Frankly wild ...

Dunoon's West Bay promenade today, at high tide (around 1.30pm) was frankly a mess. (Note cunning puns on Storm Frank - daft idea to name them - no?). Huge stones littered the road we were walking on, cast up by the waves at the previous high tide at the storm's hight last night - if anyone had been passing at that time it would have been decidedly dangerous. A yellow channel marker buoy had been blown from its moorings, wherever that was, and deposited it on the beach, and great branches and whole trunks of distant trees littered beach and footpath alike. Where the wave is breaking on the prom in this photo was where we had intended to walk but thought better of it - we made a detour. My extra photo for today is of a wave breaking next to the shelter I was standing in - I find it hard to press the shutter at just the right moment, but did it here.

As for the rain - we're lucky. Most of the hillsides drain quite efficiently, including the one our house stands on. The water tends to run under our house and emerge at one of a few front gates around us. We could have problems if a drain was blocked, but this has only happened once in the 40 years we've lived here - one Hogmanay we came home with our young children from seeing in the New Year with friends, and Mr PB and Master PB had to clear the drains to allow the flood at our back door to disperse, while Young Master PB and I sat at the window eating cornflakes. 

It was 2 o'clock in the morning. I remember it well ...