Memorial

Day 10; Still 518 miles from Oxfordshire - the first time on this trip (excluding the unplanned hiatus in Stornoway) that we have got up and gone to bed on the same patch of ground. Wind still blowing, rain still falling; a. 04.30 start tomorrow. Blip discipline required

A day that - unplanned - included a lot of memorials. To the island dead in WWII - surprisingly modern, surprisingly effective. "Most died in ships" 

To the lost crew of a Catalina flying boat that hit the ground here in 1944 (almost 80 years to the day, come to think of it). The shattered pieces have been left on the cliff side as part of the memorial, which I found moving and respectful

To the migrants from Liverpool to Quebec in 1853, who died when their boat foundered in a storm. About 350 out of 400 died and were buried in mass graves. The memorial is strikingly frank about the approximation in the count of the dead - presumably many bodies were not recovered. All those lost dreams

The weather was less photogenic, but still I took many pictures of aquamarine sea and curving cream beaches. This is a little different, while still including sea and machair shore. I wonder if anyone remembers when it last turned a furrow. I wonder if there are those for whom it brings back memories - if only of childhood games on the corroding metal

We watched a golden eagle for 15 minutes or so. This picture will remind me

I made a recording of a corn crake calling - only yards away, but invisible. So rare that it risks disappearing forever: confined to memory - now including mine