A memorial to fallen airmen

Subtly positioned by the path right behind the house, a small plaque caught our eye whilst on our walk earlier. It was a memorial commemorating an air crash close to Elgol on a dark night in December 1982, which cost the life of American airman Lt Col Burnley L Rudiger.

Researching some other websites I learned that Rudiger was from Virginia and was ranked Major, but as he was listed for promotion at the time of the accident he was posthumously promoted to Lt Col.

Rudiger was an experienced airman, having flown F-111s since 1969, and was on a traing exercise from his base at the American Air Force base at Lakenheath, Suffolk. The aircraft was equipped with low-flying technology which should have prevented the crash, but something went horribly wrong and the plane crashed straight into Sgurr na Stri, the rocky mountain a few miles to the north.

Although the memorial only mentions Rudiger, a second airman, 1 Lt Stephen J Pitt from New York was also killed in the crash and both men left a wife and two children.

Although the memorial plaque is small and off the beaten track, surrounding it are a few pieces of wreckage from the plane, which adds a real sense of poignancy to the location. Overhead a number of military planes have been zipping over the water on modern-day training exercises - I wonder how many of those pilots are aware of the crash at Elgol back in 1982?

A relaxing day and a (very!) short walk

The forecast today showed another storm was on its way and the overcast skies threatened it would be sooner rather than later, so once again we planned to relax inside our amazing cottage on the clifftops.


The clouds had lifted a little, which allowed me at last to take this panorama shot from the terrace in the garden, literally just a few steps from the house.

Very faint on the extreme left is the Ardnamurchan peninsula, the most westerly point on the UK mainland. The island in the mid-foreground is Eigg, with the smaller island of Muck faint on the horizon just behind.

Next is Rum, dominating the southern view from the house, followed by Canna and then Soay, the closest island to Elgol, directly west across Loch Scavaig. From then on, the land is all Skye, round to the Black Cuillin mountains.

Before the rain we looked for the path round the back of the house, which ultimately leads straight to the mountains. We weren't going to walk so far, and when the rain started soon after we set off, we quickly turned around and headed back indoors!

Portree and a tour of the island

Having relaxed in the house all weekend, today we wanted to take advantage of some slightly better weather and see some of the island.

Portree in the east is the 'capital' of Skye, so we headed here first of all. Skye is the largest of the Hebridean islands, and the many mountains and lochs conspire to make travel across the island more difficult than first thought. Although Portree is only 18 miles directly north of Elgol, by car the distance becomes over 40 miles, twisting around several sea lochs and threading through mountain passes. The scenery is stunning though, so although the journey there took almost an hour and a half, it seem to matter all that much.

Parking in Portree was a bit of a problem, despite two decent car parks there were plenty of people here either on business or at leisure. We found a spot on the road which was available during the day, and looking over the wall there was a great view of the colourful harbour, which we'd seen in our guidebook and were to see again on numerous postcards. After a quick look round the shops we found a good spot overlooking the sea for our lunch, despite the shower which seemed to wait until we'd opened our sandwiches.

After lunch we decided to explore the west of the island by continuing on the main road to the coastal village of Dunvegan. The castle here has been the seat of MacLeod of MacLeod, chief of the clan MacLeod for over 800 years, the longest continually inhabited castle in Scotland. The village itself is small, situated on a sea loch, and the overcast sky added to the sense of bleakness.

The ruined church nearby was long since abandoned and the roof has now completely gone, along with some of the stones too. On top of Drum na Creige, the hillside behind, the entire village celebrated the millennium and their celtic past by hauling up and erecting a 5 tonne, 15 foot lump of rock known as the Durinish Stone, completely by hand. In the village is a photo showing everyone celebrating the occasion.

The road back to Broadford along the A863 is a spectacular drive, hugging the coast before pulling inland with the Black Cuillins looming large ahead. On the way back to Elgol we were pleased with ourselves for chancing the weather and exploring the island, a dramatic and inspiring place.

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.

Over the sea to Skye

An early start today for us today - 6am! - as we start the long 400+ mile journey to the Isle of Skye for a week's holiday.

Our journey took us up the motorway to Glasgow, then alongside Loch Lomond, over Rannoch Moor and through Glencoe to Fort William. From here we made our way through more spectacular countryside towards Kyle of Lochalsh, separated from Skye by just a narrow stretch of water.

Until recently, it was necessary from here to board the ferry, in the words of the song 'over the sea to Skye'. Nowadays however as you approach Kyle of Localsh along the A87, the new bridge to the island comes into view, elegantly spanning the water.

Once on the island, we headed for Broadford, a small village a few miles up the coast, before taking a left turn along what proved to be a 15 mile single track road to the tiny village of Elgol, on Skye's west coast.

