A quiet day, as per usual on Sunday. The Hebridean Celtic Festival is over, the last performances took place last night. The big tent remains on the lawn of Lews Castle, but will probably be taken down tomorrow. The area around it is fenced off and closed to the public as all the equipment is still on site. I went for a walk round to the Castle, and was able to walk down the shore road to Cuddy Point. It being Sunday, the area was busy with walkers and cyclists.
Tributes have been flooding in since yesterday in memory of Fr Calum Maclellan, the parish priest of Eriskay. Although he is known to many as one of the three priests featured in the Island Parish TV series, his achievements span many of his 86 years.
The drought conditions have sparked another major wildfire, this time just outside the village of North Tolsta, some 15 miles northeast of Stornoway on the east coast of the island. In contrast to the rest of the UK, the Outer Hebrides are crying out for rain, which has been in short supply since the middle of May. We have only had about an inch of rain over two months. A month ago, four wildfires wreaked havoc in the Castle Grounds.
The fire was in the area of woodland, shown at the centre of the map below.
