what we did next

went to islay.

amazing weather. lots of wind but sun enough that in mid week i got burnt badly enough to put me off exposing any skin for the rest of the week. i did get out on the bike and my lungs were functional rather than functioning but, after so long off, i wasn't too dismayed. i'd taken the boat but the wind, along with a bit of worry about how i'd be physically, kept me out of it.

as for islay this year we had time to give it a proper preliminary exploration. outside of golf and whisky it hasn't got that much going for it in the way of tourism which is just about the way we like it. what archaeology there is needs to be looked for as well as looked at but is there in abundance with a bit of patience. interestingly there was a copy of the 1408 islay charter in the finlaggan centre that had a gaelic orthography i'd never seen - all those dh, bh etc sounds were replaced by a single letter with a diacritic - made the reading much easier but of course that would be just too easy for gaelic! what it is tho, i haven't been able to find out.

and altho we'd come to see choughs ( i did, briefly but it only counts for us if we both see the bird) there was a mass of wildlife, esp hares to be seen. we'd just got a new camera which aided the whole nature thing by some magnitude so at least some of our evenings were spent trying to identify the various plants we'd seen during the day. geologically there seems a lot going on - interesting sediments with odd quartz bandings and dykes where we were and chunk oif gneiss lying about elsewhere. we're not so good on the geology but our geology mentor was pleased with our efforts and is pleased with the manner in which he has corrupted us to the ways of the rocks.

all in all a grand break for t's birthday. her work must've agreed as they're now trying to make it a permanent one. such is life! but it will just give us more time to get to islay! hurrah!