A Brisk Southeasterly

Force 7 winds have been stirring the waters of the Sound of Mull this morning, exactly as forecast by the best of the internet weather forecast sites, Yr.No.  There's nothing unusual about a December gale here, except that this one is a southeaster.  Normally, this is a bad direction for the local Kilchoan-Tobermory ferry as it brings the weather straight in to the bay at Mingary pier but, while twenty-five CalMac sailings are listed as disrupted, our ferry, small as it is, seems to have made it across this morning.  For disrupted sailings, see the CalMac site here.

A gale like this is both good and bad news.  On the good news side, there's now plenty of kelp along the Ormsaigbeg shore ready to be carted up to the vegetable garden to fertilize next year's crops.  On the bad side, the stuff has to be shifted, and last year's efforts carrying it up nearly killed us.  Sadly, this year, if we're to use it, we'll have to employ more mechanical means.

For this poor sheep, the excitement of the weather - or, perhaps, the tupping that's going on - has been too much as she has expired beside a small burn close to the shore.  It's an object lesson in the saying that one should never drink the local water unless one knows what's upstream.