Extreme Weather Travelling

As just about everyone in the UK will know, the whole country has been suffering some very extreme weather recently. Travelling back to Skye from Devon the other day, I had the chance to experience some of it first hand.

As I loaded the van in Torquay, I was soaked by the rain and blown about in the wind. Leaving Torquay, there were one or two trees on their sides, but fortunately, not across the roads. Travelling north through Somerset, it was clear that rivers were very close to flooding, some of them already overflowing onto neighbouring fields. Traffic reports on the radio spoke of all manner of road closures in southern Scotland, but I was only going as far as the border this day.I drove on through all kinds of weather, including torrential rain, strong blustery winds which shook the van about, and occasional and brilliant sunshine. Unfortunately, a blown-over truck had caused the closure of the M6 motorway, which led to a lengthy detour, but I arrived unscathed at my B&B in the little border town of Langholm.

The following day, the storm had abated, and I continued north from my B&B. There was deep snow in the Southern Uplands, though the roads had been cleared. In the Glasgow area, there were many trees down, and many buildings showed evidence of damaged roofs. Road signs had also suffered, some with bent support poles, others completely uprooted. There were fallen trees, branches and debris all the way north as far as Fort William, but no snow other than the usual section where the road climbs to about 1000 feet over the hills west of Invergarry.

Back on Skye, everything had remained normal throughout - there had been heavy rain (normal...) and a stiff breeze (also normal) but no damage to our trees or property.

And it's so nice to be home!

Skye in winter

After a wet and windy but mild autumn, we are now enjoying a very calm spell, but it's a whole lot colder. Skye is well known for having three or four different kinds of weather in one day, and sometimes all at once... today, with the thermometer in the car saying it was minus 2C and the sun shining brightly - it was raining...!!

I drove Sue over to Glendale this morning - she had to visit one of her care clients, and wasn't keen on risking her new car on the very icy roads. While Sue was working, I took the chance to grab a couple of photos... These are both taken from the same spot. There was so much going on, with the sunlight and shadows over the glen and the mist swirling round MacLeod's tables, so I've cropped and tweaked them differently, and can't decide which one I prefer - so I'm posting both! As with all pictures in this blog - click on the picture to view it full size.

Ready for Christmas?

Sue has been busy writing cards and wrapping presents for a couple of weeks now. Two days ago she spent much of the day baking, and so yesterday, the table was loaded down with home made breads, cakes and biscuits for our annual 'at home' afternoon, at which we welcome friends and neighbours to pop in for a glass or two of mulled wine.

On Monday, Sue sets off south by train to be with her family. I will follow in the van a few days later - I will spend Christmas with Sue's family in London, but then on Boxing Day, I will travel to Devon to see my sister and family, and will then stay a while at Val's in Torquay. Cupar gets to come with me - I hope he copes OK with all the travelling and changes to routines!

Regarding travelling, the weather isn't making things too easy for some parts of the UK, though we are not having too hard-a time here on Skye. I even got out to take a few photos the other day - so here is December sun shine on Loch Ainort -

And this is Glamaig. I wonder if anyone in that plane was looking down at Skye?

Cupar-the-Collie

Sue takes HUNDREDS of wonderful photos, VERY few of which ever get seen by anyone outside our own home. We have finally committed ourselves to getting a couple of dozen of Sue's pictures printed, and we plan to put them up on the walls in our cottages.

One of us might post a few examples of her best shots here shortly, but meanwhile, in seaching through Sue's photo archive for cottage-suitable pics, I have come across many pics Sue has taken of our wonderful Cupar... here's just three of my favourites...