Monday 30 July

The morning started off quite wet, with plenty of drizzly showers. These dried up through the afternoon, and as I type this, light is fading on a decent evening. The nearest weatherstation to show detailed rainfall readings, Flesherin (9 miles northeast of Stornoway), collected 4.4 mm today, bringing July's total to 62 mm or 2.5 inches.

This morning, I went to a carpark on Kenneth Street to view a procession of tractors that were preparing to set off for the long drive to Rodel, some 55 miles south of Stornoway at the far southern end of Harris. Well, the procession totaled 4 tractors, as well as two that had set off early as they were so slow. One sat on a trailer behind a car, as it could not move under its own steam. A smidgen disappointing, but it's the gesture that counts. The drive, which would have taken 6 hours, was in aid of the Linda Norgrove Foundation. This charity was set up in 2010 following the death of Lewis-born charity worker Linda Norgrove. She was killed in Afghanistan during an abortive mission by US forces to liberate her from her captors. Her parents set up the charity to continue Linda's work in her name.



Do you blog? Well, you'd better be careful about the use of pictures on your blog. You could get sued for their unauthorised use, as this blogger explains.

Sunday 29 July

Sunshine and a lot of showers today, those showers being of the drizzly type. When you get caught out in one you get incredibly wet. Nonetheless, the rainfall total for today was only 3 mm. Went out for a short amble just before ferry time (2.30pm). Sunday in Stornoway remains very quiet, and nothing moved.

I shall not be watching much television for the next fortnight or so, whilst all the British TV channels are clogged with Olympic coverage. That in itself I don't really mind, but the inexecrable hype over medals that British competitors should have had but don't get, really gets on my nerves. Also, there are other things going on in the world apart from the Olympics - the Syrian crisis e.g. - and I find it very hard to keep up with the rest of the news.

Not much happening on the hurricane front, except for two tropical storms in the western Pacific. Saloa is heading north towards Taiwan, which it will eventually pass as a category III typhoon at 100 knots; Damrey is moving west towards China. Both systems will end up soaking the east coast of China, either side of Shanghai, with large amounts of rain. If memory serves, eastern China has suffered severe flooding so more rain is the last they need down there.

The Danish connection

This evening, I found a comment, made on one of my local history sites by a Danish man who had visited the Outer Hebrides. Upon crossing North Uist, he visited the cemetery of Clachan Sands, about 6 miles west of Lochmaddy on the road to Berneray. I visited that graveyard in July 2009 and photographed the gravestone of Ewen Nicholson, who was lost during the First World War. An image of the actual gravestone in the Railway Dugouts Cemetery can be viewed on this link.



My Danish correspondent researched the fate of Ewen, displaying some very graphic and gruesome images of conditions on the frontline. I have looked into Ewen Nicholson's information and came out with the following:

Ewen Nicholson
Born: Grimsay, North Uist
Date of birth: 29 May 1892
Trade / calling: Labourer
Married: No
Volunteered at Valcartier on 23 September 1914
Age upon enlistment: 22 years 4 months
Height: 5 ft 10¼ in
Complexion: fresh
Eyes: light brown
Hair: brown
Religious denomination: presbyterian

Son of Alexander and Ann Nicholson, of Grimsay, Lochmaddy, North Uist.
Last known address in North Uist: 4 Aird nan Sruban Grimsay
Military unit: 7th Canadian Infantry (British Columbia Regiment)
Service number: 21065
Date of death: 3 June 1916 at the age of 24
Interred: Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, Sp Mem G. 29

In 1901, Ewen was 8 years old. His father Alexander was a crofter, 41 years of age, married to Ann. There were four other children in the family: Mary (12), John Archie (10), Alexander (5) and Andrew John Macalpine, age 1 month.

Five days after his 24th birthday, Ewen lost his life in fierce battles near Ypres. He was buried in one of the many cemeteries around the town.

Saturday 28 July

A fairly bright day, but with the odd shower or two. Went to the local supermarket, which has decided on a major overhaul in the middle of the busiest time of the year. You know the routine: swap everything round to different aisles so you spend double the amount of time looking for everything. We are getting self-service check-out things. What on earth for, I am asking myself. I mean, we have about 15 tills in that shop and it's not as if it is supposed to serve the whole of Edinburgh or a place of like size.



The local seagulls decided to descend on my part of town and congregate on the seawall across the road. As you can see, the tide is going out, leaving all sorts of juicy tidbits for the gulls.

On the maritime theme, we also had a small freighter in - it came in late last night and is discharging - well, actually I don't know what it carries. Probably something like coal.



I have been looking at the problems that I have been experiencing with Firefox; at times it grinds to a complete halt. It appears that the latest version of the Flash player (11.3) clashes with FF. It is recommended to uninstall version 11.3 and install version 10.3. A switch to Google Chrome appeared appealing, but it has some glitches that bug me when copying blogposts; I do that several times a day, particularly when doing the hurricane updates. So, I'm back on Firefox and much happier.

Friday 27 July

A very wet afternoon, which dumped 17 mm of rain on the island, followed by a much nicer afternoon. Our rainfall deficit is gradually declining. More rain is in the forecast.

Olympic Games starting off today, and I find the wall-to-wall coverage on the BBC a bit much, to be honest. The rest of the news is drowned out, and I have to resort to the Internet to keep up-to-date with other events that are on-going at the moment. I watched the Opening Ceremony, from 9pm until 1 am, live on television. Curmudgeonly me was fairly impressed with the depiction of British life, some of the musical performances and very impressed with the way the cauldron was constructed by the participating teams, each carrying a part of the burner.

The crisis in the local fishing industry appears to have been averted after boats from the east coast of Scotland were banned from fishing for prawns in our west coast waters. Following a dearth of prawns in the east, fishermen from that part of Scotland came to the Minch to get their catch. A fishing ban would have deprived the local fleet of an income and would also have had major ramifications for the fish processors.

Thursday 26 July

A fairly bright day, but not much sunshine. There was a little rain, but Scottish Water continues to remind its customers in these islands to use their mains water wisely. A device is available from the offices of the water company that can be placed in toilet cisterns to reduce the amount of water used when the loo is flushed. The total amount of rainfall in July, even after last Sunday's downpour, only stands at 34 mm, an inch and a third.

Shortages are also on the cards for the local fishermen. After 50 large fishingboats plundered the fishing grounds of prawns, meaning that the fishing could be closed as of September. This would not only leave the fishermen out of a job, but also the people in the processing plants. A couple of those stand across the water from my position, and each day I see its workforce going back and forth.

Less than 24 hours to go until the start of the London Olympics, and I'll have a job avoiding coverage. I shall be watching the opening ceremony tomorrow evening though. However, as I was discussing with one of my Facebook contacts earlier, the Olympics seems to be hugely important to many people. Are we seeing a global expression of tribalism, almost ersatz-war? Where I am from, the expression goes that football is war. Anyway, leaving my pot-psychology to one side, I hope it all goes well and may the best ones win.

Wednesday 25 July

Quite a nice day, especially as we finally lost the wind that has been much in evidence since the weekend. We once again managed 17C this afternoon, a temperature I much prefer to the 30C that was on the thermometers in London.

That city is ready to start hosting the 2012 Olympic Games, if it weren't for the fact that the Games have already kicked off. A soccer football match in Cardiff heralded the commencement of the sporting action. The BBC have launched 24 dedicated channels on satellite and terrestrial television, so it is possible to watch 24 different sports at the same time. You do need 24 separate TV sets for that, so I somehow don't see anyone doing that.

The small island of Berneray played host to the Scottish Education minister Mike Russell today, as he was shown round a community facility, the Nurse's Cottage. The link I supply may, when visited much later than the day of posting, show a different news item. Fellow researcher Direcleit is doing some work there on emigration from his isle of residence, a subject that appears to be a new focus for local historians. A new website, Hebrides People, was set up this weekend to help those who want to trace their roots from diaspora. There are now quite a few web-based resources around on the subject, and I quietly wished that someone would pull all the strands together. However, many of the sites (not just Hebrides People) charge for their services, so we can safely forget about this idea. The best site is Hebridean Connections, now slowly gathering dust. I have been told that it is not being updated and its funding withdrawn.

Tuesday 24 July

A windy day but bright and with good spells of sunshine. We once again managed to reach the dizzy heights of 17C / 63F. The powercut brought some minor inconvenience to the shops in this town; the tills were not working, and the bank had to take even longer to reopen once power supplies were restored. It took an hour for people in Ness and Harris to come back on supply. The cause for the powercut is not clear.

