Sunday 3 February

A day of ferry tales, and they were not exactly fairy tales either. The day started with the cancellation of the service on the Uig - Lochmaddy - Tarbert triangle. The Finlaggan had broken down. This meant that all this traffic had to come north to Stornoway to make the crossing to Ullapool. The distance from there to Uig in Skye is 170 miles, although the distance from Ullapool to Glasgow is the same as from Uig to Glasgow - 225 miles. The Hebrides had to wait more than 2 hours for everybody to turn up from Leverburgh and left at 4.45, 2 hours 15 minutes late. As I type this, at 10pm, it is chugging its way across the Minch in worsening conditions. She should be in by about half past eleven. The wind has started to pick up, and the birds were very excitable this afternoon. After a flock of starlings had taken wing, two goldfinches were left scanning for leftovers. Winds will increase to 50 mph overnight, and that will be sustained throughout the day.