Man and machine

Debbie's back to Glasgow today, so her and John head off reasonably early. The journey will be something like: half hour walk over the hill to the Scoraig jetty, launch boat and cross Little Loch Broom (half hour), drive to Inverness (1 hour +), train to Glasgow for Debbie (3 hours) - or back to Scoraig for John.

I make use of John's laptop and satellite connection to do a bit of housekeeping before setting off myself. It's not so nice today, but the drizzle holds off.

As I descend the south side of the hill I meet Chris Hurn on his grey Fergie. It's a slow, bumpy ride on the track, with a link box full of fuel and provisions. He's 'retired' and is enjoying the financial freedom provided by a state pension.

Lisa is passing with the post on the main track. She's in a Land Rover. The increase in vehicle traffic is something that a number of people mention - there's no way to drive on/off the peninsula, and many of the residents are uncomfortable with the new reliance on them.

I drop my bag at Aggie's and wander off to catch up with Ross, Nigel, Esther, Jytte, Morag. There are quite a few empty, half finished buildings and at times it feels like a ghost town or a movie set.

Aggie lays on an interesting combination of rogan josh and cauliflower cheese. It goes well with my box of Chilean Merlot. We laugh and talk of nothing, although we stop short of smashing our empty glasses down.

When I stagger to my bed I'm astounded to find that it contains a fresh hot water bottle.