South
On Monday, we had a change in our usual weekly routine. Joe had a hospital appointment in Broadford, at the south of the island, so he was off school for the day.
Schools here tend to be a bit more relaxed in many aspects (a good thing) so there was no expectation for us to rush back for the afternoon. There’s also an understanding of how things are during the tourist season; travel takes far longer due to the motor homes and camper vans, tour buses, coaches etc. It’s a 45 minute drive down to Broadford usually, but we set off early to allow for the inevitable tootling along.
Appointment over, we bought some chocolate and - as promised earlier in the week - crossed the Skye bridge to Kyle to go swimming in the little pool they have there. It was fairly quiet and we had fun with the floats. I managed around 40 minutes before the goosebumps appeared, then we went to the playpark next door and ate our picnic lunch.
We were really lucky with the weather. I suggested a trip to Balmacara - it’s owned by the National Trust for Scotland and I knew there was a small art exhibition on there. So off we went in the sunshine.
Joe loved the pond in the Square, and we enjoyed the exhibition (he did a drawing and the man in the gallery kindly added it to the display). Then we went for a walk.
I love walking through the woods, especially when there are deciduous trees. The path we took followed a river, with open land and mountains to our right. The wildflowers are coming into their own too and there were bees, birds and butterflies everywhere.
Joe had a great time exploring. I loved soaking up the sunshine.
We discovered a rope swing down a very steep bank. It was a big hit and fortunately Jay works in a place where he can procure rope and floats, so that’s the project for this weekend: setting up a swing in the big sycamore in the front garden.
When we returned to the square, we sat outside and had cake and Fanta (him) and a cappuccino (me). Decaf, btw - caffeine sends me hyper! The long drive home was lovely, looking across to the sea at Breakish and watching the ferry sailing across to Raasay.
Joe fell asleep for a while. It was an eventful day.
