for about a quarter of an hour behind a small rock outcrop.  The wind became vicious, gusting to gale force, the temperature seemed to plummet, and the hail stung where it hit us.

But, as is so typical of this part of the world, the storm, with its mixture of hail and snow, passed as quickly as it had arrived, the sun came out, and....

....we were treated to superb views across Kilchoan village and the bay to the strung-out houses of Ormsaigbeg and Maol Buidhe beyond them.

When we arrived home the sun was still out but the coastline opposite us on Mull seemed to be on fire, with smoke billowing up the hillside in the wind.  It took us a moment to realise what it was: the waterfalls just to the west of Ardmore Bay, which topple over an almost 50m high cliff, were being blown back on themselves by the gale.