On Tuesday (is it really Thursday already?) we ('we' being Anna - a friend who had been staying - and I) drove down from Eagleton to Bishopbriggs. We came via Skye and the Western Highlands and it was a beautiful drive. Until, that is, night closed in as we left Fort William. For me it was a foretaste of something I've not experienced since 2005: driving with temperatures around zero and the threat of ice on the roads. The car is getting shod with winter tyres tomorrow.
It's great being down here are catching up with folk, shopping, going to a concert and the theatre and so on. In theory I should have just as much time for Blogland but I've hardly read a blog this week. I also miss the Big Skies which you just don't get in towns and cities. This is the sunrise a few days before I left:
As we left the little township of Tarbert on Harris to cross to Skye I left a little bit (quite a lot actually) of 'me' there.
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| Boarding the ferry MV Hebridean Isles |
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| Tarbert is on an isthmus between North and South Harris |
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| The barren landscape of Harris made even more rich and brown in the low sun of winter. |
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| The splendid bridge between the mainland of Harris and the small island of Scalpay |
Superb images. Wonderful light. Have a good time.
ReplyDeleteThanks Adrian. So far so very good.
DeleteYou live in such a beautiful part of the world, Graham. Do you miss New Zealand a lot?
ReplyDeleteFrances I am always thankful for living in such a beautiful part of the world. Do I miss New Zealand? More than you can imagine: I miss The Family and croquet and the weather and my friends. I console myself with the fact that I'm seeing more of my son and my new family ad friends here and tonight I went to the first 'proper' music concert for many years.
DeleteThat sunset is something else - what a delight! Some lovely photos.
ReplyDeleteThanks Serenata.
DeleteGorgeous, Graham. I was on Skye (briefly) last week when I went on a short detour from Plockton. Coincidentally, I'll be in Bishopbriggs and Kirkintilloch tomorrow. Hope all is well! Yvonne x
ReplyDeleteYvonne all's well thanks. I'll be in touch.
DeleteBeautiful... You seem to manage to catch a bit of sunlight even though you're not in New Zealand this season! :) Here we've seen very little of the sun lately... November set new official records of greyness. Stockholm for instance was reported to have had only 5 hours of sun the whole month of November...
ReplyDeleteMonica I'm catching lots of sunshine on Lewis although here in Glasgow at the moment it's less than that and greyness rules! Fortunately life makes up for the weather.
DeleteBeautiful sunrise photo...makes you want to seize the day and wring every last drop out.
ReplyDeleteYour words left me wondering though, "I left a little bit (quite a lot actually) of 'me' there."
I don't want to interpret them incorrectly so details please.
Virginia I was referring to my inner me, my id.
DeleteThanks for the clarification. I was hoping that a leg hadn't gone AWOL.
DeleteWow, that sunrise photo...I think I would be sending that in to a newspaper or something, that is simply gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI should have sent it to the BBC morning weather programme Kay.
DeleteGreat pictures, especially the sunrise one and the golden-brown landscape. What, you have been driving without winter tyres until now?! I am glad to know that you are having them fitted now! Over here, we've not yet had temperatures below freezing, but just above at night, which is enough to make driving without winter tyres dangerous.
ReplyDeleteMeike winter tyres are very unusual here with a relatively mild climate. On the island snow and ice are exceptionally unusual but in the highlands are common and I'll be traveling through them a lot this winter. I feel safer with winter tyres anyway.
DeleteIn fact Meike I'm writing this in a lovely café having coffee and a croissant while the winter tyres are being fitted.
DeleteSeems to me, GB, that you have stayed with the light. It looks to be falling ever so softly. Even the photo of the car loading on to the ferry looks transformed. All the shots are lovely.
ReplyDeletePauline if the photos had been taken today around Glasgow all you would have seen is grey and rain and cold. It's almost ten years since I wore winter clothes and it's come as a bit of a shock.
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