Some snow on Beinn Ghuilean

3.6C dull, cloudy, wet and windy. Showers on and off most of the day. Raw.
Wind WSW/SW to 30 mph with gusts to 43 mph.

When I was out with Fergus after 7pm last night I watched the lifeboat set off across the loch in the dark. They were heading North to Tarbert, where the fishing boat Nancy Glen TT100 had capsized out in Loch Fyne. One man has been found and is in hospital and two men are missing. The search stood down at midnight and resumed this morning. Four lifeboats and local vessels are involved in the sea search, while coastguard specialist rescue teams are scouring the coastlines of Cowal and Kintyre.

Very icy this morning when Fergus and I were out just after 7am.

Fergus and I went for a walk out to the old shipyard after lunch. The ice on the ground had melted and was lying as standing water in a lot of places. It was very cold in the wind and the rain was never far away. There was a little more snow on Beinn Ghuilean. Some fishing boats came in across the loch as we walked. Fergus had his coat on. I changed the fleece jacket under my waterproof for a down jacket today and I chose thicker gloves (worn over my fingerless gloves) all of which helped.

When we got back Fergus was towelled dry (legs and tum) and is on the larger of our two sofas on a fleece blanket and under the crocheted blanket. Sleeping. Luxury!

On the Clip while walking:
BBC Radio Scotland - Winter Weekend with Edi Stark on the theme of Nature. Discussed were the books Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell and Nan Shepherd's classic of landscape literature The Living Mountain. There was also some music from Karine Polwart.

Afternoon music ... Karine Polwart, A Pocket of Wind Resistance, then Threshold.

DMC-LX7 f/2.8 1/250 sec. ISO-80 5mm (35mm focal length 24mm)