STRIKE A LIGHT (Parts 1,2 and 3)!

A new adventure for the dinosaurs - two nights away from home - and what an adventure it was. This time, it was a trip out west to Rua Reidh lighthouse to the north of Gairloch. It was such an exciting adventure that I have had to split it into three different blogs.

The whole thing started on Friday when those who are retired or don't have an important job went to play golf at Gairloch. By all accounts a fun time was had by all in fantastic weather. Janet emerged victorious and has the medal and a prize to show for it. She kept the medal on all weekend - she may still have it on!

Bob and Sharon were next to arrive and just by coincidence met the golfers who were all going to the pub! There was nothing for it but to turn the car around and repair to the Old Inn as well. We sat outside in the sunshine and had a pleasant beer and had to listen to the usual tales of derring do on the links. However, the stories were enlivened by a robin singing along in the trees above us. All very sweet until he (or she) decided to evacuate their bowel onto the table narrowly missing Jim's drink. What fun that would have been - who would have had the moral courage to tell him if he had not noticed?

And so, to the lighthouse where we all met up in various stages. Some of us went to explore the beach where we came across this really old seafarer who had been marooned here for decades. He seemed surprised to be out in the light! He had obviously been in the cave for a long time because his hand had stuck in that claw-like position.

We decided to take pity on him and invited him to join us for the weekend. His name was Jim and he had never bought any clothes, he told us. This was obvious from his shirt. However, he soon fitted in and he became the life and soul of the party.

We had arranged to bring food and drink with us and after some sterling work by the kitchen fairies , a lavish banquet was produced.

Soon, Susan had drunk so much that she could not speak, only whistle and Charlie seemed to enjoy the tune!

We enjoyed a fabulous meal and it looks like Jacque had too much of the main course and had a severe attack of bottom windy-pops. Certainly Dave's face would suggest that was the case.


However, it soon became apparent that it wasn't Jacque who was the culprit.



At the other end of the table everybody was too busy eating to notice.


You will have noticed that there have been no pictures of the lighthouse. However, the whole point about lighthouses is that they shine big beams of light out to sea at night to save boats from crashing onto the rocks. The light goes round and round in the dark. And so, we all went out to look at it that night and here it is. It was truly memorable for us all, except for Sandra, who had forgotten all about it by the next night when she wanted to know "what's that light that keeps flashing past the window?"

After the light show it was back to puddings and here they are trying to make the microwave work! And before you complain that you can't see the picture this is a brave new departure for the blog - it is a video! OOOOOOOH! If you click it it should play.



Hugh didn't tell anyone, but he couldn't eat his pudding because he had eaten the marshmallows instead while everyone else was outside looking at the lights.

Everyone agreed the puddings were marvellous, but Neil couldn't speak because he was still trying to get the last miniscule peice of pavlova out of the bowl.

After dinner, when all as quiet, Jacque sneaked back through just to check who had gone somewhere else other than Marks and Spencer for their wine.

Finally, we all went to bed and a new day dawned with fabulous blue skies and the promise of a nice easy walk on Saturday! It was not to turn out quite like that, but if you want to see more , you will have to wait for the next instalment.

STRIKE A LIGHT - DAY 2 - THE LONG WALK

The Saturday morning dawned bright and clear. Bob was up with the larks to get some photos of the lighthouse in the clear early hours. After that it got too cold so he went back to bed, which didn't please Sharon too much!

Soon we were all up and about. Sharon and Maria went to get eggs for the breakfast. However, the hens were not accommodating, so it was back to Plan A and the Tesco eggs we bought before we left.

Soon Stavros and Maria had rustled up a cracking breakfast of bacon and egg rolls for everyone. We all enjoyed it immensely except for Hugh who spent most of the time bobbing up and down from the table to fetch things for Pam - napkins, cutlery etc,. What devotion!

Fortified by our hearty breakfast, we set of on our first walk of the weekend. Gaily we tripped along the road from the lighthouse - all nice and easy. Then we turned off onto the nice metalled track up to the telecomms masts. We should have realised that they always put masts up high for a reason. The trek up to the masts was a bit of a slog and we soon began to straggle out a bit. However, we all made it to the top.

Even the fit people were knackered and had to lean against each other for support - at least that's what they said they were doing.

Still it was worth the effort, because when we got to the very top this is what we found!!

We then spent half an hour trying to identify all the peaks that we could see - we reckon it was from Beinn Eighe to Suilven, Canisp and beyond.

What goes up must come down and that was a bit of fun after we had done a bit of bog-hopping!

Once we got to the bottom it was time for lunch in the remains of an old village, Very pleasant it was too.

Then onwards to the coast, first passing a bothy which was clearly still used.

From there we followed the path to the coast. We had a choice of going down to the beach or up to the top of the hill to follow the coastline. We split up until the coastal contingent realised it might not have been the best of plans to go down to the beach. The up the hill brigade had realised that wasn't too much fun either, given the exertions of earlier in the day. But we all made it to be rewarded with some fantastic coastal scenery.

Then it was back to the lighthouse for pre-dinner drinks before a fabulous meal cooked for us by Chris and Fran, the owners. A great evening was had by all and the food was excellent. Then things really got out of hand when there was a series of bothy ballads, recitations and downright tomfoolery.

And if you think the photo above was bad , just wait until you see this!

What entertainment we had that night - it was better than the telly!

And that was the end of the second day, and what a day it was - fantastic.

STRIKE A LIGHT PART 3 - THE SHORTER WALK

And so, the next day dawned bright and clear and we were up with the lark for a new adventure.

Susan, Sue and Sharon went to work on an egg, but first they had to catch the hen. The uncharitable amongst us did think that if they really were witches where was Agnes.......Oh no surely not!

Once David Bailey was ready it was time for the group photo in front of the lighthouse before, like the geese, we had to leave.

Before we could leave, however, we had to wait for Bob's car to start. That involved a lot of time spent by men standing about looking like they knew which end of the car the engine was in - except for Charlie who does know his big end from his carburator.

And so, on to the next walk at Flowerdale - and very pleasant it was too. We parked near the pub, which is always a good thing to do, then off we went up to the bridge and the waterfall. It proved impossible to get everyone to look in the same direction at once - even Maureen didn't know when to take the photo!

It was a bit easier when we got to the top of the walk - all I had to do was say that I had a bag of crisps and they all turned round as one!

Like all good walks we ended up at the pub, where we had a really good lunch and then it was time to go home after a really fantastic weekend. Everyone played their part and a really good time was had by all.

So much so, that some of us could hardly contain our excitement!

THE END