Island in the sun - and rain!

My friend Tim and I set off at 7am to drive to Achamore Garden on the island of Gigha. Normally around 68 miles, we had to travel via Inveraray due to the landslide at Ardfern, which has closed the road for several weeks and added 25 miles to our journey. I hadn't realised that it was possible to request the ferry an hour before the first scheduled crossing and an hour after the last, to give us more time in the garden. 

I took a load of plants over to Head Gardener Bryony, so she came over with her car and we loaded them in and she drove straight back on the ferry. We spent a wonderful four hours plus in the garden, which had been neglected for years but is now looking wonderful owing to the devotion of Bryony and her assistant Morgan, a young lady with equal devotion and interest. Although it was raining when we arrived, later the sun came out and we had a wonderful time, hunting out and trying to identify hordes of amazing plants!

Most of the pictures I took today were in the interest of plant identification, but here's Bryony with their collection of old garden machinery - in the background Morgan can be seen digging up a fern for me!

Coming back from the island it was the first time that I'd experienced, along with Tim, being the only passengers on a ferry!