Eight people have been charged in connection with alleged conspiracy to intercept communications, in other words phone and other forms of hacking. All have vehemently protested their innocence, something which will be down to a court to decide. The whole saga has opened a cesspit of dirty dealings between the press, police and politicians. Whether things will change depends on the outcome of the Leveson inquiry, which is moving towards a conclusion in terms of the first tranche of hearings.

Powercut

Oops, that was the power off at 2.45pm. Which, in the house, is naturally an inconvenience. Nothing works, no internet, no appliances. And, at night, no lights. But this is mid afternoon in July, it's a bright day, so no real problem. And after 15 minutes, the power did come back on. However, in the town centre, all the shops shut their doors to customers, as they could not operate their tills. The outlying districts took longer to come back on supply, but the power company reported on Twitter that everybody should have their electric back. Meanwhile, the powerstation at Battery Point (a few hundred yards from my position) is belching out smoke, providing a back-up. Don't know what brought this all on, but the fact that I am able to put this entry on the WWW means that everything is back to normal. In my usual daily blogpost, which I shall put up this evening, I will relay experiences of people who were actually in the shops when the power went off.

Hurricane update - 24 July

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) has issued the final warning on typhoon Vicente, as it moves overland, still packing winds of 100 knots (115 mph) near its centre. At the height of its power, the typhoon presented this image on the radar at Hong Kong, not much more than about 60 miles away. As Jeff Masters writes in his blog on the storm, Vicente presented a nightmare scenario, intensifying from 75 knots (cat I) to 120 knots (cat IV) in the space of a mere 6 hours. A direct hit on Hong Kong or Macao would have claimed many lives; a comparable scenario on the US coastline would exact a similar toll, as there was no time to evacuate.

Monday 23 July

Quite an improvement on yesterday, with good sunny spells and gradually decreasing winds. That cannot be said about the weather in Hong Kong, which suddenly found itself on the receiving end of a category IV typhoon with winds of 110 mph in the outer areas of the territory. Here in the Hebrides, we reached 17C / 63F, which is about par for the course. Went into town for a few bits and pieces; bought a book about the Scottish community land buy-out movement, which has been gathering pace since the 1990s. It is a subject that has my interest; I have never understood why a landowner, who leases land to others, is able to influence what his tenants do on his land.

Yesterday's windy weather kept the local lifeboats busy. The Leverburgh lifeboat was tasked to Skye to help a yacht whose anchor was dragging near Waternish; the Portree and Castlebay lifeboats were called out for similar problems. The Leverburgh lifeboat Lifetime Care has been on station only since May this year, but has had five call-outs already. She plugs the gap between the RNLI stations in Castlebay, Stornoway and Portree. Lifetime Care also has easy access to the west coast of Skye, as was demonstrated in yesterday's shout.

Hurricane update - 23 July

I got quite a shock in the last half hour, when I happened to look at the webpage for the Joint Typhoon Warning Center and found an amendment to the 1500 GMT warning for typhoon Vicente, near Hong Kong. Originally, warning 12 quoted Vicente at 70 knots, equivalent to a category I hurricane. JTWC have changed this ever so slight to 120 knots, that's a category IV hurricane. The storm has intensified by an unbelievable 50 knots in 6 hours, a rate of intensification that is classified as explosive.

The Hong Kong Observatory has placed the city under hurricane signal 10, reporting winds of 110 mph in places around the territory.

Sunday 22 July

The third anniversary of the Sunday ferry in Lewis saw the boat not cancelled in spite of winds reaching 35 mph this morning. The weather, until about 4pm, was pretty awful with lashing rain and those high winds. However, it has since dried up. Low, jaggedy clouds are racing northeast with the mercury at a pleasant 15C, well, it would be pleasant if the sun were out. But it's not, and not likely to be for the next day or so.

With regards the shootings in Aurora CO, I can only implore the Americans to realise that they really have to move into the 21st century with regards their 19th century attitudes towards gun ownership. This is not the shoot-out in the OK corral, where everybody has the right to bear and use arms because nobody else will stand up for them. That went out a very, very long time ago. There is no cause for anyone to bear arms in the street in this day and age, other than those involved with law enforcement, the defence of the state or properly licensed. The availability of firearms and ammunition is ridiculous. How can anyone just go out and buy 6,000 rounds of ammo for three different types of arms on the Net? However, there is a lot of politicking going on, and bearing in mind my tendency towards (over)simplification, you'll forgive my ignorance with regards the connections between politicians, the gun lobby and what not. I don't WANT to know.

The Peace Camp at Valtos is cancelled, after the forecast for high winds prompted the tents to be taken down at Cliff Beach (just over the hill from Valtos). I did not have the opportunity to view the camp myself; Valtos is barely served by public transport, and it is certainly not served after 6pm. The camp was only open between 9.30pm and 4.30am, so you see my tiny difficulty. I hold a driver's license, but do not own a car. A local resident, who was involved with the camp, kindly posted some pics on Flickr, so I refer to those.

Saturday 21 July

Summer has come to an end here in the Outer Hebrides (for now) whilst the rest of the country finally gets its summer. Rain came in at 3pm, and it's still raining as I type this (10pm). More rain is expected over the next few days as a deep depression slowly moves over Iceland towards the Arctic Ocean. 966 mbar is deep for mid summer, but our drought will be alleviated by it to some extent.

The alleged culprit behind the Aurora shootings (12 dead, 59 injured) left home before going on his shoot-out, having booby-trapped his apartment to the last square inch. Why, for goodness' sakes. Why.

The story of the extra ferry sailings between Lochmaddy and Uig (Skye) has me befuddled. Calmac (our ferry company) is putting on extra late night sailings between the Uists and Skye in order to beat the security restrictions around London to do with the Olympics. This is primarily to benefit haulage firms who are carrying fish down to London for onward transportation to the European continent.

Friday 20 July

Well, as I type this, a hefty rainshower is passing through, a most welcome phenomenon after weeks of drought. Mind you, we'll have to wait until Sunday until the rain really does return with a vengeance. The salmon are waiting eagerly, as they need the rain to fill up the rivers. Only then can they go upstream to spawn. And die afterwards. It's quite uncanny, but the fish go up the same river where they hatched themselves. It's almost like sheep that go back to the place where they themselves were born in order to give birth themselves.

I was shocked to hear of another mass shooting in the USA, with a dozen people reported killed in a cinema in Denver, CO. The culprit also threw a gas grenade into the theatre. He has been arrested; his flat is apparently booby-trapped, and the security services are proceeding cautiously. My sympathies are with the families of the dead and injured. I do not expect any change in gun laws in the States, although it is needed.

Thursday 19 July

Another day of gradually changing weather, starting grey with some showers. Oh wow, we had some rain (0.03 inches). However, we are due some serious rainfall on Sunday, when the normal weather patterns finally return, after an absence of three months.

Today is the day that the weekly papers are published, and one of them had an interesting article, about a place called Tormore in Skye. It is a farmhouse, that was once home to the factor of landowner Lord Macdonald - and an unpleasant piece of work he was to his underlings. The historical appraisal started in 1920, but my interest goes back to the decades before 1883, when Lord Napier went around Skye to investigate the condition of the crofters and cottars there (as well as in other parts of Scotland). Lord Macdonald gave up his lands in 1920, by which time his factor had long gone the way of all flesh.

I have made steady progress through the Qu'ran. The English translation of the Muslim Holy Book that I have leaves me with the strong impression that it is a follow-up to the Bible. I'm not making that up; in one of the sura's [chapters], the Prophet states that God gave Man the Torah and Man did not take heed; then, God gave Man the Gospel, and Man did not take heed; God gave Man his teachings through his Prophet, and Man still is not taking heed. Furthermore, the Qu'ran quotes the same stories that occur in the Biblical Old Testament, refers to the same prophets and the same events. Why can't we regard the Qu'ran as a Third Testament? However, after more than 1400 years of ill feeling between Christianity and Islam, I don't think there is much chance of that.

Wednesday 18 July

A cold feeling day, with this cold northeasterly breeze keeping the mercury down at 13C / 55F. And it really was the wind that made it feel very cold. Not a very welcoming climate for the cruise passengers on the cruiseliner Deutschland, which anchored off the Arnish Lighthouse this morning.

I have been amazed at the sudden interest in the UK in the Tour de France cycling race. It is a competitive race by professional cyclists, all over France. The reason is that the man in the yellow jersey (in first place) is a Brit. Well done to him. There is only a couple of days left of the race, which will terminate on the Champs Elysee in Paris on Sunday.

I am now approaching the one-third mark in my quest to find out, using my limited means, further information on the nearly 1300 men from the Isle of Lewis who lost their lives in the 1914-1919 war. The information is compiled into a website, supplementary to my main tribute site, Faces from the Lewis War Memorial. I am pleased to note that I occasionally find further information on some of the casualties. Tomorrow, I shall look into the men from the village of Aird Tong, numbering 15, who were lost. Aird Tong is a tiny hamlet on the outskirts of the slightly larger township of Tong, due north of Stornoway, on the far side of the Cockle Ebb, as shown below.

