Monday...

A gray start to the morning today. Yesterday was mixed sun and showers, and increasingly windy. Much of the day we were driving north, and of course the rain was light until we reached our destination. Then suddenly we had a horizontal downpour. We sat in the car for 15 or 20 minutes until the band of rain passed, then went up the hill. The pictures were worth it.



Gray again this morning. Sideways rain at Doon Rock and Doon well, wind on the rock to take your breath away. It cleared, though, when we got down to Gartan - visiting some of the sites associated with Colum Cille. Still tremendous wind, but at least dry. A long drive then, through a national park, huge high slopes dun-colored under a hurrying sky, threaded with icy streams, mountains shaped by the glaciers of the last ice age, silent but for the songs of wind and water. We climbed a steep valley head which reminded me strongly of south Wales, to find the same tussocky sheep grass on top. Then slowly down to the sea, and Glen Columchille, where we're staying tonight.