Spring Skye

We on Skye are currently enjoying a super spell of spring sunshine - much needed after a another very wet winter! The air temperature is being kept in check by a chilly breeze, so coats and even scarves are still needed outside, but the sunshine is warming the soil, and the spring flowers are bursting into life. I have dug over all the allotment beds now, and am beginning to plant seeds in the hope for a better summer season of produce than last years poor results.

As is common all over the UK, it is popular to have daffodils around your garden, and we inherited quite a few bulbs when we bought the Barn. They have been undisturbed for years, and some don't flower too well, but this year, they are putting on a better show than usual. We have our fingers crossed for a sunny summer. Skye is just awesome when the sun shines!

Roskhill roadside, Spring 2016

Allotment daffs

Below the allotment - the grass is full of bluebells which flower soon after the daffs go over

Eilean a' Cheo

Skye often lives up to its romantic Gaelic name -  'Eilean a' Cheo', which translates as 'The Misty Isle'. So far this spring, periods of rain or drizzle are being followed by magical still, clear days, when the mist swirls around the hill tops. The nights are even more magical, when the dark-sky heavens become dotted with more stars than you can ever believe. I'm sorry I am not up to photographing night skies, but here's this morning's mist - over MacLead's Tables and seen from the garden at Roskhill Barn.

Rainblobs...

... my word for a blob of rainbow. I am sure their creation is in the same way as a rainbow - sunlight being refracted by raindrops. But early and late in the day, when the sun is still bright but low, and there are showers about, it is not too usual to see a blob of rainbow colour below the cloud.

Here's a rather faint one photographed this morning...

Rainblob and Healabhal Bheag from Roskhill

And another that I spotted from NW Skye, a while ago...

Rainblob over the Ascrib Islands

Closer view - the skerry next to the blob is An t-Iasgair (Gaelic for 'The Fisher')

A Skye Surprise - And a Mystery!

I spent a couple of days at Rowan Cottage this week, attending to a few jobs and a bit of painting. All my tasks were complete by mid-afternoon yesterday, so I took myself off for a bit of a walk. I walked the ‘old road’ between Stollamus and Luib – still a reasonable track, but it was left to disappear back into the moor when the motor car came to Skye and new routes were created – probably in about the 1920s.

I started from the Luib end. I have not walked the full length of the track before. It affords some lovely views into Strath Mor and over Loch na Cairidh and Caolas Scalpay.

But the big surprise was to come across a ruined church… How did I not know of this before? In a straight line, it stands only a mile or so from Rowan Cottage, though the shape of the land hides it from view from the modern road. The only approach to the ruin is by a rough path, ankle-deep in bog in places. The church bears a build date of 1906, so it is not all that old, but even so, I cannot find anything about it from my usual sources on the web. Architecturally, it is attractive, but not a remarkable building, and there is no evidence of an associated burial ground, but I am still surprised that there appears to be no information available as to its history. I will have to make some local enquiries!

Here are a few of my photos of my visit…

Allt na Luibe

View towards Strath Mor

A lonely ruin

A closer view of the ruined church

Inside the church - the altar end

Caolas Scalpay from the track