I went down to the Midlands for a week to see family before Christmas. Previous experiences have made me nervous so I wanted to make absolutely sure I was back here well before the big day. I didn't want to risk bad weather stopping me getting out or back or risk any chance of a repeat of last years fantastic Christmas spent in a travelodge! My son had decided to drive up and spend the week with us so I decided to have a lift back with him. I got to see everyone, quite a shock to be wearing normal clothes and footwear and to be able to have regular baths/showers. It was lovely to see everyone but I did miss Rich, Tabby and Scoraig.
I ended up catching a flight back to Inverness, tried the train but it was 3 times more expensive and took 10 hours, the flight was 1 hour and 25 minutes. Also the flight landed just after midday which was ideal for Rich to pick me up. Unfortunately the wind had got up that morning so it was too rough for our boat but luckily Rich managed to catch the schoolboat. This meant we were on a very tight schedule as sunset is about half past 3 and we'd got to walk back in. I did a quick foodshop which we put into backpacks so we could carry them in. By the time we reached the track at Badrallach it was pouring it down and starting to drop dark. I had to leave all my luggage in the car and we just carried our shopping. Rich carried most of it as my back had started to play up. A combination of wearing normal footwear and walking on hard pavements was taking its toll.
Walking over rough terrain, getting soaked, in the dark isn't much fun. But we did it and thankfully Rich had managed to leave the quad down by the gate to Scoraig so we didn't have to walk the last uphill mile. The byre felt cold, damp and unfriendly on our return, Rich hadn't had time to light the fire first thing and I was suddenly aware that it felt like a shed. Although once the fire was lit, pyjamas put on and a bowl of soup warmed up everything felt better. Rich then walked out a couple of days later to fetch the car, drive to Dundonnell to pick up the tesco delivery then to the jetty to catch the postboat back to Scoraig. I didn't feel my back was up to walking out again just yet.
It was much improved though until yesterday when we went to vote. A delivery of wood and insulation arrived for us, unfortunately at low tide. So this meant a long pull into the water and quite a bit of carrying up and down the jetty. We took one load, came back and drove to the local school to vote then came back and did the second load together with my luggage from my trip. It felt really hard work, the cold weather didn't help. We did have a breakthrough with the boat though. We've recently had a new rope which is longer than the old one. Because we came back at low tide getting the boat up is exhausting so Rich backed the quad down the jetty and we tied the rope to it. With both of us on the quad we managed to pull the boat up the beach in record time which was amazing.
We loaded all our stuff onto the trailer and I sat on the back of the quad hanging on to it. The track is very rough and with hindsight I'm not sure quad travel is good for back recuperation. When we got back I could hardly move and I'm not much better today. I'm confined to bed at the moment hoping that normal service will be resumed shortly.
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