Elgol is admittedly very isolated, however we both wanted to get away from it all for a week and our cottage here fitted the bill perfectly.

The sunshine we left behind at home was far behind us now, from reaching the mountains at Loch Lomond we'd encountered several heavy showers, and now in Elgol we unpacked the car with leaden skies overhead.

Before the forecast storm hit, we organised our first meal and got the log fire going. Hopefully the weather will improve in the next few days - we'll have to wait and see!

Here comes summer!

The garden's looking good at the moment and for once we had a day where we could just sit back and enjoy it. I spent the afternoon sat out with a drink and some ice cream, and even brought out the laptop to surf the internet from my garden table!

Of course Erin didn't want to be left out, and before long she was pushing the laptop and books out of the way so that she could sit on my knee instead. I got the photo using the webcam (I'd never used it before) - and was quite pleased with the image quality!

Industrial Heritage at Greenock

Greenock is on the southern shore of the Firth of Clyde, and when walking along the waterfront it's immediately clear that once this was an important port, with plenty of heavy industrial machinery still around. These days some of the old warehouses have been converted into modern apartments, and parts of the old dockland area has been reclaimed and developed into a business park, but there's still plenty of the older industry to see too.


The dockland area to the east, near to where I was staying with work, is known as James Watt dock, and is more recent than I thought, dating from the 1880s. Watt is Greenock's most famous son, known for 'inventing' the steam engine, though actually what he did was improve Newcomen's earlier atmospheric engine, by adding a condenser, making steam power much more efficient.

Anyway, I digress. James Watt dock is still in use today, and the huge hammerhead crane still dominates the landscape. Once this area was used to offload sugar cargoes from the colonies, but today it's used as a berth for the Caledonian Macbrayne ferry.

Further to the west sits the Clydeport Ocean Terminal, the modern port area in Greenock. After a bite to eat, I walked along the pleasant esplanade with views towards the distant cranes, and looked out for the sun setting behind the hills of Argyll in the distance.

Sunshine on fathers' day

The sun came out today for fathers' day, and as the weather was playing ball, we could get the barbecue out for a proper summer treat with traditional burgers and sausages.

We had the usual photo session in the garden, which is looking good at the moment, and of course plenty of laughs too.

Double booked

It seemed like I'd made an error of judgement last night... A couple of weeks ago we booked to see 'The Hired Man', a musical at the Octagon which had received some good reviews, however afterwards I realised it clashed with England's opening group game at the World Cup, against group second favourites America. What should I do??

What swung it was that we'd also booked at the theatre restaurant beforehand, where the food is always excellent, so a plan came together involving switching off all communications with the outside world, so that I could record the game and watch it the next morning.

Having just watched the game now, it's clear I made the right choice; the show was superb and at least I could fast forward through the mediocrity which followed our early goal. When's the next game?

The Three Graces of Liverpool

The sun would be out again today, so with camera choices to make we decided to visit Liverpool on the train for a little shopping and a stroll around the waterfront. It's several years since I'd been there, so I was interested to see the changes that have been happening recently, with the new canal extension and lots of modern developments.

In amongst all these changes, the famous Three Graces still stand prominently on the banks of the Mersey. The Royal Liver Building is the most famous of the three and perhaps the most recognisable building on the waterfront, but it is surprisingly modern, dating from 1911. It's a hugely significant building to Liverpudlians everywhere, but architecturally it is also significant, being one of the first buildings in the world to be constructed out of reinforced concrete.


The Liver Birds that top the building are, according to legend, keeping watch - one looking over the city, the other looking out to sea. The origins of the bird as the emblem of Liverpool are lost over time, but there are many theories of the type of bird they are; it is thought that originally the symbol was that of an eagle, but later theories believe it to be a cormorant.

Another legend warns that if they should fly away, the city would cease to exist, so understandably they are chained in position. The birds are made of copper, so when they were originally fixed in position they would have looked quite different to the oxidised green colour we see today.




Next door is the smaller Cunard building, the headquarters of the Cunard shipping line until the 1960s. The smallest of the three, it is now home to a number of smaller firms. The third is the Port of Liverpool building, until recently the home of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board.

The whole waterfront area here used to be dockland, called George Docks, but in the late 19th century MDHB decided to fill in the site and develop it. This included a new building which would become their head office, and this was completed in 1907. In 1994, MDHB relocated and the building was sold to property developers, who have recently completed a restoration and conversion to exclusive apartments and offices.

We spent so long by the waterfront and neighbouring Albert Docks, that it was soon time to head back to Lime Street station, so we didn't get to the camera shop and my new purchase would have to wait a little longer.