A Happy New Year to everyone, we wish you all the best from the wet, very windy and grey Rona.

12 o’clock on top of the Hill

Last night was a breezy one but we made it up to the top of the road and let off the usual ‘fireworks’. We have our Danish visitors for the first time and they can’t quite believe the Hogmany celebrations and the weather.

Toasting in the Bells

The rain stayed away for 1 hour, just enough for a brisk walk, pushed by the wind, to the top of the road.

Many Photos later…….

Liz (my sis’) went away on Saturday and new guests arrived, all the way from Paris (via Forres). Dorte and Arne were arriving on Tuesday so we had quite a bit to do before the New Year celebrations.

The Down Side of the Wind

Liz and Lorraine had tidied up on the Big Harbour beaches but a quick walk round Dry Harbour filled two bags, that is the down side of all this wind, too much rubbish in the sea. Pam and Kevin took it away and with the weather being so dry and clear it was good to get the end of season jobs done, plus a bit more fencing.

The View Only gets Better

There were reports of snow on Skye and for sure it did look beautiful on the clear days, I was still trying to get the internet link sorted and had been up and down like a yo yo. But with views like this to savour it is quite a pleasant task. Needless to say it did not last and heavy showers soon came through but there were still good dry spells.

Heading Back To Big Harbour

It never ceases to amaze me the difference in view or outlook from one part of the Island to another. Coming up the hill I stopped to take a pic’ of these interesting clouds but over the hill it was completely different.

Completely Different.

Back up the hill again to try something else on the broadband mast and the sea eagle was floating about, the views again very clear.

Non Plussed

The deer are getting quite used to me heading up and down but as our Danish visitors were just about in Skye I was keen to get the system up and running. No time for wildlife watching. At last the batteries that power the mast were up to enough power so we switched it on with help from Ian Bolas in Wales and Calum in Portree, great what you can do with the engineers on the end of the phone. So on Tuesday morning the Applenet system was restored and (fingers crossed) it is still running.

Tuesday afternoon, MV Aspire arrived with Dorte, Arne, Knud and Lula. They had spent the  night at Kinloch Lodge and loved it, the sail was very comfortable so everyone was in good form.

Here We Go

It was not long before Arne was at his station in the kitchen and he had conjured up the evening meal, which is generally what happens. So the food/drink fest begins. Absolutely no complaints from L and myself.

Hogmany prep’

We had a few things to do on Hogmany but very quickly we were all in the kitchen doing something, Arne wanted two Venison loins and prepared them for later. We have a saying here that what we have ( is what we cook), because we cannot ‘nip’ to the shops. So dishes can be pretty inventive.

Next in line  was the starters.

Smoked Salmon mixture

Then another starter:

Cauliflower Anchovie with Truffle oil

Then another starter:

White Crab Meat on Mousse/Black Pudding

All of the preparation was done and there was a request to see if I could get Danish TV on the internet and they could watch the Danish Queen giving her annual address. No problem with a bit of jiggling with the cables and a stroke of luck to have the internet link up and running in the cabin. So we saw the Danish Queen’s speech.

Queen Margrethe

Quite interesting to hear that an awful lot of Danes will watch her broadcast and that the Royal Family there are very popular. So not to be outdone we googled and found Queen Elizabeth’s Xmas speech which they found very interesting (and professional).

On the way up to the cabin we picked up a bottle or two for a wee drink!!!!

The Stock

Back down to the house and the Hogmany celebrations started.

The loins were cooked to perfection, the meal was pretty full on, but over a three hour sitting I think we did it justice. It was delicious.

Ready For The Hike

Before we knew it, the clock was at 11pm and it was time to head up the hill. We phoned Stornoway Coastgaurd to wish them a Happy New Year and to tell them not to send the helo’ when we put off our fireworks.

The rest was just a blur and to-day it is still a bit fuzzy!!!!!!!!!!!

Roll on 2015, we think it will be a very interesting year.

All the best.

Bill