1 EAGLETON NOTES: Four Fast Days

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Monday 5 August 2013

Four Fast Days

I can't believe that I'm sitting here tonight after four days with my niece Helen and her husband Ian and that they have already left this evening for their home in the South-West of England. We have been to the southernmost and the most northerly points of Lewis and Harris.  We have been to the East and to the West.  We have driven and we have walked.  We have eaten vegetarian food (although not in the café at the Garenin Blackhouses where there was nothing a vegetarian could have for lunch so we went on to Callanish Stones café where there was plenty) and we have talked from morning until night.  It has been an enjoyable and an enlightening few evenings.

For nearly two weeks before they arrived the weather was idyllic.  For the four days they were here it rained and for the first three it blew a gale.  We were exceptionally lucky though in that we never actually got soaked: we always managed to get out of the car for a walk without getting too wet.  I have neither the courage nor the heart to tell them that when I went into town after they had gone into the airport departure lounge this evening that the sun shone and the sky was blue as the clouds dissapated.

South: Helen saw her first seals in the wild in South Harris.
North: I didn't think to take a photo of the lighthouse at the Butt of Lewis because I was too busy
trying to photograph one of the Swifts flying around.  I can't recall seeing a Swift on Lewis before.
West:  At Mealista - the end of the road in Uig - Ian looked out over the Atlantic to the Flannan Isles and North America
(we got a glimpse of the former but the latter was obscured by distance). 
East: At Garry Sands where our children used to play so often and whereI now go all too rarely.
 Helen being a typical Edwards is taking a photo of an Edwards taking a photo.

18 comments:

  1. Sounds like you all had fun. Hopefully we'll got around to visiting you one year soon.

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    1. I hope so Mark. I think that you'd enjoy it.

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  2. I see a little bit of blue sky there behind Helen :) We had the warmest day of the summer yet on Saturday, 31­° in the shadow on the north side of the House (where I spent the weekend). A bit of thunder and rain cooled things off towards evening. But Sunday was fine and so was yesterday and most of today... Today I've not been out though, having a lot of indoor things to catch up with!

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    1. There were little bits of blue sky occasionally Monica. Not many though.

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  3. I think that you had a good wk/end GB. So happy for you.

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    1. I did have a good weekend Viv. We went to the end of the Breanish road where you and I went: the first time I'd been on the 'new' road past the Breanish Township you may recall.

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  4. Each time you post these photos, I become more envious, GB! Wiltshire is lovely, but I long for the sea...

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    1. I love the countryside and the mountains Frances but apart from a year or so when I lived in Lymm in Cheshire I've always lived with the sea and I can't imagine not being near it. I would like to think that you might find a compromise at some time.

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  5. It must have been a great four days for all of you, regardless of the weather.
    We have many swifts here, I love watching them dash across the sky in the evening and listen to them; it's part of the "sound of summer" for me.

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    1. It certainly was for me Meike. I, too, love swifts but I've become used to living without them here and it was wonderful to see them here. I'd love to think that they will spread though the Islands.

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  6. I'm glad it all went well. The damn wind is a real nuisance.
    Time to dive into the medical center for a quick check after all that healthy food.

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    1. PS. I assumed that there was a difference between vegetarianism and fasting.

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    2. Having spent quite a lot of my life as a non-meat eater and as one who eats relatively little meat even now I can cope with the adversity life has placed in my path Adrian.

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    3. I got muddled up. Thought you had had four days of fasting. Silly me!

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  7. We had a fanastic few days GB. Thanks so much for being such a wonderful host and we can recommend you as a Hebridean tour guide if you should ever choose to take that up!

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    1. Thanks Helen. It was wonderful having the opportunity to see some parts of the Island I only ever seem to see when I have visitors.

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  8. I'm happy that your guests still enjoyed the visit despite the weather.
    It was as if the wind and the rain all got together to play a trick on you, telling the sun to hide away during that time.
    I loved the first photo....a happy couple....enjoying a beautiful view....his hands lovingly supporting his loved one in a protective hold less she stumble on the rocks....

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    1. On the whole Virginia people have to accept that if they come to Scotland for the fabulous scenery then rain and midges are part of the package.

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