South 7 to severe gale 9, veering west 5 to 7 becoming cyclonic 6 to 8 later.

More gales, huge waves, driving rain and the hens sheltering indoors with the sheep to avoid being blown away. A typical winter day. The best bit about this weather is the poetry of the inshore weather forecast at 6.00 am on BBC 4. The report is explicit but very concise, this morning it went like this:-







    " Mull of Kintyre to Ardnanurchan Point.
      South 7 to gale force 9, veering westerly 5 to 7 becoming cyclonic 6 to 8 later. (Wind speed)
      Rough to very rough, occasionally high in far north west. (Sea conditions)
      Rain at times.
      Moderate to good becoming poor." (Visibility)

     For any one who doesn't understand this format the explanation is in the brackets.

Miss Mimi

It must be severe gale at the moment because I struggled to walk into it when I fed Nan's sheep, The ferry to Tobermory is cancelled because of the, " rough to very tough" and  I can't see Mull which is only 10 km away.

At nine o clock I went down to the shore to see if all was well with the Shepherd's Hut, it was fine, it's well anchored and has survived worse conditions than this.

The kitchen stove needs to be shut down completely in these conditions or it burns too fiercely and gets through enormous amounts of firewood.
Miss Mimi decided it was a day to stay indoors when she heard the inshore forecast this morning.