Friday, June 12, 2009

Last Day

[Written 5 June.]

If I didn't have my furry monsters to go home to I'd want to stay here much longer. The weather has been absolutely terrific this week. Again today we woke to sunny skies. It's getting colder, but I don't mind about that. It's the grey skies that bother me.

Today turned out to be more of a pajama day (that is, one where you don't do much, and more or less spend the day in your pajamas). We woke up late and I had one of those headaches where my eye felt like it wanted to force itself out of its socket. After some pills and a nap we took a walk to Brigend so I could post a letter. When we got back we started, ugh, packing. I'm going to hate leaving my charming cottage! (Here's a view of the rhododendron and trees just outside and to the left of the cottage entrance.)



After another nap and some dinner (during which we had a caller whom Robin dealt with -- apparently the young man was inquiring after a Miss something-or-other who is apparently one of the Queen's ladies in waiting. The gentleman said that she always stays here when she's on holiday) we took another glorious sunset walk. I wanted to go back towards the hill that we climbed the other night. The map shows that nearby are remnants of an old village: forts, "burnt mounds," and hut circles. I thought it would be fun to try to find these things. We walked through a lot of farm land, were told where to go by countless cows and opened and shut several
gates. (Below is a picture from our route that passed near Knockdon Farm.)



It was not clear which path led to the ruins and one went through a meadow where some intimidating cows were. We could skip it, I thought. By this time we could see the Loch Indaal (really a bay) and Bowmore. I decided I wanted to walk along the coast. So we left the search for ruins behind and walked to the road. We soon found ourselves on the same road where we saw the swans the other day. Tonight there were other water fowl there, as well as many sheep on the beach. As the sun sank lower the hills to the east were coloured pink and the puffy clouds made for a very pleasing view on this our last night on Islay.

Tomorrow we leave the island at around 2pm and head back to Glasgow from there; to fly home Sunday morning. As much as I hate to leave, I am so pleased to have had such a wonderful trip. I will savour these memories for a long time to come.

1 comment:

  1. A pleasant peaceful sigh I sigh from your Scottish travel writings. From your blog title "a peripatetic clowderer", I wonder how hard it must be to dumb down your language to communicate with us heathens. Double L, aka La La, aka Laura

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