Not moaning about the weather -- for a change :)

Hiya
A good friend of mine has been moaning on his blog about the incessant rain.
What a difference an hour's drive north can make! Here in Oban, yesterday and day before yesterday, as this afternoon/evening, we have had the most beautiful weather. Not very hot, admittedly, due to a fairly good breeze, but sunny and filled with light and freshness. We did have rain, but it fell in the morning or during the darker hours and did not affect any of the Homecoming festivities I was able to attend. Oban is just fantastic!

Apart from that, I am so glad this day is over. The downstairs flat is being refurbished as to gas and electricity and the builders have been hammering and drilling and sawing for the past two days, starting at about 7am and finishing around 6pm, with maybe a half-hour lunch break. It wasn't so bad yesterday because I was out all afternoon attending the MacDougall Homecoming event at Dunollie House. The Oban Gaelic Choir had been invited to sing a few songs to frame the inauguration of a new standard, which now flies from the mast atop Dunollie Castle. And very handsome it looks, too. I hope to have a photo of it soon.

But today was really grim and I now regret having agreed to being available to have my front door tweaked by the Everest people. It hadn't closed properly and light came through on the sides, not the point in a fire door that is supposed to keep all draughts out. So I was stuck here waiting all afternoon when I could at least have gone and picked a few sugar snaps in the adjacent community garden.

Ach well, what's done is done. The sun is still shining and I'm off to do that now. And the house is lovely and quiet -- I think everyone's exhausted from all the noise and dirt.

Getting ready for the MoonWalk: twelve-mile march

Clouds reflecting and refracting light.

Hiya
Last Sunday I celebrated my first full year here by PowerWalking about twelve miles. Up Glencruitten to "The Summit" and on to Connel along the Old Coach Road (which runs almost parallel to the train track), then down to Dunstaffnage Marina and Dunbeg; along the new cycle path to Ganavan; into Oban, up Dunollie, down again and up to Bealach an Righ, the top of the hill that guards the main-road entrance into Oban, down to the Oban Esplanade and home to Glencruitten.
It was a fabulous day and a great walk, with a few lovely surprises along the way, one of them being a spontaneous "abduction" to have a cup of coffee at one of my Reading Club friends' delightful beach hut overlooking Dunstaffnage Marina. Thank you, Angela!
Here are some visual souvenirs:

A glimpse of the bay near Connel.
Ardmucknish Bay/Lynn of Lorn.
Boats moored off Connel.
Dunstaffnage Marina from the main road.
I had been reading about a boat exactly like this just that morning before setting out.
Extraordinary co-incidence!
A glimpse of the sea beyond glorious, coconut-fragranced broom just before the
new cycle path dips down to Ganavan beach.
Bog-cotton and the spears of flag or bog iris on the verge of the Ganavan road.
Little Ganavan at low tide.
West-coast view from the Ganavan Road, just outside Oban. Lismore in the foreground;
the Morvern peninsula beyond.
Dunollie Castle seen from the Dog Stone.
The fabled "Dog Stone" between Dunollie Castle and Oban.
This is where the mythical giant Fingal is said to have tethered his dog.