The joy of being in an element

We were warned that it would be wet today and 'they' were right. It bucketed down all morning in ebbing and flowing intensity. Helena wanted to take me down the valley, following Loch Etive a few miles inland to where the old ferry crossed over from Bonawe to the south side. The road which winds past the house leads to a small hamlet close to the site of a stone quarry which is still very active. The single track road is thus very busy at times, but not today luckily.

Helena had heard about some old abandoned worker's cottages which might provide a suitably picturesque blip in these dreich, (or to sassenachs like me, basically drab, wet and rainy) conditions. So we set off, although I was a little reluctant to step out of the car when we got there, as the rain was driving in horizontally along the channel formed by this glacial valley in which the loch rests. So I left it to Helena to wander in to the rain to get her blip, which she duly did.

On the way back, I did get out of the car to film some sheep in a delightful small field next to a small-holding a few yards above the shoreline, nestling amongst old trees and scrub. By the time we reached home, I was ready for a light lunch, and soon after the weather suddenly lightened up and turned for the better. The clouds lifted a bit and some sun broke through to soften the landscape.

Helena's nephews arrived yesterday with their parents, R. and S., having left Botswana for good last week, where they have been living for most of their lives. It is interesting to see the next generation enjoying this house and its fantastic location much as Helena has told me so often that she and her five brothers and sisters did whilst they grew up here from their teens onwards.

Because there was so much rain the burn beside the house was raging and the eldest son, Callum, dragged me out of the house to come and play. Of course my playing these days mostly amounts to holding a camera, but at least he wanted me along for the ride.

We initially went out of the garden through the gate onto the beach. I was amazed to find that not only was it the high tide, but that apparently it was much much higher tide than it had been yesterday. I assumed it was because the driving wind and rain had forced more water through the Falls of Lora and created a special situation. Whatever caused it, the tide had flooded over the line of the last high water mark, driving the sea water up and onto the beach's grassland only yards from the garden wall. A pond had formed and was now this scene of much pleasure for the two younger siblings, Duncan and Cormac, as they waded fully clothed into with much shouting of glee. My blip of two days ago was from a similar position but looking up and across the water towards Mull in the distance, which would give you a sense of the setting we are in.

Callum was determined to take me to the burn, where the water coming down from the hillsides was creating a torrent through their 'playground', and I definitely had to be shown it. I think he also thought I would jump in like them and play with them. In many ways the childish side of me would have loved it, but the sober adult was too busy caring for his clothes and his body temperature.

When we got to the other side of the house and stood over the burn, the three boys went down into the water and tried to scramble across the raging torrent by grabbing onto tall bamboo plants to stop themselves from being washed away to sea, about fifteen yards away. Meanwhile their dad R, brought out his bagpipes and stood above the channel of the burn tow watch the kids play whilst he practised playing, which made for an interesting scenario.

All this happened just to the right and on the far side of this picture, where the burn reaches the sea and which for days now I have been watching the seagulls perch there enjoying the calm of this remote loch. You have to remember that the boys have been living in a hot southern african landscape where they seldom see any rain let alone the volumes that have been on offer today. Great fun!