Tuesday 17 July

Quite a nice day, with some spells of sunshine, which served to lift the mercury to all of 17C / 63F. Compared to the stifling heatwave in the USA, this is of course nothing. What does remain a prominent feature of our weather is the lack of rain. Nothing today. The weatherman are suggesting that the jetstream may shift north, propelling rainbearing weathersystems our way. Well, seeing is believing. I'm not expecting anything major until the weekend. However, it is nice not having your flowers, shrubs and trees blown to bits by a gale, and it's even nicer not to have many midges. Those pests have been kept down by the lack of moisture, which has served to dry out the island's bogs.

I was horrified to hear of the find of a car under a landslip, which occurred 10 days ago in Dorset, SW England. The vehicle had been flattened by the landslip, which left it encased under many feet of mud and rubble at the entrance to a tunnel near Beaminster. Nobody had known that the car was under there, until its occupants began to be reported missing.

This evening, I had the pleasure of meeting one of my internet contacts in the flesh, after my help was enlisted by one of his friends who had a spot of bother making mobile phone contact. I had been in touch through the local blogs for several years.

Monday 16 July

Although the day started out a bit grey, the sun came out in the afternoon and as I type this (9.30pm) it is quite sunny. Once again, we're left with very little rain and the drought continues unabated. We need weeks and weeks of heavy rain, and it's not gonna happen in a hurry. The salmon should be running up the rivers at the moment, to spawn, but they are stuck at the tideline. Down at Garynahine, some 15 miles from Stornoway, the salmon are swimming round a pool, unable to get up the river.

My attention was drawn to a "Peace Camp" which will be in operation at Cliff Beach, Uig, Lewis, from July 19th to 22nd. The camp consists of a large number of tents with lights inside positioned at remote locations. The installation is accessible between sunset and sunrise, and here in Lewis that means between 9.30pm and 4.30am. You need to book a slot (of an hour) and present your booking slip at the gate. You must also bring outdoor gear and a torch. There are several other locations around the UK hosting peace camps, which are celebrating love poetry and landscape, to quote the website. It is possible to contribute poetry, imagery or music to the Peace Camp project. I'm not sure if I'll be traipsing the 35 miles to Cliff in the middle of the night to view this installation. 

Sunday 15 July

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.

View Larger Map Get Directions View Bird's Eye

Saturday 14 July

Happy Quatorze Juillet to all in France; 223 years ago today, revolutionaries stormed the infamous Bastille prison in Paris, and razed it to the ground. It commenced what later became known as the French Revolution, which ended up devouring one of the men that started it, Robespierre. The last King and Queen of France lost their heads in the Revolution - through indecisiveness, as it later turned out.

Today is the last day of the Hebridean Celtic Festival, and the town is bustling with people playing the bagpipes, a harp and what not on the streets. Tonight, another set of bands will play in the big tent on the Castle Lawn; yesterday's performances were part televised, but I was underwhelmed to be honest. Until last year, Festival Saturday was also the date of the Lewis Highland Games, which were held in the village of Tong, 4 miles outside Stornoway on the road to Tolsta. Unfortunately, the organisers could no longer afford to meet the legal requirements and decided to pull the plug on the Games at their AGM last January.

When you live in an island, you have to be inventive. That was in evidence in the first week of July, when the gangway to the ferry broke down. New parts were needed, so people turned to Ebay to get these; other parts were fabricated by Lews Castle College. So, now foot passengers can walk on board via the covered gangway, sheltered from the rain (what rain???); rather than via the vehicle ramp.

A little while ago, the sad news reached me that the parish priest for Eriskay, Fr Calum Maclellan, has passed away at the age of about 84. Fr Calum served Eriskay for many years, and featured in two series of An Island Parish on BBC television. He was a man of character, hugely respected and loved in the Southern Isles. May he rest in peace, now that he has gone home.

Friday 13 July

Friday the 13th. Well, it certainly wasn't a good start of the day on Highland roads. A lorry went up in a fierce blaze on the A9 near Aviemore. The A835 Inverness to Ullapool road was blocked at Aultguish for a couple of hours following an accident, prompting a detour of 100 miles through Gairloch - not good for ferry traffic. Because today is the second day of the Hebridean Celtic Festival here in Stornoway. About 15,000 people have descended on our wee town, but to be honest, the line-up doesn't do it for me. I am typing this, watching live coverage on the Gaelic TV channel BBC Alba. And I'm singularly not impressed.

Rangers FC of Glasgow look set to play in the lowest division of the Scottish football league in the new season, which starts in August. They were demoted from the top flight after going bust - as a result of not paying tax. They were more than £100 million in the red.

I was saddened to hear of the death of nine climbers on Mont Maudit (near Mt Blanc) in France. They were killed in an avalanche yesterday morning at 5.30 am local time. At the time, there had been high wind conditions, which are known to be a contributing factor for avalanches to occur. Those on the climb were experienced and well equipped mountaineers, and the 9 deaths are attributed to an accident. I know, from my own experience, that mountains should be treated with respect, and any hazards anticipated and their risk assessed. But still, even the most experienced can get caught out - one of the dead was a former general secretary in the British Mountaineering Council.

Thursday 12 July

Quite a nice day, with good sunny spells. A northeasterly breeze did not prevent the mercury from rising to 15C / 59F. As I type this, the sun has just set, and cloud appears to be increasing. But no rain is in the forecast. Our drought continues.

Three hundred and twenty-four years ago today, the Battle of the Boyne was fought in Ireland. It was basically between Protestants and Roman Catholics, and the strife continues to date. King William of Orange, who had come over from the Low Countries to assume the English throne, had made it his life's work to fight the popery - and his good offices (sarcasm alert) continue to reverberate in 2012. In Northern Ireland, the day is marked by marches by the Orange Order. I refer to this Wikipedia article for further details.

The wee house on Shell Street has disappeared, and is now just a small heap of rubble. Lorries arrived by mid afternoon to cart it all away, and very shortly, it will become an area of hard standing for tanker lorries on the adjacent fuel depot. I don't think the Maclean family, who inhabited the premises between roughly 1861 and 1891, would have expected their domicile to be reduced to a pile of rubble at any stage.
The pictures I put up yesterday were in demand by the local paper today, as their own photographer turned up after the last walls had been knocked down.

Wednesday 11 July

You may wonder what the connection is between these two pics, but it has to do with the house on the right in the left-hand picture (taken in May 2011). This, as planned, is now being pulled down as well. It has very thick walls, and in the early part of the 20th century stood right on the shoreline. There were steps leading down from the frontdoor.

It was a mainly overcast day today, with occasional showers and not too cold. Went for an amble around town, but found it not to be overly busy this afternoon. It's the Hebridean Celtic Festival this week, and its first concert is tomorrow, Thursday. I do not have tickets for any of the concerts, as none of it really tickles my fancy this year. The main stage is inside this striped tent, located outside Lews Castle (which you can see in the background)



I happened to pass the Festival Office on Church Street, where festival goers were queueing out the door to get tickets. Admittedly, the shop is a small affair, even smaller than the premises they had rented last year. If memory serves, it is actually the Jehovah's Witnesses' place.

Tuesday 10 July

The day commenced grey and overcast, and we had a spell of drizzle for an hour or so between 11 and 12. This started just as the competitors in the Sail Stornoway "Coronation Cup 1902" set sail for Cromore and Bayble. When I went to the Coastguard Station to take pictures, I could hardly make out the white sails against the grey sky, so the pics from the house have to suffice.







Tomorrow will see a Sail in Company to Bayble, some 5 miles east of Stornoway, followed by a barbeque on the beach and the adjacent pier.

The Hebridean Celtic Festival is set to take off on Thursday, with quite a few well (and not so well) known bands playing in the big blue tent by the Castle, and in venues across town. This is the 17th edition of the festival, and once more, many thousands are flocking to these shores. I expect tomorrow's three sailings from Ullapool to be packed out, and cross my fingers that the ferry doesn't break down. It's been doing that a few times too many of late.

Monday 9 July

A bright day with sunny intervals and some 1-minute spells of light rain. We have had the grand total of 9 mm of rain this month so far, whereas Edinburgh had nearly 100 mm in the same period. In other words, our drought conditions basically continue.

The main event of the day was a bit of a damp squib, with the Entrance of the Fleet consisting of barely half a dozen sailing craft assembling near the lighthouse, 45 minutes late. I was installed on Goat Island at 4pm, but there was this chilly northerly breeze and no boats. OK, to give them credit, here is my best pic.



