I started off the day with a 5 star presentation of porridge by chef Glenn.

We slept well despite the strong wind all night – and it was still very wild.

We got going and went down to Nairn East Beach for a little walk.

The birds were all hiding due to the winds even though this was a bird reserve.

We then went to visit Callum and Cathy. Callum is now 92 and daughter Cathy is visiting from the Blue Mountains near Sydney. It was good to see Callum still going strong – and with good friend Lucky the cat.

We had a good chat finding out Callum and Cathy’s news.

We enjoyed seeing the latest developments in the garden. There are lots of potatoes in pots, and also pumpkins, cucumbers and tomatoes. There is a very ingenious watering system requiring only 1 tap to be opened.

Callum very kindly gave us a bag of Edzell Blue potatoes – very rare nowadays as they are small potatoes so growers don’t like them. They are however very delicious. He also gave us a loaf of healthy homemade raisin bread.

Cathy fed us some lovely home made cauliflower soup to prepare us for the long drive to Skye.

As we were leaving Callum said he didn’t like Glenn’s hat very much – and went off to find a better hat for him. Callum came back modelling a specially heat retaining hat that he gave to Glenn. Here is Glenn modeling it. I hope it’s an improvement on the previous one?

We then got on the road to Skye after picking up some gas.

We went the top road via Strathcarron. The initial road was very good – wide and smooth. There were good views down the glens despite the weather.

Unfortunately the road then became single track and bumpy for many miles. Luckily there were not too many trucks coming in the opposite direction – just a string of vans at one point that couldn’t all fit in the passing place. Note to Glenn – don’t do that road again.

Towards the end we were stopped at a railway crossing and the very posh Royal Scotsman train went past. It costs thousands to travel on it – but the food, accommodation and service are fantastic – as seen on a documentary with Alan Cummings.

At last we got to Kyle of Lochalsh where we did a bit of food shopping in the last decent supermarket before Skye.

We then arrived at Brendan’s place in Breakish and drove into his new Aire – opened 2 days ago. It has potential but needs more vegetation after it was dug out and flattened by an earthmover resulting in exposed earth and stones. Initially couldn’t find Brendan – but he turned up later. Lisa made us very nice beef tacos for dinner and then we headed down to the pool room to catch up with the others.

We played pool while Brendan and Duncan worked on getting the generator working to provide lights and Glenn started a fire. We enjoyed a few games of pool – and the girls won. We then had a chat to the others who were staying on Brendan’s croft – a mix of nationalities – another Australian, Mexican and Dutch.

We went to bed – it took a while until it got warm! Glenn didn’t get back until after 1 – about 3 hours later.