Torridon Sunrise

I just love this time of year, the summer is over (if there ever was one!!) and it has gone quiet although we had a very nice Australian couple in over the weekend, Yacht Red Roo!!! but it is now dead quiet on the yacht front. This is the time of year where early mornings are not so early so it is good to lie in bed and see the reddening of the clouds, jump out of bed, even at my age then shoot up the hill (dressed of course) and see the sunrise.

Much Better Than Sunsets

Of course there is a hidden agenda, with deer stalking just around the corner this is the time to see what the stags are up to and I am not disappointed this year.

Family group at Doire na Guaile

It was a very fine morning to-day and bitterly cold, not frosty but a cold East wind.

Cool Wind

Back to past couple of weeks, well it has been as usual mad busy but with little disturbance the jobs are getting ticked off.

What Am I Doing Here

Seems an age ago but this was a week last Saturday, our guests were heading off and this hind appeared to say cheerio.

Heading Home Happy

The guests got off no problem on the Aspire but it was a bit breezy, the forecast was for increasing winds and that was what we got a real gale of wind.

Storm Clouds Coming

In the middle of it this old yacht came bouncing into the harbour, into the pool below the house, threw out the anchor and went below for two days. It was up to 50 knots so their anchor must have been well in.

Riding Out The Storm

The weather being so bad meant that I got caught up with the new shower, I had a bit of fun putting together the shower head, I tried this temporary one out but now it is fitted properly working fine.

Good Weather For Inside Work

Corrugated iron is much cheaper than wet wall!!

Even the birds were grounded

I was checking out the boat and the rest of Big Harbour to see if there was any damage and our (wild) pets were hanging about, this seagull and its young one are hanging about the house, the goose in the water beside the boat too. The seagulls have discovered the hens get fed scraps every morning and they are not going to far, incredibly tame too.

No TV

As usual but a wee bit earlier than normal, the sat’ dish was torn off the wall. An annual event despite all my efforts to fix it solid. Must think of something else.

Monsoon

During the stormy days we had some really incredible downpours, the drains coped but it was pretty much three days of rain. Not good in September and the mould has started too early in Rona Lodge this year. We moved a settee and a picture off the wall, both were green with mould, oh, oh! Work to be done, now any sunny windy day and every door and window is open. This is not good at this time. The sooner we build the new house the better.

Mouldy Old Settee Cover

Despite the rain and wind Mark who was up for a weeks holiday and helps us out with the stalking was keen to get out, so after a damp calm morning we reached the hidden loch and started to see quite a few deer from there, about half an hour after this photo the sun came out and it was a lovely day, breezy too which kept the dreaded midge away.

Stalking Days

It turned out a wonderful day and we went back  out at night, giving us a lovely view of the Trotternish Ridge.

Later on that Day

After a busy season of yachts on the mooring it was on my mind to check it out, this last while there has been quite a strain on the tackle. But I was still surprised to see the wear and even more worrying the safety chain was broken with a missing link. How that happened on a chain that lies slack is a bit of a mystery. Now fixed it looks like we will be fitting a new mooring chain this spring.

Near Disaster

What happens at this time of year is that the list of work has grown ten fold, the jobs are mounting up and I do not know where to start. So there is a lot of running about, ticking things off, missing things out and just keeping one eye on the weather.

Running Around

The odd, very odd yacht is about so it was good to get the mooring sorted. The weather leading up to the Equinox can be pretty rough and the mooring is (usually) the safest place in the gales.

Late Sailor

This yacht which was originally a fishing boat but never fished, has been here a few days this year and are dodging about grabbing the last few good days, the yacht which was on the mooring before was almost identical, a Fisher, Yacht Lunga.

Emergency Ferry

Thursday came and Mark’s wife took ill, so nothing for it but a ferry was called and off to A&E, we cannot mess about with illness here and it was a pity that they had to cut their holiday short.

The JSMTC Group Arrive

That evening the 5 kayakers from the Outdoor Centre in Ballachulish (JSMTC Services) arrived, they were going to stay for three nights and we were happy for them to try out the Cabin 32 facilities but the forecast yet again defeated them and they had to leave very early next day.

Survival

But not after a bit of training, one of the guys was busy filleting fish they had caught and making a pretty good job of it.  A bit of survival training.

The List Gets Smaller

The weather did not turn out too bad but there was quite a chop on the water, it was sunny though. It was a good chance to finish the roof and cement up the skew. It went better than I expected and for once I did not fall off the roof. One more tick on the list.

The roof below needs a bit more work though.

Autumn Is Here

Over to Dry Harbour with Lorraine to clean cottages, our new guests are having a ball, lots of wildlife. So good to hear people getting excited about seeing a Curlew, normally everyone wants to see the big stuff but for me it is equally exciting to see the small stuff to. They have had lots of deer about the house, seen the Sea Eagle many times and seals in the bay and it was only Monday.

More on the deer on the Rona Red Deer Page soon.