A Dr’s Visit and the Lealt Tups Again! 30th Jan

In the pitch black, Vince’s alarm woke me up - I hate that alarm! It’s called an alarm for good reason - it’s alarming! What an awful way to start the day - a sudden shrill noise assaulting my ears and quiet sensabilities with such a startle that it floods the body with adrenaline ready for fight or flight - that clinically will take at least 20-30 min to subside. By which time you realise there’s nothing to defend or run from - what a waste - and just leaves you tired and grumpy!

Vince went downstairs and stared his Spotify on his phone - FFS who starts the day with Neil Diamond? This got me out of bed - even grumpier and stomping downstairs and a sky WHY? Dear God WHY? “I thought it would gently bring you awake - I’ll turn it off”. THANK YOU!

We got dressed and we’re on the road by 7.00am out into the inky blackness — taking on winding single track roads, pitted with potholes and areas of subsidence, often along perilous cliffs with a sheer drop - oh and did I mention the animals!!!!

We arrive at Portree Medical Centre, thankfully in one piece and I organised an appointment with the nice Dr (Louise) Is seen previously here for 8.30am. They only take appointments on the day so we needed to be early!

Very few places in Portree are open before 9.00am so we sat in the car in the rain for a while before deciding to go to the Bank St Co-op which was open early and get a few supplies - no we didn't by the Haggis Pizzas we saw!

Then it was off to check in at the medical centre. The Dr was running a bit behind, even though I was only the 3rd appointment, and I was a bit early so as a result we had a bit of a wait - at least we were warm and dry!

The Dr prescribed a different nasal spray and some antibiotics - so it was off to Boots (the only chemist in town) to get my script filled. Australian’s have reciprocal agreements with the UK when it comes to health care, so there was no charge for either the Drs visit, or surprisingly the scripts. In Australia we pay for our medications - most are subsidised by the Government, but non the less most scripts cost around A$30 on average - so that was a nice surprise when we discovered it on my first visit to the Dr a few weeks ago.

Disheartened by my poor efforts from yesterday, I was determined to get some better shots of the Lealt Tups - despite the appalling weather conditions - teaming rain and hail, coupled with gusts of wind! This time we were armed with some food pellets courtesy of our crofter friend, Alan. So we got their attention but in the end we couldn’t stay out too long as we were both looking like downed rats and it was almost impossible to keep the lens clean and my blue cloth was dripping wet! But I’m happy to say that I managed to NAIL a few against the odds!

As we headed North, the weather improved - but only slightly - still raining just not as bad and we could at least see objects in the distance and the occasional glimpse of blue sky.

On the road in there were a number of black faced sheep on the hill side and we had to stop for an oncoming car on the single track road - so I wound down the window and grabbed a few quick shots - I had my 85mm on the camera so that limited what I could do in terms of composition as I obviously couldn’t more in or out as you have with a prime lens - but you get the idea - a hill of sheep all looking at us!

Nearing home we saw “Billie and Willie” at the fence so we stopped and gave them some food - they liked it but were a bit put off by the fabric of my glove as I handed it to them. We couldn’t stay long as we were already soaked through, and I hadn’t put on my wet weather pants so was getting uncomfortable.

We got home about 11.30am and unpacked our gear and our food shopping, got the fire started and got our of our wet clothes to settle in for an easy afternoon at home.