Thursday 23rd May – European Elections Day (who’d have thought we would even be participating?)
A bit of a washout today – weather was due to close in around midday so a quick game of scrabble to get the brain going and then an hours walk up to a nearby cairn and back in time to stay dry before another session of scrabble in the afternoon. We know how to live it up!
A real treat in the evening as we watched a Black Throated Diver on Loch Naver – only about 30 yards from Hilma moving slowly past – oblivious of our binoculars. A beauty (look it up) and bit of a rarity with only breeding 200 pairs in Northern Scotland.

Friday 24th May
A better start to the day so we decided to go for a longer walk in the morning. I’d spotted a couple of lochans and the larger Loch Gruama Mor on the map a couple of miles away and wanted to suss them out to see if I could throw a line on them to catch a trout on another day. Walking across the moors was like walking on a big sponge – a few deep bogs here and there to be aware of but really easy walking. Upon arriving at Loch Gruama Mor sheepfold we were treated to a view of a few red deer in the distance. The more we looked the more we found and probably saw about 30-40 in two separate herds – a real treat. Birds for the day – lots of Meadow Pipits and a Snipe.

During the afternoon the site was like Piccadilly Circus with caravans and motorhomes queuing up to get on the site – our quiet little loch side pitch was now surrounded by another 6 motorhomes – hey ho, that’s the price you pay for booking onto a site. I feel a spot of wild camping coming on when we leave here.