The last nail

Today has been a gentle day of wandering to some old favourite places (Croig), checking out a gently rotting boat (not the usual one at Salen, but one at Croig that I’ve never photographed before, although Mr A says he has), finding new places for future wanders (the other side of Caliach Point which is visible from here, but which is accessible by a long and very quiet road on the other side), having tea with Treshnish in the garden, and then - in my case - wandering down to the shoreline in search of the extraordinary bluebells which she has hinted at in blips (and which are indeed extraordinary). The day dawned bright and pretty sharp, and this is reflected in the light in the blip, but as the day has gone on the wind has got up and some clouds have rolled in. It’s generally been very warm in the sun, but quite chilly in the wind. We’ve had trouble keeping the conservatory where we spend most of our time in this cottage at the right temperature, balancing sun on the windows against open windows.

Our evening has been enlivened by the arrival of some Herdwick ewes and lambs in the field next to the cottage garden. Quite a lot of chatting appears to be going on within and between the different family groups.

The Herdwicks are quite apposite as I have spent a good part of the afternoon and evening finishing English Pastoral, which talks about a future for sustainable farming. It’s an appropriate read in a place like this where sustainability is definitely a central issue on the agenda. It was a great - and challenging - read, and ultimately a bit more optimistic than it ought to be. But that was before the mooted Australia trade deal….(about which James Rebanks has views, along with views about quite a few other things).

As I can’t think that I’ll be anywhere better than this to use my extras for the rest of this year (go on life, surprise me!), I’ve added an extra of the bluebells. It doesn’t really do justice to the abundance. There are fields, and fields of them. I’ve never seen anything like it.