On the first train north, with bike +

 

St Clements, Rodel

Friday cycle

Moss of Cree

Lindisfarne, St Aidanstide. 2nd September.

De-tour

Kayaking

Shadowed by the policeman of a lingering pod of orca, shallow into the shore of an appointed camping spot.  Being tail-flipped into a series of rollicking capsizes by a playful dolphin, off the rocky extremities of Cape Wrath.

Two anecdotes told with relish by a consummate storm-going veteran of the outdoors.

He'd rounded our tents as we packed up for the early ferry.  What time did it leave? We shared our journey in German and English, back from Castlebay, through Oban to Glasgow.

I asked whether he had ever written about his experiences.  No, only his log books.  There were other writers.

Some refuse to accept the wild sea and land as unwelcoming realms,  but respectfully occupy their own place amongst other creatures and weather fronts.

We fixed his phone and I gave him a postcard drawn at Howmore a few days before.

Other rides: touring on a Brompton

Kelp, and a bacterial bloom.

Flitting

Afternoon off, Eriskay.

Missile testing range

Tour plus

Pollock fishing | 18th May

Tour cont'd

Tour

behind the new house

Second time lucky

Sometimes I send drawings on a postcard to people who I don't know, using twitter to collect victims. 

In September I sent the card below from Howmore, South Uist to @aikowrites.  But I addressed it wrongly and it never arrived.  Did have funny correspondence with @RoyalMail who said that the card would have been destroyed.  This is what happens to miss-addressed post.  Maybe someone saved it from the shredder and has it on their pinboard.

Here are the other cards I sent at the same time.

On 2nd Jan I drew this and posted it, again to @aikowrites.  aiko sent me a photograph when it arrived safely:

St Oran's Chapel, Iona, in the Reilig Oran.  Here, as at Howmore, there are graves of Lords of the Isles.  Somerled himself might be nearby.

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Postcards from the Edge II

All of these cards were posted at Howmore, South Uist on 6th September.  Some were sent to twitter followers, the rest to family and friends.  Some other cards had already been given away * * , and some came home with me *.  

The cards shown were drawn between the 30th August and 6th September in a few different locations: Howmore; various locations on Berneray; a couple of ferries; St Clements, Rodel, Harris.  Picture taken on the table at Howmore hostel, as I did the divvy up. 

Twitter followers who responded to the offer of a card #postcardsfromtheedge:

@aikowrites *, @randmhousekpr, @tinyblob, @davidtuckisgay, @benrobertsphoto (card), @homespunvintage, @caponicus, @mrkipperling, @bremnerdesign, @mhutchings, @jencrabtree, @stjudes

*card m.i.a. 

update:  the card sent to @randomhousekpr turned up 2 months late and with an Edinburgh postmark.  Particularly odd as it arrived on the same day that I had got in touch with Royal Mail to see if it could be traced.