The weather forecast had been excellent – very low chance of precipitation, sunshine, little if any wind. Great. We decided last night that a good walk was on the cards today. We got up to sunshine but by the time that we were ready to go out, it was becoming dull… and by the time that we parked up by the track to Doun Helzie, it had started to rain.
The rain settled to a heavy drizzle as we stumbled along what passes for a footpath in this neck of the woods. We kept the dogs under control as we walked along the cliff, mindful of the poor collie that went over there… was it last year or the year before that? I live in horror of Nell chasing a fulmar at eye level, only to find suddenly that she and it are both in mid-air.
As we approached the path down to the beach we relaxed and took our eye of that particular ball… which was a great pity as it transpired that there were folk on the beach, out of our line of sight. Nell immediately blotted her copy book, to our immense shame and embarrassment. There were floats, you see. Obviously these people intended to play with her, or so she (very incorrectly) thought. She gatecrashed the party in a very rude way. Suzie elected not to be left out of the introductions. I wobbled my painful way down the dunes, leads in hand, but clearly there was a need for haste. I tossed them over to Mr L and hoped that he could restore calm.
Bad dogs. Bad, bad dogs. Shamefully bad dogs.
Nell needs a lesson in party invitations, good manners, and also in the fact that not all the toys are hers.
Camera work did not go well and frankly, our walk was already ruined – not the restful stroll that we had envisaged. We were getting thoroughly soaked and all of the fun had gone out of it, so we came home again.
I found this amazing and huge tree trunk, worn smooth by the tides and appearing almost petrified. The camera failed to capture either its mass or its beauty.
All floats having been beachcombed by the party up the beach, Nell had to make do today.
I tried several shots but the P510 struggled with the difficult light today. This is the view across to Stove and beyond, to Loth and the turbines.
It did capture a rainbow and its reflection and also did a rather more reasonable job looking back along the bay
Raindrops on the lens again.
I took this to be a previously unnoticed outfall when I was looking down from the top of the cliff. In fact, I believe this to be our electricity supply. Recent storms have uncovered the sub-sea cable that supplies both Sanday and Eday. Those sacks are fascinating and are in fact rock-hard. I imagine that they are sacks of concrete mix. Sandstone is being deposited on them and they resemble sack-shaped rocks. Several of them were strung out along the beach, partially submerged in the sand and looking like sandstone cushions.
I expect that somebody will be along soon to re-bury the cable safely out of the way.
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