Scotland's Antarctica

Today was forecast as the best this week so we decided to take a picnic and drive up to Cuil Bay, some 25 miles north-east of Oban, on Loch Linnhe. The sun was out as we set off, though it got cloudier as we went on, light rain spattering the windscreen briefly - that wasn't in the forecast I saw!

It's a popular picnic spot and as parking's along the roadside there isn't much space, but we found room and took a couple of picnic chairs on to the beach among the gorse bushes, jackets and woolly hats on just like the old codgers that we are! It wasn't too bad actually as the wind dropped and the sun was steady - at one point it was actually quite warm!

We had our picnic followed by a walk along the beach, coinciding with a very light hail/sleet storm. Anchored out in the bay was a beautiful sailing vessel, which as we watched upped anchor and motored off into the loch, heading south-eastwards. Maybe she was heading for Oban. With the snowy mountains behind her she could almost have been Shackleton's 'Endurance' approaching the mountains of Antarctica! (I tried what Tony suggested and have put it on as an extra)

When we got home I checked her out on 'Vessel Finder' to discover that she's a three-masted gaff rigged schooner, name of 'Blue Clipper', built in Sweden in 1991. She was shown as being still on Loch Linnhe. I'd love to see her in full sail!

A sunny evening as I write this - just had a pre-dinner cuppa out on the deck.