Globe trotting and weather spotting

Landscapes aren't really my thing, so two in a row is an oddity, but today, with the weather alternately fine then heavy rain, accompanied by a constant high wind, we rested wearied limbs and spent a day visiting a couple of galleries and shops along the Golden Road (the road on the eastern side of Harris that links disparate little settlements, so named because of the cost involved in building it). The weather, and a day in and out of the car, meant little chance of big wildlife spots, but a good day nonetheless, despite starting badly with me especially unable to shake worries of work from my head.

There was an inevitable tweed sortie (after a run into the Harris hills to a spot we've seen Golden Eagles before, but none today alas), before hitting the Mission House gallery. We end up here on every visit, the home of Nikolai and Beka Globe, and we generally come away with either a photo print or book by Beka, or piece of pottery by Nikolai. Today we wound up chatting to them both (as well as new pup Kato, and briefly one of the cats Wabi) for at least an hour, about life on the island, what took them there (Beka (whose dad is sculptor Steve Dilworth) grew up here, worked in London, and met Nikolai (half-Danish with a reasonably well known potter mother), then the chance to buy the Mission House landed at just the right time it seems), and business ideas that might do well in the Isles if people are willing to take the great big leap of a chance.

We covered surfing and cycling and seafood, mused about trees for gardens in the Isles, and chatted about what had changed in the Mission House since we first popped in a couple of years ago. And turns out sometime next year they're doing a joint exhibition in Edinburgh, so we left my email address to ensure we get an invite along. And I'll be telling anyone I know about it, simply because we like the work of both of them, and they're lovely lovely people to boot.

We completed the loop, went down a few dead end roads, dodged between showers, and passed a bit more time in the cottage as I wrote and Mel read. Oh, and we checked on the weather for the next couple of days. We only have Thursday and Friday left before we're back on a ferry to the mainland (well, Skye, but the mainland thereafter) and there are two cycling things that had been planned from the outset. One sees us leaving the car at Leverburgh to take the ferry over to North Uist and cycle to the RSPB reserve at Balranald, around 40 miles of flat, but open to the wind, territory; the other sees me getting up early to ride the Golden Road loop, about 45ish miles, certainly not flat, and still open to the wind. Mel's happier to deal with rain than the wind on a ride, so we're balancing up, and looks like tomorrow is the ferry Uist day, on account of winds about 10mph slower than Friday. Fingers crossed. Friday, in the other hand, should be wind-interesting.