I suppose I'm disappointed because, a year ago, we had sights like this moving up and down the harbour.

Sunday 8 July

An overcast, grey and very wet day today. Not much to write about, apart from Murray mania, which ended at 6.15pm when the Dunblane-born tennis star was eclipsed by his Swiss opponent. He'll live to fight another day. I watched a few more episode of Star Trek - The Next Generation, which I always like to watch. I'm normally averse to 'crap science', but I make an exception for this series, which presents it well. I also sometimes watch cop shows, in which cameras ride along with police officers on the beat. High-speed car chases, drunks and booze-fuelled mayhem - but one episode also showed how officers from Wiltshire police accompanied a hearse, carrying a fallen serviceman, through the town of Royal Wootton Bassett en-route to the final resting place. Wootton Bassett was awarded Royal status after its residents turned out in force to pay homage to the dead servicemen who had been repatriated to RAF Lyneham - each and every time. The casualties from the Afghan war now come through a different airfield, but Wootton Bassett quite rightly gained royal approbation.

This week will see the Hebridean Celtic Festival, and the ferry was bulging with festival goers on Saturday. Musicians have flocked to the Festival as well, and will be playing in jam sessions across the town through the week. The Heb Celt Fest runs concurrently with Sail Hebrides, and on Monday, we'll have prime position to witness the entry of the fleet [of sailing ships] at Glumag Harbour. Long term readers of this blog will realise that this body of water lies a quarter of a mile away from my position, within line of sight from the front window.

Saturday 7 July

An overcast, windy and very cold day. Well, the strong northeasterly wind made it feel cold, particularly as there was no sun. 12C is not that fantastic either. Tomorrow is going to be worse, as we're going to have some rain. Although, after two months of virtually no rain, I should not complain about some wet weather. People in the south of England have much more reason to complain about the rain, after the dramatic scenes of severe flooding in places. The weather is topsy-turvy at any rate; the hurricane season in the Atlantic has been going for some 5 weeks now, and the first hurricane is yet to form. There have been some low grade tropical cyclones (tropical storms) so far. The Eastern Pacific basin, southwest of Mexico, is the scene of hurricane Daniel and tropical depression 5. No land is currently under threat.

7 years on from 7/7

On Thursday morning, 7 July 2005, four suicide bombers headed into central London and proceeded to detonate their devices on board three Underground trains and a bus. Fifty-two people died, and many more were injured. The attacks came the day after London was awarded the Olympic Games of 2012, which are due to start in three weeks' time.

This post is dedicated to the memory of the 52 innocent lives lost that day.

Friday 6 July

So Dunblane boy Andy Murray is playing in the final at Wombledon. Well done. Now he's got to beat the other guy in that final on Sunday.

It's been a foggy day here in Stornoway, with haar rolling in from the Minch. As I type this, visibility is down to a quarter of a mile. The tanker ship Sarnia Liberty is off the port, blowing its horn to warn nearby vessels of its presence. We did manage to get up to 14C / 57F. I'm not complaining, by the way: there has been serious flooding in parts of northern England, and feel very sad for those whose property has been ruined by floodwaters.

The fog played havoc with the air service at Stornoway Airport, with no planes in or out until 1.30pm. Our mail and papers arrive on a plane at 7 am, but they were obviously delayed. I had to go to the shop at 8 pm to get my daily rag, the Press and Journal. Can't do without the paper, can we?

Thursday 5 July

A bright day, but during the afternoon the fog in the Minch crept ever closer to and onto the shore. Nonetheless, we managed 17C / 63F. I gather from my American friends on Facebook that they started the day somewhere between 80-90F (27-32C). I think I prefer our temperatures. There was a 20 mph breeze from the north, which took the edge off the temperature.

Our ferry seems to be back to normal, after returning to port at 3.30 am (two hours late) this morning. The only thing hampering her crossings today are fogbanks in the Minch. The ferry between Harris and North Uist is on an amended timetable due to the springtides - it can't sail at low tide as there just is no water in the channel at certain key points in the journey.

Two Tornado jets collided in mid-air between Inverness and Wick on Tuesday. Fog in the Moray Firth has hampered rescue efforts. Two airmen were recovered alive from the wreckage, but two other remain missing presumed dead. One of those saved later died in hospital of his injuries. The RAF base at Lossiemouth, near Elgin, is in mourning for its lost personnel. An investigation is on-going into the cause, which could take some time.

Be careful around spell checkers. The Stornoway Gazette on-line posted this line:

MV Isle of Lewis set sail for Ullapool this morning (Thursday 5th July) at 7.00am, just 10 minutes later than secluded, after overnight repair work.

Methinks that should have read scheduled.

Wednesday 4 July

A warm day again today, with good spells of sunshine and the mercury up to 18C / 64F. Had lunch outside, admiring the cloudscapes of cirrus. Not a harbinger of good weather, as they gradually took over the sky and thickened. Fortunately, no rain ensued.

Our ferry sailed today, but as I type this, it is running very late. What should have been a 19.45 departure incurred a 2-hour delay. At this rate, it will be returning to Stornoway not much before 4 o'clock tomorrow morning; only to have to go out again at 7. There is a sneaking suspicion that these continual breakdowns might be down to a change in fuel oil. Cheap is nasty, it would appear. As I type this, an update has appeared on the local news website, indicating another technical fault. Well, if this happens next week, when the very well attended Hebridean Celtic Festival is on, we can expect chaos on an unprecedented scale. On average, 15,000 people attend the festival (roughly double the resident population of Stornoway, yep, we're that small).

I have previously written about the trials and tribulations of Rangers FC of Glasgow. The club was in severe financial difficulties, and its business has been wound up - and relaunched as a "newco" Rangers. Today, the 11 clubs in the Scottish Premier League voted against Rangers being readmitted to the SPL. In fact, Rangers could be made to resume in the lowest (3rd division) league.

Rangers is one of the most successful football clubs around, with 54 league titles in its 140 year history. The "Old Firm" matches (against fellow Glaswegian club Celtic) are legendary, but not always for the right reasons. Rangers and Celtic are always numbers 1 and 2 in the SPL, and the other clubs in the Scottish Football League deeply resent this, as they never stand any chance. With Rangers now dumped to the lower divisions, this would give other clubs a chance.

Tuesday 3 July

A warm and fairly sunny day, with the mercury shooting up to the princely value of 20.5C / 69F. In the meantime, the ferry is out of action with engine trouble - no sailings to or from Stornoway at all. This means that all traffic is diverted 40 miles south to Tarbert, from where the MV Hebrides plies its route to Uig in Skye. Uig is 170 miles by road from Ullapool... Fortunately, Calmac made the announcement fairly early in the day, and put on an extra sailing which is currently en-route between Harris and Skye. It is due back in Tarbert at 23.40 tonight. This is the second time within a few weeks that the MV Isle of Lewis is laid up with technical problems, leading to awkward questions from Western Isles Council to Calmac, and Calmac admitting to being red-faced over the issue.

Two RAF jets have crashed into the Moray First, north of Inverness. Two of the four crew involved remain missing, and a search is on-going for them.

This afternoon, I went on a 3½ mile walk through Stornoway and the adjacent Castle Grounds. It was pleasantly warm, sunny and very green. The return leg took me across the Golf Course (one of the hilliest in the country). I post some pics for (hopefully) your enjoyment.

Monday 2 July

Quite a nice sunny day, except for this cool breeze. We seem to be bucking the trend nationwide, with our mainly bright and sunny weather. Over the next day or so we should see slightly warmer weather, but only for a few days. It was reported today that June was the wettest on record, with many places having more than double their normal monthly totals. Here, we only had half the normal rainfall for June.

The Big Minch Swim has now collected £15,000, after a successful weekend of fundraising in the pubs of Stornoway - more than £1,000 on Saturday alone.

Yesterday, we all lived a second longer, when a leap-second was added to our time. This was necessary, as the earth's rotation is continually slowing down. However, it is reported that certain major websites tripped over this extra second and crashed out. Google circumvented the problem by adding milliseconds through the day. 430 years ago, Pope Gregory ordained that 12 days should be omitted from the calendar.

Sunday 1 July

We've passed the halfway mark in 2012, and the days will start to draw in very soon. Sunday is always a quiet day, and today started likewise. Although it had been wet in the night, the day ended with bright sunshine as we passed the sunset hour of about 10.30pm.

I spent a little time trying to make a start with building an index for the Napier Report, but have to think carefully how that is going to pan out. You can categorise in so many ways, and the devil lies in striking a balance between too much detail and too little. The Napier Report being a session of 46,000 Q&As, you have to read carefully to determine how each question should be filed. I went as far as #150, but probably have to start from the top. So far, there are 46 headings for the index; there will be many more as I progress through the report.

