The morning started with gale force winds and rain but soon after breakfast the weather changed. A lovely couple of hours were spent in the company of Rachel MacNeil, Hugh from Bowmore and Huw from Wales around noon. We were invited by Rachel MacNeil of Wild and Magic Islay to attend a Peat Cutting Workshop on the Oa Peninsula which we enjoyed and appreciated very much. In the afternoon the rain returned and as I write this the sun is trying to break through the grey clouds. You can read all about the peat cutting workshop on my Islay Blog. Below are some pictures of the workshop which comes highly recommended!
It was a special day today, we started off with friendly although very windy weather and it improved quite a bit later in the day so we enjoyed lots of sunshine and blue skies. Late in the afternoon (at five) a big shower arrived at Loch Indaal as you can see from the images below. We started off at Bowmore for some shopping, went to Kilchiaran Bay and Chapel for some walking, to Portnahaven for a coffee, to Port Charlotte for some playing (Port Mor) and then home but not before we stopped at Loch Indaal to watch the dramatic clouds and heavy rain shower coming in. You can follow our trail through the pictures, again all taken with the 10-20mm lens from James. I particularly like the two Kilchiaran pictures, the one of the interior of Kilchiaran Chapel and the other one of the cup-marked stone and chapel together, and the one of the shower arriving at Loch Indaal. Again another very nice day on Islay, weatherwise, picturewise and otherwise. See you tomorrow when I hopefully have some pictures of the peat cutting workshop on the Oa with Rachel MacNeill of Wild and Magic Islay.
We spent yesterday evening with James Deane and Vanessa at Bridgend. Apart from having a very pleasant evening James offered me to borrow his Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens. Now I've always been a big fan of wide angle lenses, I like the big skies you can capture and the special effects of the white clouds against a blue sky. This morning started out rainy and grey but around noon the blue skies and sun came out. Time to take the lens for a test drive. We went to Sanaigmore and I took some pictures here and there along the way as you can see. I was already enthusiastic about this lens during the afternoon and when I came home and sorted out the pictures I was even more convinced that this would be the next lens on my wish list. The results are quite stunning for a first time and I hope you like them as well!