View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Sunday 20 December 2009

Post 1000

This is the 1000th entry on Atlantic Lines, since it was opened in October 2008. I would also like to take the opportunity to point out that I have changed my front picture to one I took this morning, a very wintry one.

Tomorrow is the last day I'll be making entries on Atlantic Lines before New Year, as I'm departing for a family visit to Holland on Tuesday.

Stornoway in the snow

Sunday 20 December

We've had a very snowy 24 hours here in the Outer Hebrides. It started at 2pm yesterday, and through last night, there has been a steady progression of snow showers. That left us with 3 to 4 inches (up to 10 cm) of snow by midnight. Made a very pretty picture, and I'm uploading 154 pictures as I speak of yesterday's and today's harvest of images. The effect this has had on road travel can be imagined, with no gritting going on outside Stornoway.

This morning at 10.40, I went out for a walk around the Castle Grounds in order to get as many pics as possible of the snow-covered landscape. The Castle Grounds (a country park) is a very picturesque area, just outside Stornoway itself, a wooded area. It looks even better under snow. The northern part of it lies draped over some gentle hills, and youngsters were taking full advantage of the conditions in sledges. By midday, the temperatures (+4C) had turned a lot of the snow into slush.

Meanwhile, the northerly winds have prevented the ferry from sailing this afternoon, and the overnight freight service is off as well. A north wind tends to whip up a groundswell in the Minch, making conditions quite hazardous.

I shall post a small selection of snow pictures later; you can view all of them on my Flickr account.