Sun, Sun and Fog!!! Yep the good weather has caught up with us for the time being but patchy fog appears out of nowhere for short periods. James appeared yesterday and gave Jo a big bag of crab claws for our tea. Jo cooked them up and we have had them in a tomato and courgette sauce with pasta-delicious and so fresh.
We had 5 trips yesterday between us and another 4 today so things are getting busier which is good for everyone. Lots of interesting people including a bus full of Italian tourists with their guide Enrico!! I didn't understand a word for 3 hours and Enrico did the commentary as well so all I had to do was drive. He even thought I was Scottish cos I wouldn't let him travel for nothing (his words not mine!) I corrected him and he said I was turning Scottish. Today I had a German passenger who said she was pleased that I was English as she can't understand the Scottish accent. I told Stuart this and his face was a picture of disbelief but he saw the funny side,aye ye canna believe it.
Jo's blog:
The warm sunny weather has arrived! Last night tea was brought to me on the back of a large orange tractor straight from the pier. I was presented with a bucket of fresh crab claws and a hammer. They were ferociously big claws from some deep sea monster, not the small friendly rockpool variety. I did my best not to dwell too much on where the rest of the body was and set about following the cooking instructions from James. The secret is not to overcook and dry the meat out so steaming for the last few minutes of cooking time is best. It is also necessary to let them cool completely before setting to with the hammer. A few well placed whacks enabled the collection of a suprising amount of meat- a very tasty edition to a tomato pasta sauce with some for sandwiches later.
My trip out today was again over to Tongue, along the same road as there are only three roads up here A838, A836 or B871. The A roads run west and east respectively, and the B road runs north to south. The A roads follow the northern coast and are mostly single track with passing places every 100 yards. Not forgetting the road Paul drives on, the U70 over on the cape.
This time we stopped at a causeway over the Kyle of Tongue and Elspeth was collected by a colleague for the last few miles to see her patient. Often visits out require two different skill sets , for example a district nurse and a physio, so sharing lifts from certain points along the route naturally makes sense. I tried very hard to settle to my book as I waited in the sunshine but the magnificent view across the Kyle kept distracting me. The Oystercatchers were bickering down on the stoney shore line and a couple of loud splashes indicated that fish were busy just beneath the surface of the water. The crags of Ben Loyal sat high above the water and the outline of the arret formed the outline of a coronet. Elspeth told me the mountain is nicknamed the' Queen of the North'. In the car park the grassy bank beside the causeway was well cared for with a couple of picnic benches and a tub of bright orange marigolds beside the tourist information board. Before the causway was constructed in 1971 the roadway had to follow the deep inlet of the coastline almost 6 miles round to Tongue. The water was crystal clear and looking down from the bridge I could see a forest of seaweed interspersed with pale white patches of sand dappled with sunlight that rippled with the flow of the tide. Looking the otherway in the distance to the open sea there stretched a sandy beach. A large high cliffed island of rock with a lushious looking grassy top seemed to stand guard over the entrance to the kyle. According to my map this was Rabbit Island and I guessed there were some fat little bunnies over there. My wait of an hour passed by in a flash and I decided next time to bring a sketch pad and have a go at some productive paperwork whilst gawping at the scenery.
We drove back in the sunshine with the sea and the mountains doing their thing. An afternoon of washing and cleaning awaited before heading to the beach. I really need to keep the suntan topped up while I can, might even venture for a paddle.
The view from Jo's office!
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