End of an era

Adam and I are returning to Lewis after having been down to Bath to pack up and move from the house that I rented with Jon whilst he completed his degree course at Bath Spa Uni and while I finished my job at the GP surgery.

Our car is stuffed full to the gunnels and we ended up having to give items away to friends and neighbours as we just couldn’t fit it all in! On hindsight, we should have taken the trailer with us or the roof box so that we could have managed it a bit better, but we needed the bike rack to bring back Jon's bike. 

For me, these couple of days down south packing up our things felt quite significant and that it really was the end of an era in my life and I feel like I have now started properly on our new adventure. Adam has already adjusted as he has been on Lewis for the last 6 months and although I am familiar with the place, it's still different.

We overnighted in Stirling at Hillhead Farm Lets before leisurely heading up to Inverness. The scenery in Scotland is so unlike anything down in the South.

I have always loved this part of the journey with the mountains and forests and the sense of  big sky. This time of the year everything is very green and the gorse is shining yellow as its scattered along the roadside and up the side of the mountains. 

I am already amazed by the amount of wildlife that I am seeing up here compared to down south. Golden eagles, red deer, otters, and seals. There have been a lot of birds in the garden that I am not familiar with and I have even had to invest in a bird book so that I can become familiar with them. I can now recognise the call of the snipe and have seen green finches and chaffinches in the garden along with a wheatear and lots of starlings.I can't believe that I have become a twitcher!

Even certain flowers and plants that grow here - I will have to learn their names. Wild orchids and Rhododendrons grow wild.

Buttercups & aconites are everywhere and I have to say the wild flowers that I used to think of as weeds are thriving. There are lots of different kinds of bees and of course midges, although with the breeze thy don't stay long.

The weather has been great the last few days. 23 degrees is good for the island and even in Ullapool the sun shone and we sat in the harbour watching the boats as we waited for the ferry.

I am hoping to see the dolphins that have been swimming with the ferry over the last few days.

It is such a nice thought that I am heading home and that I won’t have to head back down south in a couple of weeks. 

Going back to the mainland made us realise how busy it is everywhere, and the number of cars on the road, although this was significantly less as we left Glasgow behind and headed to the Highlands.

Maybe we are seeking to escape ‘normal life’ as we’ve always know it but why not go for less stress and get out of the rat-race. It has made me aware that for so long I haven’t really been looking at and enjoying nature in the same way that I am now able to. I now feel clear headed and able to take it all in and that I am now allowed to relax....

When we lived in Bath we would occasionally see deer walking down the drive from the woods next door or see the bluetits at the bottom of the garden or hear the foxes, but this is on a whole new level and I feel very lucky to be able to enjoy it.

The ferry crossing was smooth. My highlight of the day came 45 minutes from stornoway, when I saw dolphins jumping in the slight swell from the back of the boat.