Saturday 30 June

Starting cool and overcast, it did try to brighten up before the rain returned by late afternoon. We managed 14C, which is a darn sight better than the 40+ degrees that some places in the USA are currently experiencing. Severe thunderstorms resulting in extensive powercuts are the inevitable outcome, but the forecast shows no let-up in the extreme heat over there.

Heavy showers have also wreaked havoc over parts of England, causing severe flashfloods and all the attendant misery that that entails. I once cycled through a flood on a road, which rose to 50 cm (1½ ft). The water was murky, filthy and stank.

The Big Minch Swim has, so far, collected more than £13,000. Tonight, a raffle is being organised with prizes donated by local businesses. The organisers hope to bump their total over the £15k mark, which would be a fantastic totals. Anyone wishing to donate can do so on http://www.justgiving.com/thebigminchswim.

I posted a few pics on Facebook, which I shall also share on here.

Eyeing up the birdies


Stillness at dusk


Busy bee


We've got our rain back

Friday 29 June

A surprisingly warm day, with the mercury shooting up to 18C at 2pm, when the sun came out. It has been a fairly bright day with varying amounts of benign clouds. It was even possible to have lunch outside. I pity the folks south of the border who have suffered quite severe flooding, likewise those in south Belfast. It wreaked havoc on the railways, with a landslip at Tulloch, 20 miles east of Fort William, knocking a train off the tracks. It was a goods train, but due to the remoteness of the location (miles away from the nearest road) it will take a considerable time before the wreckage is removed. Passenger trains suffered incredible delays, with one service arriving into Glasgow at 3 am, having taken 15 hours to travel from London, a journey that normally doesn't take more than 5 hours.

And then there was this article on the website of Dutch broadcaster NOS, claiming that research showed that fish oils (omega-3) did nothing to reduce the risks of heart attacks. When I clicked through to the original article, I found that NOS had not read the article properly. The study had been to investigate the effects of fish oils in people with diabetes and at risk of heart attacks - effects that were no better than not taking fish oils. You can't generalise that into making out that this applies to the whole population.

Hurricane update - 29 June

No real hurricanes to report on, except for this tropical cyclone in the southern hemisphere. 21P formed southeast off the eastern tip of Papua New Guinea, but will not live beyond the weekend. The system is carrying winds of 35 knots, may strengthen to 40 knots before being torn apart by adverse winds in the higher atmosphere. The precursor to 21P existed in tandem with a disturbance across the equator, named 96W, which is heading west through Micronesia. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Honolulu is giving that system a high (> 50%) likelihood of turning into a tropical cyclone.

Further north, tropical storm Doksuri has made landfall in the estuary of the Pearl River, west of Hong Kong and will dissipate inland. Tropical cyclones tend to dump rather large amounts of rain (tell the people of Florida that, they've had 25 inches over the past week out of Debby), so I'm expecting that to happen in southern China as well.

Thursday 28 June

Overcast, grey and wet sums up today. We had a few breaks in cloud and rain, but it is quite the reverse of the weather we've been having over the past two months.

Next Sunday, Calmac (our ferry company) is starting Sunday sailings from Tarbert (Harris) to Uig (Skye). That is the last service to the Outer Hebrides that was not yet operating on a Sunday. The Presbytery of Skye and Lochalsh (sic) has called upon Calmac to repent their sins, alluding to the Fourth Commandment. In doing so, they are ignoring the Fifth Commandment, which Calmac could invoke in justifying their Sunday service. For this ferry will make it easier for islanders to go to and from the mainland, in order to visit their families. I am highlighting the location of the Presbytery, as this is in fact a mainland community, and Skye (although an island) is not in the Outer Hebrides.

This morning, the Queen unveiled the memorial to Bomber Command in WW2, situated in Green Park in London. Bomber Command has been ignored for 67 years after the end of the war, because of the huge loss of life inflicted by some of its bombing raids on Nazi Germany, particularly on Dresden in March 1945. The raid on Dresden was authorised by Winston Churchill himself, yet Churchill himself did not award BC any campaign medals. A military man does what he is told to do by the politicians. It should be the politicians getting the stick, not the poor sods in the planes.

Wednesday 27 June

Overcast, grey and sopping wet today. Uploaded videos and photos taken at yesterday's Big Minch Swim finale, and am pleased to find that there is a lot of interest in them. My pics don't normally attract  many viewers, but more than 30 for each pic within the one day is unusual. I'm equally pleased that quite a few team members are also interested. End of ego-trip.

Today, the Queen met former IRA commander Martin Mcguinness, now deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. A historical occasion, as the IRA once murdered a relative of the Queen, and she was regarded as the enemy by the Republicans. I have always held the view that the only good thing to come out of 9/11 was the ending of the civil war in Northern Ireland. This because 9/11 showed Americans who supported the Republican movement in Ireland and thereby the IRA, what terrorism actually meant.

The Big Minch Swim

On Monday at midday, eight people started a relay by swimming away from Ullapool to reach Stornoway, on the other side of the Minch. One orca, one unidentified whale, quite a few porpoises and dolphins and 34 hours later, the group splashed ashore on the bit of beach between piers no 1 and 2 in Stornoway. The distance between Ullapool and Stornoway is 45 miles, but the group probably covered up to 65 miles. They were accompanied by the support vessel Cuma, a small boat that takes people out to islands off the west coast of Lewis and Harris, as well as by a canoeist in the water.

Last night, at half past eight, I installed myself on Goat Island. The ferry came in and blasted its horn at the team as it approached Holm Point, the promontory at the entrance to the Outer Harbour. The lifeboat also came out and accompanied the team on its way. It was raining quite heavily, but there was no wind. A BBC cameraman was on Goat Island taking shots; his colleague from competing station STV had managed a lift in a local crab boat, and the two were exchanging good natured banter across the water.

At 9.30, the team passed the Arnish Lighthouse and approached Goat Island. Now within shouting distance, there was a lot of yelling and shouting going on, also as excitement rose on board the Cuma and in the water, now that the finishing line was in sight.

I quickly walked round to pier no 2, reaching there just in time to see the group, now all in the water, swim the last few dozen yards to shore, splashing onto the beach on the stroke of 10 o'clock. Champagne corks popped, horns hooted and sirens wailed as hundreds looked on at the excitement reached its peak when the eight stepped ashore.

This feat was accomplished to raise funds for the RNLI. When I just checked, £8,800 had been raised. Feel free to donate here.

I took a few videos, which you can see on the links below:
From Goat Island
Reaching land
Coming ashore

I shall post a separate entry with photos, which I have not yet uploaded.

Tuesday 26 June

A bright day, which has now degenerated into spells of light rain, which have moved up from the southwest. I have spent the day (so far, it's 5.40pm) monitoring the progression of the group of 8 intrepid swimmers who are crossing the Minch from Ullapool to Stornoway. Other people take the ferry, but this lot take turns swimming the 45-65 miles. The ferry has been tooting at the team as they ploughed their way through the swell, and passengers on board have been asked to donate. The swim is organised to benefit the RNLI. A pod of killer whales came to check out one swimmer, who lost no time getting out of the water. A 20 ft whale is not something to trifle with, and orkas have those nasty, sharp teeth. The swimmers were south of Point an hour ago, and are expected into Stornoway between 9 and 11pm tonight. I'll keep an eye out for their support vessel, the MV Cuma, which will be cue to head out to the shoreline. I'll update later with pics of the team as they enter the harbour, something I can monitor from the window here.

Monday 25 June

Moving from overcast to bright and sunny through the day, although it did not feel cold.
News came through today that Count Robin Mirrlees, proprietor of Great Bernera, died in a Stornoway nursing home at the age of 87. His is quite a story to read, but I'll just refer to the link on Hebrides News.

A debate has been on-going for about a year on the subject of Scottish independence. The Scottish National Party have announced that a referendum on the issue is likely to be held in October 2014 or thereabouts, and have launched their campaign to pursuade the undecided to back their cause. The opposing camp, who have adopted the slogan Better Together, inaugurated their campaign as well. Think I'm with the latter. I'm not given to make strong political statements on this blog, but a number of issues were raised by the pro-Unionist camp that resonate with me more strongly than the SNP arguments. For a party that has been promoting independence for 80 years or so, the SNP appear to be markedly thin on the subject of the practicalities of independence. I also find their tenure negative, divisive and confrontational. That's my colours nailed to the mast, but to long-term readers of this blog and its predecessor, this should come as no surprise.

Sunday 24 June

An overcast and grey day after some rain in the night. A local weather station reports just over 2 mm of rain, it still does not amount to very much. However, the humidity is quite high so the likelihood of wildfires will be much lower than of late, and neither is there much wind.

