Another day

A couple of essential phone calls meant we set out in wind and rain for our planned walk in East Mainland this morning, but a bit of heavy dawdling meant the cloud had lifted by the time we set out. Thank goodness! A lovely, easy walk downwind to the Covenanters' memorial (shipwrecked in 1679, memorial built 1888) which you can just see in the background, and then a fight into the headwind on the way back round the coast. Felt like we'd walked more miles than the map said. We passed this mill conversion when we were nearly back; Poppydog will recall it as the spot where she put up a sheltering ginger farm cat!

The Covenanters (a strong Protestant sect) were powerful players in the English Civil War but were defeated conclusively by Charles II in 1679 after the Restoration. The ship was carrying their survivors to America and slavery when it foundered off Orkney in a storm. The ship's captain ordered the hatches to be shut so the prisoners couldn't escape but his orders weren't obeyed. Even so, only 48 men survived in total. Not a great reflection on humanity.