Dreich

Though the word Dreich is an Old Scots not a Gaelic word and therefore more suited to the lowlands and East coast of Scotland, than to here in Na h-Eileanan an Iar, it seems very appropriate for the weather for the last few days here on Lewis.

Wednesday

Wednesday started with the clouds coming down over the hills across the Loch from us and the rain starting to pour heavily. We took the opportunity to wash some clothes and tidy up the house before heading out to Stornoway to do things that don't depend on the weather. 

When we reached Stornoway we found the town to be quite full. The wind combined with the rain made walking a challenge, as you can see from this less than flattering photo of me fighting with my umbrella (a second earlier and the photo would show the umbrella inside out) with my trousers seeming to act like sails!

We walked through the streets of Stornoway and visited the Chemist, the Good Food store, the Tourist Information site and the Post Office and in every shop the shopkeeper would say to a tourist: "Pity about the weather, it was a much nicer day yesterday". While we could concur with this thought, we couldn't work out where these people were if they weren't on the island yesterday. It turned out we soon found out as when we walked to the Port we saw a large cruise ship, the Swan Hellenic ship Minerva. and it became evident that most of the visitors were one day visitors to Stornoway and the island who had come off the boat.

With the rain still beating down, and our attempts to stay dry failing we popped into a lovely looking coffee shop called Kopi Java. While I ordered the Americano and Cappuccino Drew looked for a seat, when I joined him he was in conversation (yes remarkable isn't it - Drew talking to strangers) with a couple who were on the Cruise Ship. It turned out that this couple live in Cilfrew a place I know well. We began a conversation about Idris Hale who ran Penscynor Wild Life park in Clifrew for some years. The couple live in a house that is built on the site of the old park and the gentleman went to school with the Hales. A small world as they say.  

We left Stornoway at 2pm and headed back to the house. I used the time to catch-up with the blog, while Drew used the binoculars (provided at the accommodation) to look at what the various people were doing in the Loch, this included collecting lobster/crab pots and divers in wet suits going into the water. A survey boat was also visible in the Loch as were other smaller boats going in and out. Very busy views.

For dinner tonight I cooked Gai Pad King, though my version doesn't include oyster sauce, but normally uses oyster mushrooms. The absence of oyster mushrooms from Stornoway's food shops meant I used portobello mushrooms instead, these had the advantage of being grown locally, but added a more beefy taste to the meal than is normal, still it was very nice. Drew in preparing to take a photo of the meal also took a photo of what he described as his "little dinner minion!!" 

Thursday

Thursday started in the same way as Wednesday, having tried and failed to take any external photos of Stornoway yesterday because the rain quickly made the lens wet. We thought we would try again today. It was amazing to see how quiet the town was after the business of yesterday. It was again raining to heavily for any good photos, but we did revisit Kopi Java for another lovely coffee. Again today there were more Gaelic speakers in the shop than English speakers, the lilting town of Gaelic sounds more like Dutch or Norwegian to me, but the English accents up here are also more like Norwegian's speaking English than any other Scottish accents.  

After another walk around the town we posted our postcards and headed back to the house. We normally read a lot on holidays, but this holiday has been more about travelling and viewing than reading, but finally this afternoon we spent four solid hours reading and relaxing. Then we got ready to go our for dinner tonight. Dinner was so nice it deserves its own post. So watch out for that in the morning.