Continued with my researches into the WW1 casualties, this time those from Portvoller, the village closest to the Tiumpan Head Lighthouse. Port Mholair, as the Gaelic name runs, is in quite a scenic position by a loch.



Did I ever mention that virtually all the placenames in Lewis are of Norse origin? The people in Orkney and Shetland appear to regard themselves as the modern day Vikings, but the influence of the Scandinavians extends as far south as the Isle of Man. The name Stornoway means Anchorage (Bay of Steering), and only the village of Achmore (Big Field) is purely Gaelic in origin. Achmore lies 5 miles from the sea, 370 feet above sealevel. It is a practiced joke to trick people into thinking that there is a pier there.

Saturday 23 June

An overcast day, during which the sun made a few efforts to burn away the low cloud. Unsuccessfully in the end; we are stuck with grey middle-level clouds. At 10 am, the cruiseliner Marina hove into view and dropped anchor just off the Arnish Lighthouse. She is twice the size of the ferry, at 785 feet (240 metres) in length. I went into town to buy stamps at the time, and a fleet of a dozen coaches were lined up at the disembarkation point for the tenders. That means about 700 people were about to be taken on tours of the island. Marina can have about 1200 passengers and has nearly 2000 crew. Her next destination is Ísafjörður, in northwestern Iceland.

Sometimes you buy a card and forget to look inside. And when you do, you regret buying the card. There was only one solution: cut off the offending half and hope it doesn't get noticed by the recipient.

Friday 22 June

The day started off wet and windy, but during the afternoon the wind dropped, the rain stopped and the sun came out. We managed 15C - and 5 mm of rain (one-fifth of an inch). We need more rain to really soak the ground and prevent the recurrence of those wildfires.

Spent a good part of the afternoon looking into the WW1 casualties from the village of Portnaguran. One family lost four of its five sons in the First World War. I wrote a blogpost about them on my local history blog Pentland Road. Portnaguran is a fishing village some 10 miles northeast of Stornoway, near the Tiumpan Head Lighthouse on the farthest point east in this island.


Portnaguran


Tiumpan Head Lighthouse

Volksbund

As part of my researches into the casualties of both World Wars, I sometimes access the website of the Volksbund, the German counterpart of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Since I once submitted a query, related to the grave of a German submariner on one of the outlying Hebridean islands, I sometimes receive promotional material related to their work. This includes the promotion of reconciliation between former enemies or placing of flowers on wargraves of German soldiers abroad. A laudable aim, which I support by word only.

Today, I received a message regarding the 32,000 wargraves of German soldiers in the cemetery at Ysselsteijn, Holland who fell during the invasion and occupation of the Netherlands between 1940 and 1945. I shall leave it to German subscribers to the Volksbund to fund that project. I also adopt the same posture when German wargraves in other countries are concerned.

It is as a matter of principle that I shall not support the work of the Volksbund financially. I am quite happy to draw attention to their work, as in death, we are all equal, and most of the soldiers buried at Ysselsteijn just did what they were told to do, as soldiers. I am a former soldier myself, and know the score on that account. But for those left behind without their relatives, friends or ancestors, taken in sometimes extreme cruelty for no other reason than their religion or creed, by many of those now interred at Ysselsteijn and other places, I cannot bring myself to be more actively involved with the work of the Volksbund. As I said, that is up to German people to do.

I do not hate Germans, neither do I feel any animosity towards people from that country. During the past few years, I have met many German people and they are fine folk. In fact, Germans and British have a lot in common, in terms of character traits. I never refer to the years between 1933 and 1945 to them, although if broached, I will not fudge the subject. We all know what happened, but this is now the year 2012 and we should move forward - whilst being aware of the past, it should not rule our future.What happens if it does? Well, here are two examples.

In 1990, a war was started in the former Yugoslavia on account of the Battle of the Field of the Thrush in 1389 in Kosovo.

In 1969, a civil war commenced in Northern Ireland between Protestants and Catholics, which continued for more than 30 years until the atrocity of 9/11 demonstrated to the American backers of the IRA what terrorism actually meant. This civil war in Ulster was being justified by reference to the Battle of the Boyne of 1689 between Catholics and Protestants.

Thursday 21 June

The summer solstice occurred at 9 minutes past midnight, and as you will have gathered from previous postings it was far from dark. In fact, 70 minutes later, when the darkest moment of the night occurs, it still was not fully dark to the north. Two hours later, day was breaking merrily, at around 3.20 am. Mind you, we're at 58 degrees latitude north, so we do get some darkness. You go to Shetland, at 60 degrees north, and it does not get dark, full stop.


Looking north at 1.23 am


Dawn breaking at 3.23 am

Our ferry had a spot of mechanical bother, meaning that the last of yesterday's and the first of today's return sailings to and from Ullapool (on the mainland) were cancelled. Apparently, people had to sleep in the ferry terminal or on the boat. The Isle of Lewis finally departed at 3.50pm, two hours late. As I type this (at 10.20pm), she is just docking.

I watched the address to both Houses of Parliament in London by the Burmese pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, who was recently elected to parliament in Rangoon after spending two decades under house arrest. Her father, it turns out, was instrumental in bringing about independence for Burma from the British in 1948. He was assassinated a year beforehand. Burma's democracy was toppled in a military coup in 1962, bringing in a junta that rules to date with an iron fist and unbridled cruelty. I hope, with her, that Burma can once more be welcomed into the fold of democratic nations, given time. It will certainly not be for lack of effort on her part.

Wednesday 20 June

I went out late last night to take pictures of the longest night (well, the night before the longest night) and one of my pics was shown on STV weathernews this evening.



Today was another bright and sunny day, but high cloud is slowly moving in from the south. As of Friday, we shall see a complete change of weather. Although we had another wildfire in the Castle Grounds this evening, that is likely to be the last one and hopefully for a long time.

I have researched the WW1 casualties from Lower Garrabost today, numbering 16. One of them turned up in the census returns for 1901, in a household with seven female visitors. I shall probably never find out what the occasion was - a wake, perhaps?

Today is also the first day of the summer sailings, which see three crossings on Wednesday and Friday. However, the ferry promptly broke down on the way from Ullapool this evening, so the 19.45 departure from Stornoway was cancelled as was the 23.00 sailing back. As it's solstice at 23.09 GMT this evening, there will be people celebrating the solstice at the Standing Bollards of Ullapool pier rather than at the Standing Stones of Callanish. They both have the same amount to do with the solstice. Nothing at all. Callanish is a lunar monument, not (like Stonehenge or Maeshowe) a solar one.

Tuesday 19 June

A cool but bright day, with the mercury still stuck down at 12C and no further rain to speak of. The grand total for this month is 6 mm, a quarter of an inch. However, the forecast is for copious amounts of rain later in the week, which gives us a chance to make up for nearly 3 weeks of drought. It may seem like an exaggeration, but people are complaining of football pitches that bear a resemblance more to concrete than a grassy lawn; grassy lawns that have turned brown and yellow; and low water levels in rivers. I also found out that on Saturday evening, a few hours after I visited the fire-stricken area near the Creed River, fire once more flared up. I could not help but notice that it felt warm near the Creed Bridge - warmer than in the Castle Grounds or along the nearby Arnish Road.

I have gathered further information on 13 WW1 casualties from Lewis, my on-going project. The total is 258 to date; just over 1,000 left to do. Another project is the indexing of the Napier Report, which will take me quite a while. For the moment, this is an Excel file; I'll have to think of a way to put this on the WWW.

Locally, a Russian cargo-ship was halted off the north coast of Scotland, apparently near the Western Isles. The Alaed allegedly carried attack helicopters, bound for Syria. The company had had its insurance cancelled, meaning that the vessel could not proceed on its journey. The British Foreign Secretary has now announced that the Alaed is on its way back to Russia. The last recorded position of the Alaed was 40 miles north of the Butt of Lewis, at 1.37 am yesterday morning.


Image courtesy www.vesseltracker.com

Monday 18 June

Quite a nice day, with only the odd drop of rain. However, at this time of year, that brings out one spoiler: the dreaded midges. And they certainly had a nip at me when I was outside for a spell this afternoon <scratches>. I have today done a few more entries in the long saga of the Lewismen lost in WW1, continuing my researches into the men from Upper Bayble in Point. Tomorrow, I shall make a start on the onerous task of indexing the Napier Report. Remember, 46000 questions and answers - some answers being pages long? 

A few weeks ago, I passed through the village of Steinish, when I came across the dried remnant of a bunch of flowers, left at the roadside near where a teenager had been left dead last November. Liam Aitchison had come north out of South Uist to start a new life in Lewis, only to find death. Two suspects have been bailed pending further investigations. The residents of Steinish have now set up a fund to help vulnerable teenagers in the island.

