I was so excited when a group of 4 friends from Germany asked if they could climb Beinn Bheigier today. Jan, Jurgen Sabrina and Robert come regularly to Islay and combine their love of walking with their love of whisky! "Wenn engel reisen, lacht der himmel," Sabrina quipped when we all commented on the beauty of the day. "It means we are all angels because the sun is shining," she explained. I rather liked that. It was the stillest of days for our traverse of Islay's highest ridge - so still in fact that the midges began to bother us. I never fail to gasp at the beauty of it all; it takes my breath away every time. What a beautiful island we live on! Apart from talking about whisky (a lot), Islay (a lot) and flora and fauna (a lot), we all enjoyed walking through bog (a lot) and heather (a lot). Jan particularly liked walking on Islay's soft carpet of moss. At both summits we enjoyed a surprise wee dram (courtesy of Robert) of Bruichladdich and Kilchoman. During the day we compared the German language with English and particularly discussed the English language's difficult use of prepositions:
I put it to them that we saw the biggest tick ever;
they didn't put me down too much in my attempts at the German language;
I'm glad they put up with all the bog; after all I had put across to them beforehand the difficult nature of the walk!
I hope I haven't put them off booking another Islay Welly Walk!
Thank you for a memorable day. See you next year!
BIRDS: Raven, Meadow Pipit
FLORA: Heather, Cross-leaved Heath, Bell Heather, Tormentil, Round-leaved Sundew, Thrift, Bog myrtle, Willow sp, Rowan, Oak, Fir Club Moss, Star Moss, Spaghnum Moss, Milkwort, Gorse, Juniper, Bilberry, Bog Asphodel, Cotton Grass, Crowberry, Bracken, Devil's-bit Scabious
LICHEN: Reindeer Moss
OTHER: Rabbit, Red Deer, Tick, Peacock Butterfly, moth sp, dragonfly sp, damselfly sp, Orb Weaver Spider, Common Frog, Grasshopper sp, Emperor Moth chrysalis, Fox Moth caterpillar, midge!
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| Common Frog |
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| The Sound of Islay |
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| Scary tick! |
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| On top of the world! |
