Sandals, shells, and steps

Here is evidence of yesterday's swim in the form of my sandals sitting on the shell-decorated steps that lead up to the main door of the hayloft.

Due to the strange warm weather yesterday, neither of us slept terribly well in our over-heated bedroom last night. Fortunately we had nothing planned for this morning, so we took our time over breakfast and a game of Scrabble before meeting walkingMarj at the café for lunch, and then a trip to the stone circles at Callanish.

The afternoon activity was a guided walk of Callanish II and III. This was meant to offer 'insights into history, construction, and landscape significance'. The imprecise instructions on the meeting spot, and odd welcome from the walk leader when we eventually found the group, were early indications that the guided walk might not live up to its billing. This turned out to be the case. Although evidently qualified in the archeology of the region, the leader had not done enough prep to convey to his keen audience much of specific interest about these two sites. Our 90 minutes with the group were salvaged by the additional contributions of Dr Alison Sheridan FRSE, who had come along to lend support to the leader. (She also happens to be a new neighbour of Ridgeback13.) Of most interest to me was Alison's explanation of the means of distinguishing the 'front' and 'back' of standing stones, i.e. which side was on the surface, and which lay below, when quarried.

After the walk, walkingMarj came back with us to the hayloft for coffee, then left us to our packing followed by dîner à deux at the wonderful Uig Sands restaurant. As well as the wonderful view of the sands, we watched sea eagles swooping while we worked our way through our marvellous meal: sourdough and garlic butter; crab amuse bouche; monkfish scampi for me and venison for Mr hazelh; and (elaborate) iced chocolate mousse.

On our way back to the house, we passed Richard and Jo heading out by car on the hunt for a 4G signal...

Exercise today: small amount of walking; short dip in the river.