Whilst typhoon Guchol begins to fade in the Pacific, another system is threatening to form in the open Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Bermuda. Although this is only a threat to shipping, tropical storm Chris could still put in an appearance there. On the other side of the American continent, the remnants of Carlotta appear to be reforming into a new cyclone, some 270 miles west of Manzanillo in Mexico. This system is moving east. Its attendant heavy rains continue to pose a threat to Mexico, with potentially life-threatening flash floods and mud slides.

Columba's Island Paradise

Loriana Pauli, who resides in and blogs from North Uist, posted this excerpt of a poem, attributed to St Columba on her blog. I take the liberty of reposting.

Columba’s Island Paradise (12th century, translated from the Gaelic)

in THE TRIUMPH TREE, Scotland’s earliest poetry AD 550-1350

Delight I find in an island’s breast,

on a rock’s peak,

that there I might often gaze

at the sea’s calm.

That I might see its heavy waves

over the brilliant sea

as it sings music to the Father

on its constant way.

Might see its smooth bright-caped strand

(no dismal tryst);

might hear the strange bird’s calls,

a joyful strain.

Might hear the shallow waves’ crash

against the rocks;

might hear the cry beside the graves,

the ocean’s roar.

Might see its splendid birdflocks

over the teeming sea;

might see its whales,

greatest of all marvels.

Than I might see its ebb and flow

in their sequence………

The poem concludes with the lines 

That this might be my name, a secret I tell

'Back towards Ireland'

That help of heart might come to me

gazing on it

that I might lament all my wrongs

hard to mention


St Columba, who died in the year 597 AD, was an abbot and a prince who had fled his native Ireland after standing up against one of that islands warrior kings. Upon fleeing, he decided to go to the west coast of Scotland. However, as he felt that seeing the Irish coast on the horizon would be an irresistible temptation to return, Columba (or Colum Cille) vowed that he would settle on the first island where he could not see Ireland on a clear day. That first island was Iona, off the west coast of Mull. Nonetheless, the yearning for his native land would be pulling his heart strings for good.

Sunday 17 June

A change in the weather today, with occasional showers - for the first time in weeks. The rainfall totals for today in Point (east of Stornoway) are between 1 and 2 mm, less than 0.1 inches. Nonetheless, a welcome dampening for our parched and tinderbox dry island. At least a recurrence of last week's wildfires now seems less likely.

The Greek elections appear to favour parties that want to retain the Euro, although forming a government is not going to be easy. Should a government be formed that does not want to abide by the restrictions, then Greece may be forced to leave the Euro, a move that will have serious consequences for Europe. Let's hope it does not come to that. However, the effects of the austerity measures have been shown in graphic details in recent news bulletins, with overt poverty and deprivation in abundance across Greece.

I could not get over the scenes at a tennis match, where one of the players kicked an advertising board, which injured a match official. The player, who was in a final, was promptly disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Saturday 16 June

A fairly bright day today, with some more northeasterlies but also some rain around 7pm. Like earlier in the week, it was not warm, with the mercury only in the low teens, mid 50s F. Nonetheless, I'd like to think that on balance, we had the best weather in the country.

In the afternoon, I went out to the location of Thursday's wildfires. Two miles from the town centre, I came across a broad swathe of scorched earth, with blackened and scorched powerpoles. The fire had even threatened an electricity sub station after jumping across the main road to Tarbert. Local news reports mention that pumping water out of the adjacent Creed River left it waterless at the time. I shall post a handful of pics of the devastation I found. Was it me, or did it still feel hot in the vicinity?

Friday 15 June

Still a steady northeasterly breeze, but not feeling as cold as of late. And would you believe: we even had a little rain this evening. We're going to need a lot more if we want to stamp out the threat of more wildfires. Yesterday's fire is reported to have caused extensive damage, and came close to burning down electricity poles and an electrical substation.

It is reported that 6 of the 91 Lewis Chessmen will come 'home' once the new museum opens in Lews Castle in 2014. The six Chessmen, figurines carved out of walrus ivory, could be alternating pieces. At present the collection is held at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and at the British Museum in London. Last year, several Chessmen were taken to Stornoway to be exhibited at the Western Isles Museum on Francis Street, and six pieces were taken to Uig Museum, a mile from the supposed location of their find in 1831.

I was bemused about the furore surrounding the school dinner blog, written by a 9-year old girl from Lochgilphead, Argyll. It's a pity that it was all sparked off by a newspaper, calling on the dinnerladies at the school to be fired, after the young lass voted down some of her dinners. However, she was just commenting on the food, not on those serving it. I wonder when someone in a hospital will do the same about their food - hospital food has this unfortunate reputation for being awful.

Thursday 14 June

Another bright and sunny day, with a stiff breeze and low temperatures. So far this month, we have had all of 3 mm (0.12 inches) of rainfall, and the results were plain to see this afternoon. A huge brown and white cloud billowing behind the Castle Grounds, signalling that last Friday's fire had flared up again. Fire crews battled for several hours to bring the blaze under control. The fire had reached the main road south from Stornoway, prompting its closure. The diversionary Pentland Road, a single track road leading out to Achmore, Breasclete and Carloway, was very soon gridlocked, prompting police to divert southbound traffic north through Barvas. That is a diversion of 40+ miles. At rush hour, Stornoway was gridlocked, with cars clogging up the main thoroughfares - by all accounts. I did not go out to watch, but my Twitter and Facebook contacts kept me posted. The road closures were lifted after 7 pm. The below image shows the smoke from the fire at 2.30pm, twenty minutes after it was reported. The picture is taken near the ferry terminal in Stornoway.

Hurricane update - 14 June

Tropical storm Carlotta has formed in the Eastern Pacific and is expected to strengthen into a hurricane within 36 hours. The storm poses a threat for southern Mexico, specifically around the Gulf of Tehuantepec. This is to the east of Acapulco. Carlotta will make landfall at 70 knots (a category I hurricane), weaken overland and reemerge over water near Acapulco, then hang around near there as a tropical storm.

NHC have 6-hourly updates, always refer to those for the latest information.

Wednesday 13 June

Not warm at all today, with the mercury barely above 10C and that continuing northeasterly wind. At 9.30 this morning, I accompanied my father to the airport where he took a flight to Inverness and onward to Amsterdam. He reported to have reached home at 5 o'clock (UK time), in good order in other words. I walked back from the airport to Stornoway, a distance of about 3 miles. A shear line passed over me, with showers in evidence over the Harris and Uig hills, as visible from Sandwick. No rain fell in Stornoway, worthy of the mention. Returned to town at 11.30, an hour after leaving the airport. Spent the day attempting to upload several hundred photographs, which I took over the past week whilst out and about. The process is on-going as I type, as Flickr.com is singularly slow. An upload rate of 40 kb/second is antediluvial.
Tomorrow, I shall post entries on here with pictures of the expeditions I undertook with my father.

Tuesday 12 June

A cool day, but with good spells of sunshine. Went across to Uig on the postbus, and was driven through a considerable rainshower on the way. Reached Timsgarry at 1.30, after dropping off mail at people's houses along the B8011 (M). Walked over to the Community Centre at Erista for a bowl of leek & potato soup, then continued down to Baile na Cille for a walk to Uig Sands. Came off at Ardroil; had wanted to proceed further west towards Carnish, but the tide was in and covering a large area of the strand. Returned to Timsgarry in time for the (pre-booked) bus back to town. It was a case of "Home James and don't spare the horses".

Uig is an area of stunning natural beauty, but only sparsely populated. The schoolbus at 4.45pm only dropped off 4 kids from the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway; and my father and I were the only ones going back to town at 5.10pm.

Today was the last day of my week of showing my dad around Lewis. He is flying back to Holland tomorrow.

Monday 11 June

A cold day with a chilly northeast breeze. The day started early for some in Stornoway, as the Olympic Torch passed through between 6.30 and 7.30 am. I was still asleep at that time. At 10.10, I took the bus west to Great Bernera, an island just off the west coast of Lewis. Visited the Norse Mill east of Breacleit, then returned to that village for a cup of soup in the community centre. Proceeded to go on a walk to Valasay, Tobson and Bosta. It was there that the sun came out, making it a pleasant 15 minutes on the beach there. On the way back, we were kindly given a lift from Croir to Breacleit. We settled down for a cuppa and some cakes, chatting to the staff who were very friendly and welcoming. A coach party also turned up from one of the two cruiseliners in today, the Minerva and the Expedition. It was on their behalf that the lady who usually guides people round the Iron Age House at Bosta had to stay on an hour or so longer than usual. Nonetheless, the cruise ships provide quite a bit of business in this island.

