When all five lums in and around
the hostel here are gently reeking with woodsmoke we feel the wind of seasonal
change from Autumn to Winter is just about on us. We lost our Soay ram this week as he simply
could not make the transition from grass feeding to a diet of hay, sheep mix
and the last of the vegetation. Today,
after the big winds we are inching our way around in the white stuff and
keeping an eye on road conditions for tonight's party, oldie hill walkers
returning for at least their fifth visit.
That inauspicious start to the festive season apart we are happy to look back on a bumper summer and autumn which have brought to us so many different discerning visitors. A number of North Americans we learn like to spend time both in Ireland and then Scotland or the other way round. This Celtic pilgrimage is echoed also by Bretons and Basques whose shores share in our rich seaboard heritage. Add then to this our Welsh and Cornish cousins for whom, as with the Scots of old, it was the seaways more than land routes which saw them trading and of course fighting to protect or conquer and we can begin to understand the bonds which bring those North American descendants to explore our treasured Scotland.
