The best of days

As I stepped back to take a photograph of the top of Dun Caan on Raasay with its cylindrical trig point, Gus settled himself amongst the rocks to keep an eye on what I was doing.

It was the best weather day of the two weeks on the island, and serendipitously coincided with the day when I felt most energetic.  At 444 metres, Dun Caan is less than half the height of the smallest Munro, but getting to the top today felt like no less of an achievement.  Wifie and S had decided to have a crafting day on Skye, while A, Gus and I wanted to make the most of what the forecast said would be a good day.  One step at a time and with lots of stops to watch birds and take photos we eventually reached the top.  Poor Gus was tired and still struggling with a tummy upset, but he loyally kept going, taking every opportunity to have a lie down (see Extras).

It was a day when the island's wildlife magic worked well for us.  On the ascent the plaintive puu calls of golden plovers attracted excellent views of the males on prominent knolls and tussocks in the moorland.  The morning was calm and utterly windless, looking down on the smooth waters of Raasay Sound far below, we could see small pods of common dolphins leaving wakes as they swam south gently rising and breaking the water.

When we reached the saddle before the descent to Loch na Mellich, a pair of red-throated divers flew over our heads calling before descending on to the loch (the first of the extras shows this water body where dragons are reportedly found).  On the top of the hill we ate lunch as we listened to the drumming of snipes, while watching a young red deer stag far below leading a line of five hinds across the boggy ground.  A golden eagle was flying high as we looked north towards the island of Rona (the view in the second extra, minus the eagle).  We looked down on the line of cliffs that runs north-south on the eastern side of Raasay, and where the Mountain Avens would have been flowering - a detour to look for the plant was so tempting, but wisely I think, we judged that Gus wasn't up to it, and chances were that I wasn't either.  Though, I did manage a quick poke around the base of Dun Caan's summit cliff to find roseroot and holly fern.

Even the sun came out for us on our walk down.  A wonderful day.

Back blipped on Thursday 29th June.  Note I shall try and blip a few more photos from the Raasay fortnight, we had effectively no access to the internet while we there (except to catch up with the news over a coffee in Raasay House a couple of times).  I shall also give an update at some point soon on how things are with me four weeks on from the last blip - treatment has been delayed again while more invasive measures are taken to address my anaemia.