Sunday 10 June

Fairly sunny, but that northeasterly wind did keep it cool. As I type this, the sun has set (at 10.30pm) and the cloud has covered the sky. Today is Sunday, so no public transport. I took my father for a walk round the Castle Grounds, and found one of the places that was ravaged by fire on Friday evening. It would appear to me that someone built a fire, it went out of control and burned half the island at the mouth of the Creed River, after which the sparks were blown onto the moor behind. When moorland catches fire, you've got a devil of a job to put it out. The fire may continue to smoulder in the peatland underfoot for days if not weeks, particularly in the continuing dry conditions. Tomorrow, some showers are forecast, but we could really do with a good dousing.

Saturday 9 June

An overcast day with a continuing northeasterly breeze, making it feel quite chilly. Stornoway temperatures were pegged back to 12C, but I was in North Harris where the sun came out, courtesy the Clisham. Took the 9.35 bus to Bowglass [translates as Grey Cow], on the Lewis border. An 11 mile path leads through Glen Langadale to Loch Bhoisimid and Meavaig nam Beann on the coast. We only went as far as Glen Langadale, which is my no 1 favourite place in this island. It is surrounded by some magnificent mountain scenery, with names like Stulabhal, Rapaire, Tealasbhal and Mullach an Langa. Those who have followed by blogging from the start, specifically from February 2005, will remember those names. The track gradually rises to 600 feet above sealevel, then to drop down to 160 feet in Glen Langadale. A wooden bridge has been provided for crossing the river, where before you had to jump from rock to rock or wade the waters. We ascended the path under the frowning crags of Stulabhal as high as 600 feet (the summit is at 1100 feet), then retraced our steps back to Bowglass over several hours. Encountered several other walkers, two cyclists and one runner. By 3pm, the sun came out, making it feel warm again.

Friday 8 June

I don't think I should moan about the weather, when it has been mainly dry and I even spotted the sun for a few minutes this afternoon. But that strong northeasterly wind, blowing at a steady 25 mph, made it feel quite cold when we jumped off the bus at Lower Shader to visit the Steinacleit homestead. Didn't hang about for long, but doubled back to the village and walked through to the shore. Headed southwest along the shinglebank, crossed the Shader River and ended up at Ballantrushal. Why they don't get rid of all the scrap cars and trucks in that village is beyond me. Visited the Trushal Stone, where a friend of mine broke an ankle last September. Could see the stones that brought them to grief. Proceeded to the moor beyond and headed due west to a fenceline. Had to walk for nearly half a mile to find a stile to cross the barbed wire, then continued southwest, broadly parallel to the coastline. Initially quite high up, about 150 feet above the pounding waves, then gently descending towards the strand off Barvas. Walked the curve of the beach as far as the outflow of Loch Mor Bharabhas. Was amazed to find an array of machair flowers already out in bloom, something that reaches its peak in July. Once at the outflow, an old green bus had been parked, and we had to turn round to regain the paved road at Loch Street, going straight into the teeth of the wind. Had to wait for a bit to catch the 4.20pm bus back to town.

I shall post pics in a separate post in a few days' time.

Thursday 7 June

Yesterday, my father arrived by plane and for the next 6 days I'll be showing him places in the island. This morning at 10.10, the bus took us to Callanish where we saw three of the stone circles, including the main one. There are 20 stone circles within a 3 mile radius of Callanish. Came across a chap who was holding a Harris hawk. Pics to follow. After having a bite to eat outside the visitor centre, another bus took us to Carloway, with a minibus connection to Gearrannan, where the Blackhouse Village sits. From there, we walked the two miles (and a bit) to Dalmore, but it is rather up and down along stunning clifftop scenery. The highest point we reached was not far off 100 metres / 330 feet. Dalmore beach was reached at 4pm, and another 20 minutes of tedium brought us to the main road. The final bus took us back into town at 5.45pm.

It was warm (15C) in the bright sunshine we had today, although a screen of cloud is moving up from the southeast. Weather elsewhere in the UK is rather autumnal, with heavy rain and strong winds. May it stay well away from here - and apparently, it will.

16 years ago

A simple image, which some of my regular readers (you know who you are) will recognise. The track, paved with ground-up seashells, the leafless trees, although in bud, and the pale-blue sky of early spring. Nothing out of the ordinary, but what prompted the post was the wee cat in the roadside. The picture was taken on the Dutch island of Vlieland in April 1996. I have images of the same location from much more recent years, but the wee cat will no longer be in it - or around. Things change.

The same applies to this old pic from Stornoway, taken on 31 July 1996.

Only the Caledonian Hotel and adjacent buildings are still standing. The Maritime Building was demolished in October 2007, and the sheds on the quayside were removed well before I came to Lewis in 2004.

The below image, from April last year, shows a side-on view of the same area, pier no 1.

68 years ago today

Today in 1944, an armada of ships brought an invasion force to the beaches of Normandy, spelling the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. After some hard fighting, the march through France, Belgium and Holland did not falter until they reached the Rhine bridge at Arnhem in September that year.

A list of those from the Isle of Lewis who fell at Normandy and the month following the invasion.

Seaman NORMAN MACDONALD
Last address in Lewis: 30 Knock, Carloway
Service unit: Royal Navy HMMM 7
Date of death: 07/06/1944 at the age of 34
Killed in action in D-day Invasion of Normandy

Chief Petty Officer ALEXANDER MORRISON
Last address in Lewis: 8 North Tolsta
Service unit: Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy) HMRT Sesame
Date of death: 11/06/1944 at the age of 41
Lost off Normandy

Private KENNETH JOHN MACDONALD
Last address in Lewis: 2/4 Kershader
Service unit: 7th Seaforth Highlanders
Date of death: 28/06/1944 at the age of 24
Killed in action at Caen, France

Fusilier ALEXANDER ROBB
Last address in Lewis: 15 Cross Street Coulregrein
Service unit: 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers
Date of death: 29/06/1944 at the age of 30
Lost in German counter attack at Manvieu

Leading Seaman DONALD MUNRO
Last address in Lewis: 6 Knock, Point
Service unit: Royal Naval Reserve HMMM 1019
Date of death: 02/07/1944 at the age of 37
Lost off Cherbourg

Hurricane update - 6 June

A tropical cyclone has formed in the Southern Hemisphere, more than a month after the season ended. Tropical storm Kuena is 600 miles east of Madagascar and will strengthen gradually as it moves over Agalega, an outlying island under the jurisdiction of Mauritius. The system is expected to veer northwest, passing through the archipelago of the Seychelles. Kuena will be weakening at that point, and is not expected to survive to the coastline of mainland Africa.

Tuesday 5 June

Quite a nice day, in spite of the lowish temperatures of 11-13C. Not much wind, so it felt reasonably nice. At the moment, we are having springtides, with high tide peaking at 5.0 m and the low tide at 0.6 m. That's a tidal difference of nearly 15 feet. It is odd to see the mudflats in the basin at low tide at 2.30pm, and come back 6 hours later to realise they are under 14 feet of water. Where on earth (literally) did all that water come from - and where does it go to??

The Jubilee celebrations have come to a close, and I managed to miss today's excitement. I came across this image, showing the Queen sitting on the throne - a hollow one. Next instalment of Britishness (or should I have omitted the capitalisation?): the Euro 2012 football championships in Poland and Ukraine. I think they start in about 10 days' time. And on July 27th, the London Olympics commence. Mind you, over in Holland they are even crazier about the football, with half the country turning orange (orange being the national colour in the Netherlands).

Tomorrow morning at 4.23, the sun will rise and it will be obscured by the planet Venus. Well, 0.1% of it. The forecast is not favourable, and I'd have to walk miles out of town to have a clear view of the northeast. I think I'll stay in bed.

Over the next few days, you'll see less of me than normal as my father is coming to visit. Where are my waterproofs?

Monday 4 June

A change in the weather, with mainly overcast skies and still cool. The day started with a large cruiseship docked alongside the ferry pier. The Silver Cloud left just after 3 o'clock, headed for Douglas, the main town in the Isle of Man.



During the afternoon, I continued my project of looking up further details about the WW1 casualties from the Isle of Lewis. This information is admittedly limited, such as a date of birth and family details from the censuses. I completed the village of Lower Bayble, which lost quite a few names. Next one will be Upper Bayble, next-door.

At sunset, at 10.15pm, the beacons were lit in the Western Isles (and beyond) to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee. One was across from my position at Arnish Point; others were at Ness and on the top of the Clisham. I walked out to Oliver's Brae to check whether I could see fire on the Clisham, but the distance (30 miles) and the fact that the Arnish beacon was already out by that time meant there was not a spark to be seen.

The below image was taken just after 11pm on Oliver's Brae between Stornoway and Sandwick.