from Holy Island to the Isle of Iona
22 October 2010
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Friday 22 October 2010--No plans for today...or maybe it's more accurate to say I have planned to do nothing. Spend the morning
in the B&B lounge with the laptop, catching up on email and other online matters. Early in the afternoon, I receive an email from Scott
with a link to a news story about a British nuclear submarine, HMS Astute, that has run aground somewhere off the coast of the Isle of
Skye. I don't really think too much about it.
At 3:30, I decide to go for a late lunch, or maybe an early dinner. Teresa catches me at the door and mentions the submarine-- it's actually close by the Skye Bridge, causing a bit of a buzz locally. Apparently the incident occurred while they were trying to board some independent contractors. Teresa tells me she used to work at the naval base, and had occasion to board a sub once; she says it's a tricky maneuver, involving leaping the gap at the right moment in the roll of the waves, as the shape of the sub's hull is necessarily not very convenient. I suppose they were trying to do this in a sheltered area, and miscalculated. They are now waiting for this evening's high tide to get moving again. I hate to be a gawker, but if the lads at home know about this, the least I can do is get pictures. So off I go. The sub is visible from Badicaul, near Kyle of Lochalsh, but it's obviously much closer to the Skye shore, so I cross the bridge and head up the road, hoping to find a good vantage point. It isn't hard--there's a string of cars parked along the side of the road. I join the gawkers for a while--a bunch of people standing around, watching nothing happening--get my photos, and head back. Dinner at the Hotel, a couple of pints at the Inn.... It's Quiz Night at the Inn, and I'm not in the mood. On a whim, I pop into the Haven Hotel, which I've passed by countless times--it's between the other two hotels. I noticed recently that they're playing up their whisky selection, and they do have a pretty good array. The proprietor, Ross Hamilton, is doing double-duty at the front desk and the bar, de rigueur this time of year. He's a Canadian expatriate, originally from Kingston, Ontario, and we have a lengthy blether about whisky, the pitfalls of emigration, the historical links between Scotland and Canada, and Kingston Brewing Company's Dragon's Breath Pale Ale. Nice guy, and I'm sure I'll be stopping in pretty regularly from now on. Next |
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Gawker Alert
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Gawker Parking
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Solo Gawking
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Pairs Gawking
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Heligawking
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HMS Astute
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Skoda Gawking
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