Mist

This week most of the days started misty. Sometimes you could hardly see next door. The mist and drizzle could last all day, or lift slowly in the afternoon opening the curtain for some great views.

Last night when walking home from a ceilidh at friends the sky was clear and disclosed in its dazzling spaciousness a magnificent firmament of luminous stars.

On the moor

A walk in the moor can be full of surprises.
On a beautiful day climbing up a small hillock often opens a magnificent view on numerous blue lochans.
Today I came across a small loch away from the nearest village which has been used as skip for various machineries and later I found vehicles dumped at the end of a track. It’s amazing how nature takes over after a while, wheels and other implements sink slowly into the soft boggy ground, as plants soon grow among the cracked parts and once smooth surfaces, now rusting, change to rough, flaky colourful textures.

Cliff Beach

A week of change, friends going away and others arriving. The weather was very unsettled wet and windy most oft he time. Friday on Cliff Beach was a good day for bodyboarding.

While combing the beach I found some magnificent blue-colored jellyfish.

Seaweed

On my various walks this week I found seaweed of fine colors ranging from dark, nearly black, rusty-brown to green, yellow and bright orange-yellow, and a diversity of shapes, big bubbles, long stripes with smaller bubbles, multi-fingered, broad, fine and more, gently floating in the sea…
As it was low tide, I could also reach rocks which were covered with strings of big mussels a fine appetizer for our Sunday dinner.

Ungeshader

My trip took me to Ungeshader were the remains of derelict houses, only 3 used as holiday cottages for a period of the year, illustrate the decline in population in Uig very well. I spent the day by the old anchorage roaming among seaweed covered rocks, looking out towards the range of the mountains at the end of Loch Roag. The sun moved in and out of big clouds which were continuously changing their shape and color. The majestic scenery was dominated by the rusty colors of the seaweed, a windswept Rowan tree on the edge of an old walled enclosure, the greenness of the pastures and the dazzling light on the sea. When the wind seemed to have dropped the rocks and hills on the other side were reflected in a fine dramatic setting.

Baile na Cille

I walked across the Glen to Uig sands to visit Baile na Cille. This old burial ground has always been regarded as a sanctuary. There is a legend that it was once bare rock and that a man called Elidhean brought the soil from a nearby hill called Cnoc Elidhean. It was carried in panniers on the back of two white horses, and a wall was built to retain the soil. Under the mound is said to be a pagan temple or a dun. There certainly are the discernible ruins of a very old chapel built after the mound was created. In this burial ground are remains of the many Uig people who were interred here over the centuries.
There are ruins of two other churches nearby, too small during the Great Revival in the 1820s for the big crowds gathering here. So in 1829 a newly built church, with seating for 1000, came in use. This building is now too big for the declining congregation and at the moment considered to be sold to the community. The Manse itself has been transformed many years ago into a hotel.
At the gate to the burial ground, no longer in use, a placard lists 34 tombstones, some standing still upright, some bending with time, others tumbled over and hardly recognizable in the long grass.
The earliest stones date back to the 1820s and the latest to the beginning of the 20 century. Old and young are gathered here alike but remarkable are two tombstones covering extreme life spans.
In 1859 a stone was erected to the memory of a 7 day old girl and in 1903 a stone was dedicated to a Centenary.
While I walked between the stones the weather changed and opaque clouds were drawing in from the SW, to be replaced soon by a veil of mist. This enhanced the solemnity of the site.
Later on I followed the shoreline to Crowlista where I found bright yellow seaweed and an abundance of cockles – a delicious dinner that night.

Mangersta Beach

It was very much worthwhile to take the more than 10 km walk to Mangersta, a beach known for its majestic rocks exposed to the Atlantic Ocean. The breaking of the waves is certainly very fascinating to watch on a wild day, but today although the sea was rather smooth the light was just right. The mighty, dark clouds had a most dramatic effect on the scenery, followed shortly by a fine drizzle as changing curtain for brilliant sunshine, emphasizing the dazzling spaciousness of the bright blue sky and calm sea. The glittering rocks covered by spray added a freshness only surpassed by their beautiful reflections in pools left by the receding sea. On the vast sandy beach a seal pup was sunbathing until it was disturbed by big two-legged friends…

Big Clouds

A week of mixed weather: showery at times, pure sunshine or miserably wet all day long with howling winds.
On a good day big clouds, fast moving and changing shape all the time, seem to prepare a dramatic setting for the beautiful scenery.