Looking through the files as we try to tidy up the mountain of paperwork on poor days of almost continuous bad weather I came across this map.

Rona Map of 1898 to 1904

We bought the map with the right to use it on the bottling of the Rona Whisky. I thought it might be of interest? It says on the paperwork, 1898 to 1904, makes you wonder how long it took the surveyors to put it together? I guess 6 years for this area, it included Applecross.

Despite spending a lot of time inside and finding bits of paperwork (maps included) long forgotten, we did get out and about every morning to feed sheep, check the traps (mink) and let the hens out. What was of interest this week that despite Storm Henry’s best attempts to keep us indoors was the lack of any real storm damage. The usual bits and pieces got thrown about and I should not comment just yet as I may find more but the first thing was the garden gate, the catch must have not been right home. Nothing to worry about there. Checking out with the Qinetic Base up North their wind speed recorder was over the 100knots quite a few times Monday/Tuesday, surprisingly little in the way of major damage.

Storm Damage

Over to Dry Harbour, the picnic table, wheelbarrow and buckets had been thrown about. That was not my main worry lightening strikes are the thing that can be most expensive having suffered quite a few in the past, but no. We were lucky that the lightening did not fry our electrics this time.

Stuff Thrown About

That was Tuesday and the wind was still blowing, wet too. There was a gap on Wednesday, we had a ferry booked, L was coming home so I had lots to get ready, especially when Kevin was taking some fuel to top up our reserves.

Waiting for Fuel

Down to the pontoon and more storm damage, the gangway had come off the plate so back to the garage for the jack. We had a thought to try and stop it coming off so Kevin put on his list eye bolts, shackles  and chain to make a stop on the plate, I borrowed his electric and drilled holes in the plate for the next attempt to stop the gangway self destructing. It was a sunny spell which was very welcome, we counted over 100 seals on the rocks in the harbour.

I Must Fix This.

Up to unload the fuel that is when I found the gutter hanging off, this is normal after a storm and I just wonder what else.

More Storm Damage

The jeep has a very loud knocking noise on my many trips to Dry Harbour, I started up the digger with an idea to lift the jeep up with it, that is when I found the exhaust full of rain water. Despite turning it away from the wind. It now has a protective can on it. The black oily gunge that showers the digger is not very pretty, difficult to get off too if you leave it.

Whilst checking around for damage to the cottages at Dry Harbour on the Thursday when I was unloading diesel into the generator shed tank, we were surprised to go into stone cold ‘Seascape’ cottage. The heating was not working, my first thought was lightening, again. I checked the boiler, it was working but after a few minutes it stopped, very hot. I headed into the loft and there was no life in the pump.

Leaking Joints/Seized Pump.

It is a bit of a mess up there and when I saw the ‘Actuator’ switch had a leak on it my heart sank a bit. It meant draining the system. The pump is easy enough with valves either side but the actuators do not. I drained a bit of water off and it was a quicker job than I thought. I got it all together despite getting very sore knees and fired it up. Unfortunately only one radiator came on. It was late so I abandoned that job and headed back to the Lodge. I had an idea when I put the hens to bed to check out the rest of the fixtures and fittings, sure enough I found the radar reflector had had its annual rip off the boat, another job to attend to.

Yet More of Henry’s Attempt to blow us of the Face of the Earth

Back to Seascape cottage this morning after a call to my old friend and retired plumber John Chilton. John used to visit years ago to go stalking and when he told me he was a plumber to trade, my ears pricked up and more often than not when he was up North he was pressed into plumbing jobs. I had told him my problem, only one radiator and he reminded me of tips for just such a situation, which I had already tried. However, this time he told me to try something else and after a couple of hours of various trials the system was up and running, the airlock cleared. The house was like toast within a few minutes.

The ground conditions at the rear of the property are pretty awful, the ground is so wet, not flooding but there is nowhere quickly for the water to go with such an amount of rain this last few weeks. This summer when it dries out I must get a drain at the back of these cottages.

Rain, Rain and Yet More Rain.

Just looking at the weather forecast on the TV and it is Sunday night, Storm Imogen is on its way, I see it is South of us and L says the barometer has never been so low, we will see hopefully it will pass without too many problems.