A breezy day in Elgol

The promised storm arrived during the night with horizontal rain and strong gales, that broke a couple of branches off the nearby trees and whipped up the sea into numerous white horses. By next morning the ferocity of the wind had subsided but there was still a bracing breeze and rain, so it was late morning before we ventured out.

The houses in the village are dotted around the hillside, some accessible only by tracks leading from the road. Heading down towards the quayside, we passed a small community centre where a variety of activities including badminton and circuit training take place regularly. As another squall blew in, we sheltered in the doorway, asking ourselves if this was really typical weather for July here?

At the harbour, the fishing boats weren't being used today, perhaps to be expected on a Sunday, but in any case the sea was too rough. Not surprisingly, the daily boat trips advertised here to Loch Coruisk or further afield to the nearby islands of Rum, Eigg and Canna were cancelled due to the weather.

Elgol is well known for its views of the Cuillins, Skye's famous mountain range, which provides the best mountaineering challenges in the UK. On a calmer day there's usually plenty of photographers on the pebble beach here with their tripods, all trying to capture the changing light on the mountains with dramatic rocks and waves in the foreground. Today though the views were a little less inspiring with thick cloud obscuring the peaks behind, and unsurprisingly there were few people around to take it in.

Despite the conditions we enjoyed our stroll down to the harbour and back, returning to the house refreshed before relaxing in front of another log fire.