You will be happy to know that the Farmer and his family had a lovely time being feted by Visit Scotland last week at the Reception they held for Scottish Thistle Awards 2010 Finalists. It was good fun - generous amounts of champagne and delicious canapes, meeting other Finalists, seeing Castle Urquhart all lit up as darkness fell....and Daughter enjoyed being mentioned by her own name during one of the speeches and getting to wear an official name badge.
That morning we had left the house at 7.15am in order to catch the 8.10am Lochaline Fishnish ferry. We were stopped, by someone we knew, just before the village and warned that there were trees down blocking the Glen Road. The diversion over the hill to Torloisk and round to Salen that way, was a beautiful drive, but we arrived at Fishnish 5 minutes after the ferry should have left. As it turned out that ferry had not run at all, and we had to wait for a couple of hours for the wind to die down, before the first successful ferry that day arrived. That is what can happen sometimes when travelling in the autumn.
The next day we took a walk around Inverness before heading home. Looked at Matt Baker's Three Virtues, some graffiti in a back street and enjoyed again the River Ness and the Canal as we drove back home.
The birds have started to enjoy the plump hips on the Rosa Rugosa in Shieling and Studio garden hedges while we have enjoyed the sunshine and clear light.
